We introduce two new invariants of Prym curves, the Prym-canonical Clifford index and the Prym-canonical Clifford dimension. The former is a nonnegative integer (according to Prym-Clifford's theorem), while the latter is a pair of nonnegative ordered integers. We classify Prym curves with Prym-canonical Clifford index equal to 0,1,2. By specialization to hyperelliptic curves, we compute the Prym-canonical Clifford index of a general Prym curve and show that its Prym-canonical Clifford dimension is (0,0).
In this paper we study Koszul cohomology and the Green and Prym-Green conjectures for canonical and Prym-canonical binary curves. We prove that if property $N_p$ holds for a canonical or a Prym-canonical binary curve of genus $g$ then it holds for a generic canonical or Prym-canonical binary curve of genus $g+1$. We also verify the Green and Prym-Green conjectures for generic canonical and Prym-canonical binary curves of low genus ($6\leq g\leq 15$, $g\neq 8$ for Prym-canonical and $3\leq g\leq 12$ for canonical).
We show that the second fundamental form of the Prym map lifts the second gaussian map of the Prym-canonical bundle. We prove, by degeneration to binary curves, that this gaussian map is surjective for the general point [C,A] of R_g for g > 19.
We prove that the locus of Prym curves $(C,η)$ of genus $g \geq 5$ for which the Prym-canonical system $|ω_C(η)|$ is base point free but the Prym--canonical map is not an embedding is irreducible and unirational of dimension $2g+1$.
We explicit some general properties regarding surfaces with Prym-canonical hyperplane sections and the geometric genus of their possible singularities. Moreover, we construct new examples of this type of surfaces.
We prove by degeneration to Prym-canonical binary curves that the first Gaussian map of the Prym canonical line bundle $ω_C \otimes A$ is surjective for the general point [C,A] of R_g if g >11, while it is injective if g < 12.
Throughout the paper, among other esults, we give partial analogues of theorem 1.1 for projectivized tangent cone quadrics of rank equal or less than 4, for Prymians.
We prove that the moduli space of double covers ramified at two points $\mathcal{R}_{g,2}$ is uniruled for $3\leq g\leq 6$ and of general type for $g\geq 16$. Furthermore, we consider Prym-canonical divisorial strata in the moduli space $\overline{\mathcal{C}^n\mathcal{R}}_g$ parametrizing $n$-pointed Prym curves, and we compute their classes in $\mathrm{Pic}_\mathbb{Q}(\overline{\mathcal{C}^n\mathcal{R}}_g)$.
We show that the moduli spaces of non-triple cyclic coverings of genus 2 curves and that of even spin curves of genus 2 are birationally isomorphic via the Prym map. We describe the log canonical models of the moduli space of even spin curves of genus 2 and use this to extend the above birational map.
In the paper we consider the Jacobian locus $\overline{J_g}$ and the Prym locus $\overline{P_{g+1}}$, in the moduli space $A_g$ of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension $g$, for $g\geq 7$, and we study the extrinsic geometry of $\overline{J_g}\subset \overline{P_{g+1}}$, under the inclusion provided by the theory of generalized Prym varieties as introduced by Beauville. More precisely, we study certain geodesic curves with respect to the Siegel metric of $A_g$, starting at a Jacobian variety $[JC]\in A_g$ of a curve $[C]\in M_g$ and with direction $ζ\in T_{[JC]}J_g$. We prove th…
Let $P \cup P'$ be the two component Prym variety associated to an étale double cover $\tilde{C} \to C$ of a non-hyperelliptic curve of genus $g \geq 6$ and let $|2Ξ_0|$ and $|2Ξ_0'|$ be the linear systems of second order theta divisors on $P$ and $P'$ respectively. The component $P'$ contains canonically the Prym curve $\tilde{C}$. We show that the base locus of the subseries of divisors containing $\tilde{C} \subset P'$ is scheme-theoretically the curve $\tilde{C}$. We also prove canonical isomorphisms between some subseries of $|2Ξ_0|$ and $|2Ξ_0'|$ and some subseries of second order theta …
We study the enumerative geometry of the moduli space R_g of Prym varieties of dimension g-1 (also known as the space of admissible double covers). Our main result is that the compactification of R_g is of general type as soon as g>13. We achieve this by computing the class of two types of cycles on R_g: one defined in terms of Koszul cohomology of Prym curves, the other defined in terms of Raynaud theta divisors associated to certain vector bundles on curves. We formulate a Prym-Green conjecture on syzygies of Prym-canonical curves. In the appendix we show that even though R_g has non-canonic…
Let X be a smooth complex surface of general type such that the image of the canonical map $ϕ$ of X is a surface $Σ$ and that $ϕ$ has degree $δ\geq 2$. Let $ε\colon S\to Σ$ be a desingularization of $Σ$ and assume that the geometric genus of S is not zero. Beauville has proved that in this case S is of general type and $ε$ is the canonical map of S. Beauville has also constructed the only infinite series of examples $ϕ:X\to Σ$ with the above properties that was known up to now. Starting from his construction, we define a {\em good generating pair}, namely a pair $(h:V\to W, L)$ where h is a fi…
We prove canonical isomorphisms between Spin Verlinde spaces, i.e, spaces of global sections of a determinant line bundle over the moduli space of semistable Spin-bundles over a smooth projective curve C, and the dual spaces of theta functions over Prym varieties of unramified double covers of C.
To any pair of coverings $f_i: X \ra X_i, i = 1,2$ of smooth projective curves one can associate an abelian subvariety of the Jacobian $J_X$, the Prym variety $P(f_1,f_2)$ of the pair $(f_1,f_2)$. In some cases we can compute the type of the restriction of the canonical principal polarization of $JX$. We obtain 2 families of Prym-Tyurin varieties of exponent 6.
It is well known that the Prym variety of an étale cyclic covering of a hyperelliptic curve is isogenous to the product of two Jacobians. Moreover, if the degree of the covering is odd or congruent to 2 mod 4, then the canonical isogeny is an isomorphism. We compute the degree of this isogeny in the remaining cases and show that only in the case of coverings of degree 4 it is an isomorphism.
We construct two pencils of bielliptic curves of genus three and genus five. The first pencil is associated with a general abelian surface with a polarization of type $(1,2)$. The second pencil is related to the first by an unramified double cover, the Prym variety of which is canonically isomorphic to the Jacobian of a very general curve of genus two. Our results are obtained by analyzing suitable elliptic fibrations on the associated Kummer surfaces and rational double covers among them.
Let $π: Z \ra X$ be a Galois covering of smooth projective curves with Galois group the Weyl group of a simple and simply-connected Lie group $G$. For any dominant weight $λ$ consider the curve $Y = Z/\Stab(λ)$. The Kanev correspondence defines an abelian subvariety $P_λ$ of the Jacobian of $Y$. We compute the type of the polarization of the restriction of the canonical principal polarization of $\Jac(Y)$ to $P_λ$ in some cases. In particular, in the case of the group $E_8$ we obtain families of Prym-Tyurin varieties. The main idea is the use of an abelianization map of the Donagi-Prym variety…
Let $G$ denote a finite group and $π: Z \to Y$ a Galois covering of smooth projective curves with Galois group $G$. For every subgroup $H$ of $G$ there is a canonical action of the corresponding Hecke algebra $\mathbb{Q}[H \backslash G/H]$ on the Jacobian of the curve $X = Z/H$. To each rational irreducible representation $\mathcal{W}$ of $G$ we associate an idempotent in the Hecke algebra, which induces a correspondence of the curve $X$ and thus an abelian subvariety $P$ of the Jacobian $JX$. We give sufficient conditions on $\mathcal{W}$, $H$, and the action of $G$ on $Z$, which imply $P$ to…
We study moduli spaces of K3 surfaces endowed with a Nikulin involution and their image in the moduli space R_g of Prym curves of genus g. We observe a striking analogy with Mukai's well-known work on ordinary K3 surfaces. Many of Mukai's results have a very precise Prym-Nikulin analogue, for instance: (1) A general Prym curve from R_g is a section of a Nikulin surface if and only if g\leq 7, g\neq 6. (2) R_7 has the structure of a Mori fibre space over the corresponding moduli space of polarized Nikulin surfaces. (3) In the case of genus next to maximal (g=6), the Prym-Nikulin locus in R_6 is…
The Prym-Green Conjecture predicts that the resolution of a generic n-torsion paracanonical curve of every genus is natural. The conjecture has mostly been studied so far for level 2, that is, for Prym-canonical curves. Using a construction of Barth and Verra that realizes torsion bundles on sections of special K3 surfaces, we prove the Prym-Green Conjecture for curves of odd genus g and torsion bundles of sufficiently high order with respect to g. We also give partial results in even genus. In the process, we confirm the expectation of Barth and Verra concerning the number of curves in a fixe…
Starting from a beautiful idea of Kanev, we construct a uniformization of the moduli space A_6 of principally polarized abelian 6-folds in terms of curves and monodromy data. We show that the general ppav of dimension 6 is a Prym-Tyurin variety corresponding to a degree 27 cover of the projective line having monodromy the Weyl group of the E_6 lattice. Along the way, we establish numerous facts concerning the geometry of the Hurwitz space of such E_6-covers, including: (1) a proof that the canonical class of the Hurwitz space is big, (2) a concrete geometric description of the Hodge-Hurwitz ei…
With every smooth, projective algebraic curve $\tilde{C}$ with involution $σ:\tilde{C}\longrightarrow \tilde{C}$ without fixed points is associated the Prym data which consists of the Prym variety $P:=(1-σ)J(\tilde{C})$ with principal polarization $Ξ$ such that $2Ξ$ is algebraically equivalent to the restriction on $P$ of the canonical polarization $Θ$ of the Jacobian $J(\tilde{C})$. In contrast to the classical Torelli theorem the Prym data does not always determine uniquely the pair $(\tilde{C},σ)$ up to isomorphism. In this paper we introduce an extension of the Prym data as follows. We con…
Generalizing the well-known Green Conjecture on syzygies of canonical curves, Green and Lazarsfeld formulated in 1986 the Secant Conjecture predicting that a line bundle L of sufficiently high degree on a curve has a non-linear p-syzygy if and only if L fails to be (p+1)-very ample. Via lattice theory for special K3 surfaces, Voisin's solution of the classical Green Conjecture and calculations on moduli stacks of pointed curves, we prove: (1) The Green-Lazarsfeld Secant Conjecture in various degree of generality, including its strongest possible form in the divisorial case in the universal Jac…
Green's Conjecture states the following : syzygies of the canonical model of a curve are simple up to the p^th stage if and only if the Clifford index of C is greater than p. We prove that the generic curve of genus g satisfies Green's conjecture.
Green's canonical syzygy conjecture asserts a simple relationship between the Clifford index of a smooth projective curve and the shape of the minimal free resolution of its homogeneous ideal in the canonical embedding. We prove the analogue of this conjecture formulated by Bayer and Eisenbud for a class of non-reduced curves called ribbons. Our proof uses the results of Voisin and Hirschowitz-Ramanan on Green's conjecture for general smooth curves.
Let f :S\to B be a non locally trivial fibred surface. We prove a lower bound for the slope of f depending increasingly from the relative irregularity of f and the Clifford index of the general fibres.
Let $C$ be a smooth curve of genus $g\ge 4$ and Clifford index $c$. In this paper, we prove that if $C$ is neither hyperelliptic nor bielliptic with $g\ge 2c+5$ and $\mathcal M$ computes the Clifford index of $C$, then either $°\mathcal M\le \frac{3c}{2}+3$ or $|\mathcal M|=|g^1_{c+2}+h^1_{c+2}|$ and $g=2c+5$. This strengthens the Coppens and Martens' theorem (\cite{CM}, Corollary 3.2.5). Furthermore, for the latter case (1) $\mathcal M$ is half-canonical unless $C$ is a $\frac{c+2}{2}$-fold covering of an elliptic curve, (2) $\mathcal M(F)$ fails to be normally generated with $\cli(\mathcal M…
We prove two results. First, we establish that the normal bundle of any smooth curve of genus 7 having maximal Clifford index is stable. Note that 7 is the smallest genus for which such a result could possibly hold. We then show that rank four Lazarsfeld-Mukai vector bundles on a curve that lies on a general K3 surface are stable. Both results have consequences for Mercat's conjecture on higher rank vector bundles on generic curves.
In a first part of this paper, we prove constancy of the canonical graded Betti table among the smooth curves in linear systems on Gorenstein weak Fano toric surfaces. In a second part, we show that Green's canonical syzygy conjecture holds for all smooth curves of genus at most 32 or Clifford index at most 6 on arbitrary toric surfaces. Conversely we use known results on Green's conjecture (due to Lelli-Chiesa) to obtain new facts about graded Betti tables of projectively embedded toric surfaces.
