Moduli of $G$-covers of curves: geometry and singularities

Abstract: In a paper Chiodo and Farkas described the singular locus and the locus of non-canonical singularities of the moduli space of level curves. In this work we generalize their results to the moduli space $\overline{\mathcal R}{g,G}$ of curves with a $G$-cover for any finite group $G$. We show that non-canonical singularities are of two types: $T$-curves, that is singularities lifted from the moduli space $\overline{\mathcal M}_g$ of stable curves, and $J$-curves, that is new singularities entirely characterized by the dual graph of the cover. Finally, we prove that in the case $G=S_3$, the $J$-locus is empty, which is the first fundamental step in evaluating the Kodaira dimension of $\overline{\mathcal R}{g,S_3}$.