AbstractThe moduli space $\M _{g,n}$ of n-pointed stable curves of genus g is stratified by the topological type of the curves being parameterized: the closure of the locus of curves with k nodes has codimension k. The one-dimensional components of this stratification are smooth rational curves called F-curves. These are believed to determine all ample divisors. F-conjecture A divisor on $\M _{g,n}$ is ample if and only if it positively intersects theF-curves. In this paper, proving the F-conjecture on $\M _{g,n}$ is reduced to showing that certain divisors on $\M _{0,N}$ for N⩽g+n are equivalent to the sum of the canonical divisor plus an effective divisor supported on the boundary. Numerical criteria and an algorithm are given to check whether a divisor is ample. By using a computer program called the Nef Wizard, written by Daniel Krashen, one can verify the conjecture for low genus. This is done on $\M _g$ for g⩽24, more than doubling the number of cases for which the conjecture is known to hold and showing that it is true for the first genera such that $\M _g$ is known to be of general type.
Complements to Ample Divisors and Singularities