A note on octic hypersurfaces with many nodes (Q2387800)

It is a classical problem in algebraic geometry to find the maximal number of nodes (\(A_1\)-singularities) which a surface of degree \(d\) in \(\mathbb{P}_3\) can have. For \(d=8\) \textit{Y. Miyaoka} [Math. Ann. 268, 159--171 (1984; Zbl 0521.14013)] proved the upper bound of 174 nodes. If the number is not larger than 108 there are octic surfaces with nodes for each of these numbers, moreover there exist many examples up to 168 (an example with exactly 168 nodes was given by \textit{S. Endraß} [J. Algebr. Geom. 6, No.2, 325--334 (1997; Zbl 0957.14022)]. In the paper under review the author gives a method to construct octic surfaces with at most 160 nodes and provides an explicit example of a surface with 128 nodes. The method he uses is to consider Calabi-Yau threefolds \(X\) as the zero set of sections \(s\in H^0(-K_{\mathbb{P}(\mathcal{E})})\) where \(\mathbb{P}(\mathcal{E})\) is the projectivization of a rank two vector bundle on \(\mathbb{P}_3\). Then he studies the restriction of the projection \(X\rightarrow\mathbb{P}_3\) which is a double covering and he shows that the branch locus is an octic surface with nodes, their number is \(64-4\deg(c_1^2(\mathcal{E})-4\, c_2(\mathcal{E}))\).