A Geometric Interpretation and a New Proof of a Relation by Cornalba and Harris

In the 80’s M. Cornalba and J. Harris discovered a relation among the Hodge class and the boundary classes in the Picard group with rational coefficients of the moduli space of stable, hyperelliptic curves. They proved the relation by computing degrees of the classes involved for suitable one-parameter families. In the present article we show that their relation can be obtained as the class of an appropriate, geometrically meaningful empty set, thus conforming with C. Faber’s general philosophy to finding relations among tautological classes in the Chow ring of the moduli space of curves. The empty set we consider is the closure of the locus of smooth, hyperelliptic curves having a special ramification point. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 14H10 (primary), 14C17, 14C20, 14C22 (secondary).