A new inequality on the Hodge number of algebraic surfaces (Q2636959)

Let \(f: S\to C\) be a fibration of genus \(g\) curves from a smooth projective surface \(S\) to a smooth curve \(C\) of genus \(b\). Let \(F_1, \ldots, F_s\) be all singular fibers of \(f\) and \(\ell(F_i)\) be the number of irreducible components of \(F_i\). The authors obtain a new inequality \[ h^{1,1}(S)\geq 2(q(S)-b)b+2+\sum_{i=1}^s (\ell(F_i)-1), \] which improves the well-known inequality \(h^{1,1}(S)\geq 2+\sum_{i=1}^s (\ell(F_i)-1)\). Consider \(H^0(\Omega_S)=V_0\oplus V_1\), where \(V_0=f^*H^0(\Omega_C)\) and \(\dim V_1=q(S)-b\). Let \(V_2\) be the subgroup of \({\text{Pic}}(S)\otimes \mathbb R\) generated by the classes of the components of all fibers. The authors consider the natural homomorphism \(h: V_0\otimes\overline{V_1} \oplus V_0\otimes\overline{V_1} \to H^{1,1}(S)\) defined by \(h(x\otimes y)=x\wedge y\), and the Chern class map \(c_1: V_2\to H^{1, 1}(S)\cap H^2(S, \mathbb R)\). By the semi-negativity of the intersection matrix of a fiber, \(\dim {\text{Im}}(c_1)=1+\sum_{i=1}^s (\ell(F_i)-1)\). The authors prove the new inequality by showing that (i) \(c_1(H)\not\in {\text{Im}}(h)+({\text{Im}}(c_1)\otimes_{\mathbb R}\mathbb C)\) for any ample divisor \(H\), (ii) \(\dim {\text{Im}}(h)=2b(q(S)-b)\), (iii) \({\text{Im}}(h)\cap ({\text{Im}}(c_1)\otimes_{\mathbb R}\mathbb C)=0\). The new inequality implies the Arakelov type inequalities due to Arakelov, Faltings, Viehweg and Zuo.