On linear systems of curves on rational scrolls (Q1597483)

The author studies linear systems of curves defined by fixed points of given multiplicities on Hirzebruch surfaces \({{\mathbb F}_n}\). If \(\operatorname{Pic}{\mathbb {F}_n} = \langle H,F\rangle\), where \(F\) is a fiber and \(H^2=n\), \(F\cdot H=1\), the linear systems under consideration are of type \({\mathcal L}(a,b,m_1,\dots,m_s)\), i.e. the subsystem of the complete linear system \(| aF+bH|\) given by the curves having multiplicity at least \(m_i\) at \(P_i\), for \(s\) generic points \(P_1,\dots ,P_s\). In analogy with what happens in \({\mathbb P}^2\), the author conjectures that such linear systems are special (i.e. their dimension is bigger than expected) if and only if they are \((-1)\)-special, i.e. there is a \((-1)\)-curve \(E\) such that the base locus of \({\mathcal L}(a,b,m_1,\dots,m_s)\) contains \(\alpha \Gamma_n + tE\), \(t\geq 2\), \(\alpha \geq 0\). Here \(\Gamma_n\in | H-nF|\) is the curve with \(\Gamma ^2=-n\), while a \((-1)\)-curve \(E\) is an irreducible curve such that \(E^2=-1=K_{{\mathbb F}_n}\cdot E\). In the paper the conjecture is proved for \(m_1=\cdots =m_s\leq 3\); the main idea of the proof is to list all \((-1)\)-special systems with multiplicities \(m_i\leq 3\) via birational transformations \({\mathbb F}_n \rightarrow {\mathbb F}_{n-1}\) (a generalization of quadratic transformations in \({\mathbb P}^2\)) and then to work with suitable deformations of \({\mathbb F}_n\).