On \((2,4)\) complete intersection threefolds that contain an Enriques surface (Q343613)

The present paper adds an interesting chapter to the construction of Calabi-Yau threefolds. Recall that it is still unclear whether Calabi-Yau threefolds come in a finite or infinite number of families, despite the vast number of examples realized as hypersurfaces in toric varieties following \textit{V. V. Batyrev}'s work [J. Algebr. Geom. 3, No. 3, 493--535 (1994; Zbl 0829.14023)]. The authors pursue an decidedly non-toric approach; much like Gross-Popescu's method to study Calabi-Yau threefolds containing a \((1,d)\)-polarized abelian surface [\textit{M. Gross} and \textit{S. Popescu}, Compos. Math. 127, No. 2, 169--228 (2001; Zbl 1063.14051)] (so their defining polynomials are contained in the ideal of the abelian surface), it is postulated that the threefold contain an Enriques surface (via its Fano embedding). The approach is made very explicit, with the shapes of equation described precisely. The resulting threefolds are non-smooth in the first instance, due to 58 ordinary double points. Intriguingly, these admit two projective small resolutions (related by a flop) which give birational models of the Calabi-Yau threefolds in question. Surprisingly, these models admit rather different structures: one admits a fibration over \(\mathbb P^1\) with the Enriques surface supporting a double fiber while the other contracts onto a complete \((4,4)\) intersection in weighted projective space \(\mathbb P[1,1,1,1,2,2]\). Generically, these Calabi-Yau threefolds are shown to have Hodge numbers \((h^{11},h^{12})=(2,32)\) (which have been realized before in [\textit{V. Batyrev} and \textit{M. Kreuzer}, Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 14, No. 3, 879--898 (2010; Zbl 1242.14037)]); in addition, the authors develop specializations with \((h^{11},h^{12})=(23,5), (31,1)\) both of which seem to be new. In a somewhat different direction, the paper also contains interesting considerations towards the rationality of cubic fourfolds containing an Enriques surface.