On a question of Mehta and Pauly (Q496083)

Let \(X\) be a smooth projective curve of genus \(g \geq 2\) defined over an algebraically closed field \(k\) of characteristic \(p > 0\), and \(F : X \rightarrow X_1\) be the relative Frobenius morphism over \(k\). \textit{V. B. Mehta} and \textit{C. Pauly} [Bull. Soc. Math. Fr. 135, No. 1, 105--117 (2007; Zbl 1201.14021)] asked the following question for a semistable bundle \(E\) on \(X\): Is the length of the Harder-Narasimhan filtration of \(F^{\ast}E\) at most \(p\)? In this article under review, the authors answer the above question negatively by providing examples in characteristic \(p\) for certain smooth plane curves and bundles of ranks \(p+1\leq r\leq \lfloor\frac{3p+1}{2}\rfloor\). In characteristic 2, negative examples are constructed on any smooth projective curve of genus \(\geq 2\). The authors also point out the above examples are only polystable, and one can obtain negative examples with stable bundles in [\textit{M. Zhou}, ``The H-N filtration of bundles as frobenius pull-back'', \url{arXiv:1212.4404}].