Double covers and vector bundles of rank two (Q6155361)

Given a plane curve in the complex projective plane, a fruitful way to understand its embedded topology is given by means of certain double covers of \(\mathbb{P}^2\). Prompted by this fact, in this work the author deals with the more general setting of a (normal) double cover \(\phi:X \rightarrow Y\) of non-singular varieties. The author considers a natural correspondence \(\Upsilon\), given by \textit{F. Catanese} and \textit{F. Perroni} [J. Geom. Phys. 118, 67--93 (2017; Zbl 1386.14070)], between \(\mathrm{Pic}(X)\) and a set of pairs \((\mathcal{M},M)\) (which are called \textit{admissible}) where \(\mathcal{M}\) is a rank two bundle on \(Y\), \(M:\mathcal{M}(-L) \rightarrow \mathcal{M}\) is a particular morphism of bundles and \(L\) is a suitable divisor on \(Y\) related to \(\phi\). The author describes the group structure on the admissible pairs induced by \(\mathrm{Pic}(X)\) in terms of the transition functions of rank two bundles and he focuses on the case where \(\mathcal{M}\) is the direct sum of two line bundles. This corresponds through \(\Upsilon\) to a subgroup \(s\mathrm{Pic}_{\phi}(X)\) of \(\mathrm{Pic}(X)\) which is expected to encode information about the embedding of the branching locus of \(\phi\) in \(Y\). The author conjectures that \(s\mathrm{Pic}_{\phi}(X)=\mathrm{Pic}(X)\) and produces several examples where the equality holds. In the second part of the work he presents a method to construct rank two bundles on \(Y\) by means of the group structure of \(\mathrm{Pic}(X)\) and he proves in Theorem 1.4 that any rank two bundle \(\mathcal{E}\) on \(Y\) is realised as \(\phi_\ast\mathcal{L}\) for some divisorial sheaf \(\mathcal{L}\) on \(X\). Finally he deals with several applications concerning the splitting type, jumping lines and global sections of certain vector bundles.