Construction of surfaces of general type from elliptic surfaces via \(\mathbb Q\)-Gorenstein smoothing (Q1925736)

The paper addresses the following question: ``Is it possible to construct an interesting complex surface via \(\mathbb Q\)-Gorenstein smoothing of a singular surface obtained by contracting linear chains of rational curves in a blow-up of an \(E(n)\) surface with \(n\geq 2\), or of an Enrique surface?'' A positive answer is given in the case of Enriques surfaces and of \(E(3)\) surfaces. Thus the authors, using some special Enriques surface, can produce new examples of minimal surfaces of general type with \(p_g=0\), \(\pi_1=\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z\), and \(K^2=1,2,3,4\). The examples all have ample canonical class. In particular the cases \(K^2=2,4\) provide new existence results. The method used is an adaptation of the one introduced in [\textit{Y. Lee} and \textit{J. Park}, Invent. Math. 170, No. 3, 483--505 (2007; Zbl 1126.14049)], and also used in many papers by the third autor together with J. Park and J. Shin.