Ulrich bundles on \(K3\) surfaces (Q2324675)

Let \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^N\) be an \(n\)-dimensional projective variety. A coherent sheaf \(\mathcal F\) on \(X\) is Ulrich if \(H^{*}(X, \mathcal F(-t)) = 0\) for \(1 \le t \le n\). Ulrich sheaves have several applications, including determinantal representations of Chow forms, Clifford and Roby-Clifford algebras, the minimal resolution conjecture, Boij-Söderberg theory, etc. Eisenbud and Schreyer asked whether any given \(X\) supports an Ulrich sheaf, whose positive answer is now called as their conjecture [\textit{D. Eisenbud} and \textit{F.-O.Schreyer}, J. Am. Math. Soc. 16, No. 3, 537--575, Appendix 576--579 (2003; Zbl 1069.14019); Abel Symp. 6, 35--48 (2011; Zbl 1248.14058)]. Still the conjecture is open for algebraic surfaces, however, a number of cases were known to have locally free Ulrich sheaves of rank \(\le 2\). In particular, Ulrich bundles of rank \(2\) are proved to exist on minimal surfaces of Kodaira dimension \(0\), possibly except for \(K3\) surfaces [\textit{A. Beauville}, Eur. J. Math. 4, No. 1, 26--36 (2018; Zbl 1390.14130); \textit{G. Casnati}, Int. J. Math. 28, No. 8, Article ID 1750061, 18 p. (2017; Zbl 1435.14042)]. Ulrich bundles of rank \(2\) on \(K3\) surfaces were also known to exist for quartic surfaces [\textit{E. Coskun} et al., Doc. Math. 17, 1003--1028 (2012; Zbl 1274.14050)], and for \(K3\) surfaces satisfying some Brill-Noether conditions [\textit{M. Aprodu} et al., J. Reine Angew. Math. 730, 225--249 (2017; Zbl 1387.14088)]. In particular, \(K3\) surfaces having Picard number \(1\) has an Ulrich bundle of rank \(2\) of determinant \(\mathcal O_S(3)\) (such an Ulrich bundle is called special). The paper under review completes the existence of special Ulrich bundles for every polarized \(K3\) surface. Let \(X\) be an integral projective surface with \(\omega_X \cong \mathcal O_X\) and \(H^1(\mathcal O_X)=0\), and let \(H = \mathcal O_X(1)\) be a very ample divisor on \(X\) which defines an embedding \(X \hookrightarrow \mathbb{P}^g\). Using Serre's corrsepondence and an elementary modification with respect to a point, the author constructs a simple sheaf \(\mathcal E^{\eta}\) with \(c_1 (\mathcal E^{\eta}) = H\), \(c_2 (\mathcal E^{\eta}) = g+3\), \(H^{*} (\mathcal E^{\eta}) = 0\) (Lemma 2--4). Even though \(\mathcal E^{\eta}\) itself is not an Ulrich bundle, its general deformation becomes an Ulrich bundle (Lemma 5). The author also describes the moduli space of stable Ulrich bundles of any even rank on \(X\) (Theorem 7). Note that this construction is similar to construction of ACM/Ulrich bundles on Fano threefolds [\textit{M. C. Brambilla} and \textit{D. Faenzi}, Mich. Math. J. 60, No. 1, 113--148 (2011; Zbl 1223.14047)]