A twisted bicanonical system with base points (Q2364522): Difference between revisions

This paper deals with twisted bicanonical systems of minimal complex surfaces \(S\) of general type i.e. linear systems of divisors numerically equivalent to \(2K_S\). According to a theorem of Reider such linear systems are basepoint free if \(K_S^2 \geq 5\). Examples admitting base points are only known for \(K_S^2=1\) and \(2\). It is therefore natural and important to ask whether there exists a minimal surface \(S\) of general type with \(K_S^2=3\) or \(4\) admitting a (twisted) bicanonical system with base points. In a previous work the authors, together with G. Bini and J. Neves, constructed a four dimensional family \(\mathcal M\) of surfaces with \(p_g=q=0\), \(K_S^2=3\) and \(\pi_1(S) \simeq \mathbb Z_4 \rtimes \mathbb Z_4\). The first result of this article provides a partial answer to the above question: for each member \(S\) of \(\mathcal M\) there exists a \(2\)-torsion line bundle \(\eta \in\mathrm{Pic}(S)\) not divisible by two such that \(|2K_S + \eta|\) has exactly two base points. Moreover the authors give a precise description of the image of the associated twisted bicanonical map: it maps birationally onto a tacnodal surface of degree \(10\) in projective \(3\)-space with a 1-cycle of degree \(26\). Based on this result they show that finding a minimal surface \(S\) of general type with \(K_S^2=3\) is, under some mild technical assumptions, essentially the same as constructing a suitable curve in \(\mathbb P^3\). At the moment the existence of such a curve is still open.