Prym varieties and their moduli

Abstract

This survey discusses the geometry of the moduli space of Prym varieties. Several applications of Prym in algebraic geometry are presented. The paper begins with with a historical discussion of the life and achievements of Friedrich Prym. Topics treated in subsequent sections include singularities and Kodaira dimension of the moduli space, syzygies of Prym-canonical embedding and the geometry of the moduli space ${\mathcal{R}}_g$ in small genus.