Biliaison of sheaves (Q2031742)

The two landmark theorems in liaison theory for codimension two subschemes in \(\mathbb P^n\) are the following: (1) There is a bijection between even linkage equivalence classes of locally Cohen-Macaulay subschemes in \(\mathbb P^n\) and stable equivalence classes of vector bundles [\textit{A. P. Rao}, Math. Ann. 258, 169--173 (1981; Zbl 0493.14009)]; (2) Each even linkage equivalence class \(\mathcal L\) has a minimal element \(X_0\) such that each \(X \in \mathcal L\) is obtained from \(X_0\) by a sequence of basic double links followed by a cohomology-preserving deformation. \textit{R. Lazarsfeld} and \textit{P. Rao} discovered the latter structure for general embeddings \(X_0 \subset \mathbb P^3\) of a smooth curve [Lect. Notes Math. 997, 267--289 (1983; Zbl 0532.14017)], but it has since been proved in general for locally Cohen-Macaulay curves in \(\mathbb P^3\) by \textit{M. Martin-Deschamps} and \textit{D. Perrin} [Sur la classification des courbes gauches. Paris: Société Mathématique de France (1990; Zbl 0717.14017)] and locally Cohen-Macaulay subschemes of codimension two in \(\mathbb P^n\) by \textit{E. Ballico} et al. [Am. J. Math. 113, No. 1, 117--128 (1991; Zbl 0754.14032)]. The reviewer has extended both theorems to pure codimension two subschemes of \(\mathbb P^n\) which need not be locally Cohen-Macaulay [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 348, 1137--1162 (1996; Zbl 0859.14018)]. The author extends even linkage of (ideal sheaves of) codimension two subschemes in \(\mathbb P^n\) to an equivalence relation among sheaves on a projective variety \(X\) with very ample line bundle \(\mathcal O (1)\). A sheaf \(\mathcal F\) is a \textit{descendant} of a sheaf \(\mathcal E\) if there is an exact sequence \[ 0 \to P \to \mathcal E \oplus Q \to \mathcal F \to 0 \] where \(P,Q\) are direct sums of line bundles \(\mathcal O (n)\) with \(n \in \mathbb Z\). Two sheaves \(\mathcal F, \mathcal G\) are \textit{biliaison equivalent} if they are descendants of a common sheaf \(\mathcal E\). Biliaison equivalence is indeed an equivalence relation and it is clear from the definition that stably equivalent sheaves are biliaison equivalent. The author proves analogs of the two landmark theorems, showing that biliaison classes of sheaves are in bijection with stable equivalence classes of primitive sheaves and each equivalence class has minimal sheaves from which the rest can be generated by certain basic moves and a rational cohomology preserving deformation. He also maps out a corresponding moduli program for torsion-free sheaves on a variety \(X\) of irregularity zero. This program has already been carried out for rank one torsion free sheaves [Martin-Deschamps and Perrin, loc. cit.] and in earlier work of the author on the moduli of bundles on \(\mathbb P^n\) in the biliaison equivalence class of the zero sheaf [``Bundles on \({ P}^n\) with vanishing lower cohomologies'', Can. J. Math. 2020, 1--19 (2020; \url{doi:10.4153/S0008414X20000292})]. The paper is written in very general fashion and has many examples.