Calabi–Yau threefolds and moduli of abelian surfaces I

Abstract

We describe birational models and decide the rationality/unirationality of moduli spaces $\cal A$d (and $\cal A$levd) of (1, d)-polarized Abelian surfaces (with canonical level structure, respectively) for small values of d. The projective lines identified in the rational/unirational moduli spaces correspond to pencils of Abelian surfaces traced on nodal threefolds living naturally in the corresponding ambient projective spaces, and whose small resolutions are new Calabi–Yau threefolds with Euler characteristic zero