Ulrich bundles. From commutative algebra to algebraic geometry (Q2222185)

The book under review is an introduction to and an overview of recent results related to Ulrich bundles. Ulrich bundles have been the subject of increasing interest from algebraic geometers during the past two decades, although their roots in commutative algebra reach back into the 1980s. A particularly interesting, and still unsolved, problem is whether Ulrich bundles exist on any smooth projective variety; as we shall see, the authors dedicate much of the book to the construction of Ulrich bundles on several important classes of projective varieties. The book is divided into seven chapters and an appendix. Chapter 1 discusses the definition and basic properties of vector bundles. After the definition of vector bundles, the authors give standard results such as the equivalence of vector bundles and locally free sheaves, Theorems A and B of Serre, Serre duality, basic properties of Chern classes and the Riemann-Roch theorem. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of stability properties of vector bundles and moduli spaces. Chapter 2 is dedicated to arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay (aCM) bundles. Here, the existence of indecomposable aCM sheaves on a variety is related to the three-way classification of a projective variety as having \emph{finite representation type}, \emph{tame representation type}, and \emph{wild representation type}. This trichotomy parallels an analogous classification of quivers. It follows that the description of aCM bundles on various kinds of projective varieties is crucial, and the authors do this for the projective space \(\mathbb{P}^n\) and the smooth \(n\)-dimensional quadric \(Q_n \subset \mathbb{P}^{n+1}\). Since there are only finitely many indecomposable aCM bundles on these two varieties (up to twist), it follows that they are of \emph{finite representation type}. The authors also provide a classification of irreducible and \emph{homogeneous} aCM bundles on the Grassmann variety \(G(k,n) \subset \mathbb{P}^{\binom{n+1}{k+1}-1}\). The last section in Chapter 2 contains a number of results on aCM bundles of low rank (mostly up to 2, but sometimes higher) on smooth hypersurfaces in \(\mathbb{P}^n\). With Chapter 3, the book starts the study of Ulrich bundles. A number of equivalent definitions of Ulrich bundles are given; this is then followed by properties of Ulrich bundles. Especially important here are the stability properties of Ulrich bundles, and the result that the Jordan-Hölder factors of a strictly semistable Ulrich bundle are themselves Ulrich bundles. Finally, the existence of Ulrich bundles on smooth projective curves is proved. The remaining chapters treat the existence of Ulrich bundles on various classes of varieties. In Chapter 4, the focus is on complete intersections. First, Ulrich bundles are constructed on smooth hypersurfaces \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^n\); the tool used here is linear matrix factorizations. Next, existence of Ulrich bundles on complete intersections is proved. This is followed by an investigation on Ulrich bundles of low rank on general surfaces in \(\mathbb{P}^3\). Chapter 5 contains a detailed investigation of Ulrich bundles on surfaces. This chapter starts with a discussion of preliminaries, which includes some numerical results on the Chern classes of Ulrich bundles on surfaces followed by a summary of techniques of vector bundle construction. After the preliminaries, the case of Kodaira dimensions \(\kappa = - \infty\) and \(\kappa = 0\) are treated. The case of positive Kodaira dimension yields fewer results, which are explained next. The chapter ends with a discussion of the effect of the polarization on the existence of Ulrich bundles; for large multiples of the polarization, it is proved that Ulrich bundles exist. In Chapter 6, it is proved that there exist Ulrich bundles on the complete intersection of two quadrics in \(\mathbb{P}^5\). Finally, Chapter 7 presents some results on the existence of Ulrich bundles for higher dimensional varieties; Segre varieties, Grassmann varieties, and flag varieties are covered. There is also an appendix on derived categories, elements of the theory of which are used in certain constructions of Ulrich bundles. The level of the book is suitable for graduate students interested in the theory of vector bundles. At the end of each chapter is a section that gives numerous references for further reading on the subject. The bibliography is comprehensive and up-to-date. (The readers should take note, however, that the reference numbers in early chapters are shifted by one, possibly due to a technical mishap.)