Chow Stability of Curves of Genus 4 in P³

In the paper, we study the GIT construction of the moduli space of Chow semistable curves of genus 4 in P^3. By using the GIT method developed by Mumford and a deformation theoretic argument, we give a modular description of this moduli space. We classify Chow stable or Chow semistable curves when they are irreducible or nonreduced. Then we work out the case when a curve has two components. Our classification provides some clues to understand the birational map from the moduli space of stable curves of genus 4 to the moduli space of Chow semistable curves of genus 4 in P^3.