Surfaces of general type with \(p_g=0\), \(K^2=6\) and non birational bicanonical map (Q1889455)

Let \(X\) be a complex projective surface of Kodaira dimension \(2\) and assume \(X\) minimal, with \(p_g(X)=0\). The bicanonical map \(\phi\) of \(X\), i.e. the map associated to \(| 2K_X| \), is known to be finite when \(K^2_X\) ranges between \(2\) and the maximal value \(9\). Moreover, when \(K^2_X=9\), then \(\phi\) is birational. The cases \(K^2_X=7,8\) and \(\deg(\phi)>1\) have been classified by the authors in a previous paper. In the paper under review, the authors address the case \(K^2_X=6\). They show that, in this setting, if \(\phi\) is not birational, then its degree is either \(2\) or \(4\) and the image is a rational surface. Then the authors consider more closely the case \(\deg(\phi)=2\). They determine a geometric description of surfaces \(X\) in this class: \(X\) has a rational fibration whose general fiber is hyperelliptic of genus \(3\), the fibration has \(4\) or \(5\) double fibers and the bicanonical involution on \(X\) cuts the \(g^1_2\) on the fibers.