# Article

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Keywords:
moduli space of curves; gonality; real curves; Brill-Noether theory; real algebraic curves; real Riemann surfaces
Summary:
Let ${\mathcal{M}}_g$ be the moduli space of smooth complex projective curves of genus $g$. Here we prove that the subset of ${\mathcal{M}}_g$ formed by all curves for which some Brill-Noether locus has dimension larger than the expected one has codimension at least two in ${\mathcal{M}}_g$. As an application we show that if $X \in {\mathcal{M}}_g$ is defined over ${\mathbb {R}}$, then there exists a low degree pencil $u\: X \rightarrow {\mathbb {P}}^1$ defined over ${\mathbb {R}}$.
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