The infinite topology of the hyperelliptic locus in Torelli space

Genus g Torelli space is the moduli space of genus g curves of compact type equipped with a homology framing. The hyperelliptic locus is a closed analytic subvariety consisting of finitely many mutually isomorphic components. We use properties of the hyperelliptic Torelli group to show that when g≥3\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$g\ge 3$$\end{document} these components do not have the homotopy type of a finite CW complex. Specifically, we show that the second rational homology of each component is infinite-dimensional. We give a more detailed description of the topological features of these components when g=3\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$g=3$$\end{document} using properties of genus 3 theta functions.