The moduli space of even surfaces of general type with \({K^2=8}\), \({p_g=4}\) and \({q=0}\) (Q2452034)

A complex surface of general type \(X\) is called \textit{even} if the canonical class \(K_X\) is divisible by 2 in the Picard group of \(X\). This is a topological condition, and an even surface is automatically minimal. The paper under review studies even surfaces with \(K^2_X=8\), \(p_g(X):=h^0(K_X)=4\) and \(q(X):=h^1(\mathcal O_X)=0\). The main result of the paper is the description of the moduli space \(\mathcal M^{\mathrm{ev}}_{8,4,0}\) of such surfaces: -- \(\mathcal M^{\mathrm{ev}}_{8,4,0}\) is connected and it is the union of two components \(\mathcal M_1\) and \(\mathcal M_2\) of dimension 35, meeting in a codimension 1 subvariety. -- the canonical system of the general surface in \(\mathcal M_1\) is free, while the canonical system of every surface in \(\mathcal M_2\) has base points. The canonical model of a surface \(X\) of \(\mathcal M_1\) is a codimension 2 complete intersection in a suitable weighted projective space, and is smooth for \(X\) general; the canonical model of every surface of \(\mathcal M_2\) is instead singular, hence \(\mathcal M_2\) is everywhere non reduced. An interesting consequence of the connectedness of \(\mathcal M^{\mathrm{ev}}_{8,4,0}\) and of the description of the canonical model of surfaces in \(\mathcal M_1\) is that all surfaces in \(\mathcal M^{\mathrm{ev}}_{8,4,0}\) are simply connected. The surfaces of \(\mathcal M_1\) had already been described by \textit{P. A. Oliverio} [Rend. Semin. Mat. Univ. Padova 113, 1--14 (2005; Zbl 1121.14034)].