Classification of degree two curves in the symmetric square with positive self-intersection (Q1747150)

The existence of a curve \(\widetilde{B}\) of arithmetic genus \(p_a(\widetilde{B})\) in the Brill-Neother range, \(q< p_a(\widetilde{B})<2q-1\), that generates an abelian variety of dimension \(q\), finds some interest in the literature, see, for example, [\textit{G. P. Pirola}, in: Abelian varieties. Proceedings of the international conference held in Egloffstein, Germany, October 3-8, 1993. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 237--249 (1995; Zbl 0837.14036)] and [\textit{M. Mendes Lopes} et al., J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 16, No. 10, 2033--2057 (2014; Zbl 1317.14019)]. In this sense, one may wonder about the existence of a curve \(\widetilde{B}\) with arithmetic genus in the Brill-Neother range, lying in the square symmetric product \(C^{(2)}\) of a smooth complex curve \(C\) of (geometric) genus \(g(C)\geq2\), and having positive self-intersection \(\widetilde{B}^2>0\). A characterization of such curves \(\widetilde{B}\) is given in [\textit{M. Sáez}, Collect. Math. 67, No. 3, 399--405 (2016; Zbl 1353.14041)] from the existence of a curve \(D\) in a diagram of morphisms of smooth curves with certain properties. A bound on the degree of \(\widetilde{B}\) is also provided, which suggests that for large \(g\) that \(\widetilde{B}\) should have low degree. The article under review, motivated by the above results, considers low degree curves \(\widetilde{B}\), mainly the degree two case. Theorem 1.3 classifies all pairs \((C,\widetilde{B})\) with \(C\) smooth, \(\widetilde{B}\subset C^{(2)}\) such that \(\widetilde{B}\) has degree two and positive self-intersection. Corollary 6.3 assures that no such pair exists if \(g(C)< p_a(\widetilde{B})<2g(C)-1\). To find examples of degree two curves with arithmetic genus in the Brill-Noether range and positive self-intersection, curves \(\widetilde{B}\) with reducible preimage and those with irreducible preimage in \(C\times C\) are investigated; Proposition 1.1 and Theorem 1.2, respectively. The geometry, in particular, the possible singularities, of degree two curves in the symmetric square is also studied.