Moduli spaces of fundamental groups of curves in positive characteristic I

Abstract: In this series of papers, we investigate a new anabelian phenomenon of curves over algebraically closed fields of positive characteristic. Let $\overline M_{g, n}$ be the moduli space of curves of type $(g, n)$ over $\overline {\mathbb{F}}p$. We introduce a topological space $\overline \Pi{g, n}$ which can be determined group-theoretically from admissible fundamental groups of pointed stable curves of type $(g, n)$. By introducing a certain equivalence relation $\sim_{fe}$ on the underlying topological space $|\overline M_{g, n}|$ of $\overline M_{g, n}$, we obtain a topological space $\overline {\mathfrak{M}{g, n}}:= |\overline {M{g, n}}|/\sim_{fe}$. Moreover, there is a natural continuous map $\pi_{g,n}^{\rm adm}: \overline {\mathfrak{M}}{g, n} \rightarrow \overline \Pi{g, n}.$ Furthermore, we pose a conjecture (=the Homeomorphism Conjecture) which says that $\pi_{g,n}^{\rm adm}$ is a homeomorphism. The Homeomorphism Conjecture generalizes all the conjectures in the theory of anableian geometry of curves over algebraically closed fields of characteristic $p$. One of main results of the present series of papers says that the Homeomorphism Conjecture holds when $\text{dim}(\overline M_{g, n})=1$ (i.e., $(g, n)=(0,4)$ or $(g, n)=(1,1)$). In the present paper, we establish two fundamental tools to analyze the geometric behavior of curves from open continuous homomorphisms of admissible fundamental groups, which play central roles in the theory developed in the series of papers. Moreover, we prove that $\pi_{0,n}^{\rm adm}([q])$ is a closed point of $\overline \Pi_{0,n}$ when $[q]$ is a closed point of $\overline {\mathfrak{M}}_{0, n}$. In particular, we obtain that the Homeomorphism Conjecture holds when $(g, n)=(0, 4)$.