Primitive linear series on curves (Q1210037)

A complete linear series \(g^ r_ d\) on a smooth curve \(C\) is said to be primitive if both it and its dual \(| K_ C-g^ r_ d|\) are base-point free. The authors define the Clifford sequence \(S(C)\) of \(C\) as the set of Clifford indices (defined as \(d-2r)\) of all nontrivial primitive series on \(C\). For example, the Clifford sequence for the general curve of genus \(g\) is \(S(C)=\{c,c+1,\dots,g-3\}\) (where \(c=[{g- 1\over 2}])\), while for a hyperelliptic curve it is \(S(C)=\{0\}\). The primitive length of \(C\) is defined to be the cardinality \(\ell(C)\) of \(S(C)\). The following result about the primitive length are proved: For sufficiently high genus, a characterization for curves with \(\ell\leq 3\) is given. More precisely, they are hyperelliptic (if \(\ell=1\) and \(g\leq 7)\) or bielliptic (if \(\ell=2\) and \(g\geq 11)\), while there are not curves with \(\ell=3\) and \(g\geq 19\). For any fixed positive integer \(g'\) the primitive length of genus \(g\) curves that admit a double cover onto a curve of genus \(g'\) is bounded. Given a positive integer \(\ell\), the genus of curves that are not a double cover and have primitive length \(\ell\) is bounded. In the course of the proof, the authors also obtain some results about the dimension of certain varieties \(W^ r_ d\) of special divisors. For instance, H. Marten's theorem is refined.