On the genus of a hyperplane section of a geometrically ruled surface (Q1099226)

Let X be a complex projective geometrically ruled surface over a smooth curve C. Then, denoting by \(C_ 0\) a section of minimal selfintersection and by f a fiber of the ruling, any divisor D on X is numerically equivalent to \(aC_ 0+bf, a,b\in {\mathbb{Z}}\). The authors pose the following two related problems: to determine for a fixed a, (i) the minimal b, say \(b_ a\), such that \(D\equiv aC_ 0+bf\) is very ample; (ii) the maximal genus \(\lambda_ a\) of a very ample divisor D. When \(g(C)=0\), it is well known that \(b_ a=ae+1\) and \(\lambda_ a=a(a-1)e\), with \(e=-(C_ 0\cdot C_ 0)\). The authors give partial answer to both problems when g(C)\(\geq 1\); in case \(g=1\) the answer is sharp. A slight improvement of their results has been recently obtained by \textit{G. M. Besana} and \textit{P. Olivretto} [``Criteri numerici di molte ampiezza per divisori su alcune superfici'' (Preprint, Univ. Milano 1988)].