On smooth \(k\)-gonal curves with another fixed pencil (Q1804709)

Let \(M_g\) be the moduli scheme of complex smooth complete curves of genus \(g\), \(M_{g,k}\) be the subvariety parametrizing the \(k\)-gonal curves and \(U(k,a;y)\), \(k \leq a \leq y/2\), be the constructible subset parametrizing the \(k\)-gonal curves with base point free, simple and complete \(g^1_a\). The authors prove the following: Let \(4 \leq k \leq a \leq g/2\), \(n = (a - 1) (k - 1) - y\) and assume \(n \geq 0\), \(3g \geq 2ak - 4a - 4k + 3\). Then there is an integral family \(T\) of genus \(g\) curves in \(U (k,a;g)\) such that for a general \(C \in T\) (with \(g^1_k\) and \(g^1_a\) as linear systems) one has \[ \begin{multlined} \dim |rg^1_k + ug^1_a |= \\ = (r + 1) (u + 1) + n - (k - u - 1) (a - r - 1) + \max \bigl( 0, \max (k - u - 1, 0) \bigr) - \max (a - r - 1,0) - n - 1 \end{multlined} \] for \(r,u \geq 0\). In particular \(|r g^1_k + ug^1_a |\) is not special if \(n \geq (k - 1 - u) (a - 1 - r)\).