1999/10/31 by Ivan Kausz · 1 citation
Mathematics · #math.AG #msc:14H60 #msc:14M15 #msc:20G
published as Documenta Mathematica 5 (2000) 553-594 · The misprint in the title has been corrected
arxiv created 2001/02/10 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
We define a certain compactifiction of the general linear group and give a modular description for its points with values in arbitrary schemes. This is a first step in the construction of a higher rank generalization of Gieseker's degeneration of moduli spaces of vector bundles over a curve. We show that our compactification has similar properties as the ``wonderful compactification'' of algebraic groups of adjoint type as studied by de Concini and Procesi. As a byproduct we obtain a modular description of the points of the wonderful compactification of PGln.