Limit canonical systems on curves with two components

Abstract.

In the 80’s D. Eisenbud and J. Harris considered the following problem: “What are the limits of Weierstrass points in families of curves degenerating to stable curves?” But for the case of stable curves of compact type, treated by them, this problem remained wide open since then. In the present article, we propose a concrete approach to this problem, and give a quite explicit solution for stable curves with just two irreducible components meeting at points in general position.