A Brill-Noether locus is a subvariety of M_g consisting of curves having certain linear series g^r_d. We study the relative position of Brill-Noether loci with respect to the gonality stratification of M_g. We construct smooth curves in P^r of given degree and genus and having the `expected' gonality. As an application we give a new proof of our result about the Kodaira dimension of the moduli space of curves of genus 23.
We describe a conjectural stratification of the Brill-Noether variety for general curves of fixed genus and gonality. As evidence for this conjecture, we show that this Brill-Noether variety has at least as many irreducible components as predicted by the conjecture, and that each of these components has the expected dimension. Our proof uses combinatorial and tropical techniques. Specifically, we analyze containment relations between the various strata of tropical Brill-Noether loci identified by Pflueger in his classification of special divisors on chains of loops.
This note is an appendix to 'Measures of irrationality for hypersurfaces of large degree' by L. Ein, R. Lazarsfeld and B. Ullery. We prove an existence result for families of curves having low gonality, and lying on fundamental loci of first order congruences of lines in $\mathbb{P}^{n+1}$. As an application, we follow the ideas of the main paper, and we present a slight refinement of a theorem included in it. In particular, we show that given a very general hypersurface $X\subset \mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ of degree $d \geq 3n-2 \geq 7$, and a dominant rational map $f \colon X \dashrightarrow \mathbb{…
We study the existence of linear series on curves lying on an Enriques surface and general in their complete linear system. Using a method that works also below the Bogomolov-Reider range, we compute, in all cases, the gonality of such curves. We also give a new result about the positive cone of line bundles on an Enriques surface and we show how this relates to the gonality.
We prove a generalization of the Brill-Noether theorem for the variety of special divisors $W^r_d(C)$ on a general curve $C$ of prescribed gonality. Our main theorem gives a closed formula for the dimension of $W^r_d(C)$. We build on previous work of Pflueger, who used an analysis of the tropical divisor theory of special chains of cycles to give upper bounds on the dimensions of Brill--Noether varieties on such curves. We prove his conjecture, that this upper bound is achieved for a general curve. Our methods introduce logarithmic stable maps as a systematic tool in Brill-Noether theory. A pr…
The gonality sequence $(d_r)_{r\geq1}$ of a smooth algebraic curve comprises the minimal degrees $d_r$ of linear systems of rank $r$. We explain two approaches to compute the gonality sequence of smooth curves in $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$: a tropical and a classical approach. The tropical approach uses the recently developed Brill--Noether theory on tropical curves and Baker's specialization of linear systems from curves to metric graphs. The classical one extends the work of Hartshorne on plane curves to curves on $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$.
We extend a previous result of Feyzbakhsh concerning the injectivity of a map of moduli spaces and we use this result to construct curves whose Brill-Noether loci have unexpected dimension.
In this article we study Brill-Noether loci of moduli space of stable bundles over smooth surfaces. We define Petri map as an analogy with the case of curves. We show the non-emptiness of certain Brill-Noether loci over very general quintic hypersurface in $\mathbb{P}^3$, and use the Petri map to produce components of expected dimension.
In this paper we deal with Brill-Noether theory for higher-rank sheaves on a polarized nodal reducible curve $(C,\underline{w})$ following the ideas of [arXiv:alg-geom/9511003v1]. We study the Brill-Noether loci of $\underline{w}$-stable depth one sheaves on $C$ having rank $r$ on all irreducible components and having small slope. In analogy with what happens in the smooth case, we prove that these loci are closely related to BGN extensions. Moreover, we produce irreducible components of the expected dimension for these Brill-Noether loci.
In the 1990's, Bertram, Feinberg and Mukai examined Brill-Noether loci for vector bundles of rank 2 with fixed canonical determinant, noting that the dimension was always bigger in this case than the naive expectation. We generalize their results to treat a much broader range of fixed-determinant Brill-Noether loci. The main technique is a careful study of symplectic Grassmannians and related concepts.
Given the Prym variety of an étale double cover one can define analogues of the classical Brill-Noether loci on Jacobians of curves. Recent work by Lahoz and Naranjo shows that the Brill-Noether locus $V^2$ completely determines the covering. In this paper we describe the singular locus and the irreducible components of $V^2$.
Let $V$ be a vector bundle over a smooth curve $C$. In this paper, we study twisted Brill--Noether loci parametrising stable bundles $E$ of rank $n$ and degree $e$ with the property that $h^0 (C, V \otimes E) \ge k$. We prove that, under conditions similar to those of Teixidor i Bigas and of Mercat, the Brill-Noether loci are nonempty, and in many cases have a component which is generically smooth and of the expected dimension. Along the way, we prove the irreducibility of certain components of both twisted and "nontwisted" Brill--Noether loci. We describe the tangent cones to the twisted Bril…
In this paper we study Brill-Noether loci for rank-two vector bundles and describe the general member of some components as suitable extensions of line bundles.
In this note we give an easy proof of the existence of generically smooth components of the expected dimension of certain Brill--Noether loci of stable rank 2 vector bundles on a curve with general moduli, with related applications to Hilbert scheme of scrolls.
We use Young tableaux to compute the dimension of $V^r$, the Prym-Brill-Noether locus of a folded chain of loops of any gonality. This tropical result yields a new upper bound on the dimensions of algebraic Prym-Brill-Noether loci. Moreover, we prove that $V^r$ is pure-dimensional and connected in codimension $1$ when $\dim V^r \geq 1$. We then compute the first Betti number of this locus for even gonality when the dimension is exactly $1$, and compute the cardinality when the locus is finite and the edge lengths are generic.
In this paper, we prove a new expected dimension formula for certain rank two Brill-Noether loci with fixed special determinant. This answers a question asked by Osserman and also leads to a new and much simpler proof of a theorem of Osserman. Our result generalizes the well-known result by Bertram, Feinberg and independently Mukai on expected dimension of rank two Brill-Noether loci with canonical determinant and partially verifies a conjecture (in rank two) of Grzegorczyk and Newstead on coherent systems.
We use A_{infinity}-formalism to study variation of cohomology spaces under formal deformations of coherent sheaves on projective varieties. As an application we describe formal neighborhoods of twisted Brill-Noether loci at some points. Another application is a computation of the Fourier-Mukai transform of some natural line bundles on symmetric powers of a curve.
In this paper, we construct some examples of rank-2 Brill-Noether loci with "unexpected" properties on general curves. The key example is in genus 6, but we also have interesting examples in rank 5 and in higher genus. We relate some of our results to the recent proof of Mercat's conjecture in rank 2 by Bakker and Farkas.
We prove the injectivity of the Petri map for linear series on a general curve with given ramification at two generic points. We also describe the components of such a set of linear series on a chain of elliptic curves.
The geometry of Sp(3)/U(3) as a subvariety of Gr(3,6) is explored to explain several examples given by Mukai of non-abelian Brill-Noether loci, and to give some new examples. These examples identify Brill-Noether loci of vector bundles on linear sections of the Lagrangian Grassmannian Sp(3)/U(3) with orthogonal linear sections of the dual variety and vice versa. A main technical result of independent interest is the fact that any nodal hyperplane section of the Lagrangian Grassmannian projected from the node is a linear section of the Grassmannian Gr(2,6).
In this paper, we describe the osculating cone to Brill-Noether loci $W^{0}_{d}(C)$ at smooth isolated points of $W^{1}_{d}(C)$ for a smooth canonically embedded curve $C$ of even genus $g=2(d-1)$. In particular, we show that the canonical curve $C$ is a component of the osculating cone. The proof is based on techniques introduced by George Kempf in 1986.
Let C be a smooth projective curve over the field of the complex numbers. We consider Brill-Noether loci over the moduli of maps from C to the Grassmannian G(m,n) and the corresponding Quot schemes of quotients of a trivial vector bundle on C compactifying the spaces of morphisms. We study in detail the case in which m=2, n=4. We prove results on the irreducibility and dimension of these Brill-Noether loci and we address explicit formulas for their cohomology classes. We study the existence problem of these spaces which is closely related with the problem of classification of vector bundles ov…
Let C be a generic curve, E a generic vector bundle on C. Then, for every line bundle on C the twisted Petri map P:H^0(C,L\otimes E)\otimes H^0(C, K\otimes L^*\otimes E^{*})--> H^0(C, K) is injective.
Let $X$ be a non-singular algebraic curve of genus $g$. We prove that the Brill-Noether locus $\bns $ is non-empty if $d= nd' +d'' $ with $0< d'' <2n$, $1\le s\le g$, $d'\geq (s-1)(s+g)/s $, $n\leq d''+(n-k)g$, $(d'',k)\ne(n,n)$. These results hold for an arbitrary curve of genus $\ge 2$, and allow us to construct a region in the associated ``Brill-Noether $\pa$-map'' of points for which the Brill-Noether loci are non-empty. Even for the generic case, the region so constructed extends beyond that defined by the so-called ``Teixidor parallelograms.'' For hyperelliptic curves, the same methods g…
Let us consider the locus in the moduli space of curves of genus 2k defined by curves with a pencil of degree k. Since the Brill-Noether number is equal to -2, such a locus has codimension two. Using the method of test surfaces, we compute the class of its closure in the moduli space of stable curves.
Let C be a smooth projective complex curve of genus $g\geq2$. We investigate the Brill-Noether locus consisting of stable bundles of rank 2 and canonical determinant having at least $k$ independent sections. Using the Hecke correpondence we construct a fundamental class, which determines the non-emptiness of this locus at least when $C$ is a Petri curve. We prove that in many expected cases the Brill-Noether locus is non-empty. For some values of $k$ the result is best possible.
Splitting type loci are the natural generalizations of Brill-Noether varieties for curves with a distinguished map to the projective line. We give a tropical proof of a theorem of H. Larson, showing that splitting type loci have the expected dimension for general elements of the Hurwitz space. Our proof uses an explicit description of splitting type loci on a certain family of tropical curves. We further show that these tropical splitting type loci are connected in codimension one, and describe an algorithm for computing their cardinality when they are zero-dimensional. We provide a conjecture…
In this paper, improving on results of Abramovich- Harris and Debarre- Fahlaoui we give the full classification of curves C of genus g such that a Brill--Noether locus W^ s_d(C), strictly contained in the jacobian J(C) of C, contains a variety Z stable under translations by the elements of a positive dimensional abelian subvariety A contained in J(C) and such that dim(Z)=d-dim(A)-2s, i.e., the maximum possible for such a Z.
In this paper we consider the singularities of the varieties parameterizing stable vector bundles of fixed rank and degree with sections on a smooth curve of genus at least two. In particular, we extend results of Y. Laszlo, and of the second author, regarding the singularities of generalized theta divisors.
Let $C$ be a smooth projective complex curve of genus $g \geq 2$. We investigate the Brill-Noether locus consisting of stable bundles of rank 2 and determinant $L$ of odd degree $d$ having at least $k$ independent sections. This locus possesses a virtual fundamental class. We show that in many cases this class is non-zero, which implies that the Brill-Noether locus is non-empty. For many values of $d$ and $k$ the result is best possible. We obtain more precise results for $k\le5$. An appendix contains the proof of a combinatorial lemma which we need.
In this paper we study the Brill Noether locus of rank 2, (semi)stable vector bundles with at least two sections and of suitable degrees on a general $ν$-gonal curve. We classify its reduced components whose dimensions are at least the corresponding Brill-Noether number. We moreover describe the general member $\mathcal F$ of such components just in terms of extensions of line bundles with suitable {\em minimality properties}, providing information on the birational geometry of such components as well as on the very-ampleness of $\mathcal F$.
We show that limit linear series spaces for chains of curves are reduced. Using new advances in the foundations of limit linear series, we then use degenerations to study the question of connectedness for spaces of linear series with imposed ramification at up to two points. We find that in general, these spaces may not be connected even when they have positive dimension, but we prove a criterion for connectedness which generalizes the theorem previously proved by Fulton and Lazarsfeld in the case without imposed ramification.
Trigonal curves provide an example of Brill-Noether special curves. Theorem 1.3 of [9] characterizes the Brill-Noether theory of general trigonal curves and the refined stratification by Brill-Noether splitting loci, which parametrize line bundles whose push forward to $\mathbb{P}^1$ has a specified splitting type. This note describes the refined stratification for all trigonal curves. Given the Maroni invariant of a trigonal curve, we determine the dimensions of all Brill-Noether splitting loci and describe their irreducible components. When the dimension is positive, these loci are connected…
Consider the moduli space $M_C(r; K_C)$ of stable rank r vector bundles on a curve $C$ with canonical determinant, and let $h$ be the maximum number of linearly independent global sections of these bundles. If $C$ embeds in a K3 surface $X$ as a generator of $Pic(X)$ and the genus $g$ of $C$ is sufficiently high, we show the Brill-Noether locus $BN_C \subset M_C(r; K_C)$ of bundles with $h$ global sections is a smooth projective Hyperkähler manifold of dimension $2g -2r \lfloor \frac{g}{r}\rfloor$, isomorphic to a moduli space of stable vector bundles on $X$.
We provide a bound on the $Θ$-regularity of an arbitrary reduced and irreducible curve embedded in a polarized abelian variety in terms of its degree and codimension. This is an "abelian" version of Gruson-Lazarsfeld-Peskine's bound on the Castelnuovo--Mumford regularity of a non-degenerate curve embedded in a projective space. As an application, we provide a Castelnuovo type bound for the genus of a curve in a (non necessarily principally) polarized abelian variety. Finally, we bound the $Θ$-regularity of a class of higher dimensional subvarieties in Jacobian varieties, i.e. the Brill-Noether…
We describe the Hodge theory of brilliant families of K3 surfaces. Their characteristic feature is a close link between the Hodge structures of any two fibres over points in the Noether-Lefschetz locus. Twistor deformations, the analytic Tate-Safarevic group, and one-dimensional Shimura special cycles are covered by the theory. In this setting, the Brauer group is viewed as the Noether-Lefschetz locus of the Brauer family or as the specialization of the Noether-Lefschetz loci in a family of approaching twistor spaces. Passing from one algebraic twistor fibre to another, which by construction i…
For a projective nonsingular curve of genus $g$, the Brill-Noether locus $W^r_d(C)$ parametrizes line bundles of degree $d$ over $C$ with at least $r+1$ sections. When the curve is generic and the Brill-Noether number $ρ(g,r,d)$ equals $1$, one can then talk of the \emph{Brill-Noether curve}. In this paper, we explore the first two invariants of this curve, giving a new way of calculating the genus of this curve and computing its gonality when $C$ has genus 5.
Let $M_{\mathbb{P}^2}(v)$ be a moduli space of semistable sheaves on $\mathbb{P}^2$, and let $B^k(v) \subseteq M_{\mathbb{P}^2}(v)$ be the \textit{Brill-Noether locus} of sheaves $E$ with $h^0(\mathbb{P}^2, E) \geq k$. In this paper we develop the foundational properties of Brill-Noether loci on $\mathbb{P}^2$. Set $r = r(E)$ to be the rank and $c_1, c_2$ the Chern classes. The Brill-Noether loci have natural determinantal scheme structures and expected dimensions $dim B^k(v) = dim M_{\mathbb{P}^2}(v) - k(k - χ(E))$. When $c_1 > 0$, we show that the Brill-Noether locus $B^r(v)$ is nonempty. Wh…
We prove a non abelian Torelli type result for smooth projective curves by working in the derived category of some associated polarized Quot schemes and defining Brill-Noether loci and Abel-Jacobi maps on them.
Given a vector bundle $V$ over a curve $X$, we define and study a surjective rational map $\mathrm{Hilb}^d (\mathbb{P} V ) - \mathrm{Quot}^{0, d} ( V^* )$ generalising the natural map $\mathrm{Sym}^d X \to \mathrm{Quot}^{0, d} ({\mathcal O}_X)$. We then give a generalisation of the geometric Riemann--Roch theorem to vector bundles of higher rank over $X$. We use this to give a geometric description of the tangent cone to the Brill--Noether locus $B^r_{r, d}$ at a suitable bundle $E$ with $h^0 (E) = r+n$. This gives a generalisation of the Riemann--Kempf singularity theorem. As a corollary, we …
The symplectic Brill--Noether locus ${\mathcal S}_{2n, K}^k$ associated to a curve $C$ parametrises stable rank $2n$ bundles over $C$ with at least $k$ sections and which carry a nondegenerate skewsymmetric bilinear form with values in the canonical bundle. This is a symmetric determinantal variety whose tangent spaces are defined by a symmetrised Petri map. We obtain upper bounds on the dimensions of various components of ${\mathcal S}_{2n, K}^k$. We show the nonemptiness of several ${\mathcal S}_{2n, K}^k$, and in most of these cases also the existence of a component which is generically smo…
For a projective variety X, a line bundle L on X and r a natural number we consider the r-th Brill-Noether locus W^r(L,X):={η\in Pic^0(X)|h^0(L+η)\geq r+1}: we describe its natural scheme structure and compute the Zariski tangent space. If X is a smooth surface of maximal Albanese dimension and C is a curve on X, we define a Brill-Noether number ρ(C, r) and we prove, under some mild additional assumptions, that if ρ(C, r) is non negative then W^r(C,X) is nonempty of dimension bigger or equal to ρ(C,r). As an application, we derive lower bounds for h^0(K_D) for a divisor D that moves linearly o…
