Brill-Noether theory on \(\mathbb{P}^2\) for bundles with many sections (Q6937031)

Brill-Noether theory studies the jumping loci \(W_d^r = \{L \in \mathrm{Pic} \; C: h^0 (L) \geq r+1\}\) for a smooth curve \(C\). Initiated in the 1880s, discoveries of the 1980s determined the dimension, irreducibility, and smoothness of the spaces \(W_d^r\) by work of \textit{P. Griffiths} and \textit{J. Harris} [Duke Math. J. 47, 233--272 (1980; Zbl 0446.14011)], \textit{W. Fulton} and \textit{R. Lazarsfeld} [Acta Math. 146, 271--283 (1981; Zbl 0469.14018)], \textit{D. Gieseker} [Invent. Math. 66, 251--275 (1982; Zbl 0522.14015)] and \textit{D. Eisenbud} and \textit{J. Harris} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 20, No. 1, 65--87 (1987; Zbl 0625.14013)]. Recently analogous results have been proved over the Hurwitz space by \textit{E. Larson} et al. [Geom. Topol. 29, No. 1, 193--257 (2025; Zbl 1561.14047)]. The authors study analogous jumping loci for \(\mathbb P^2\).\N\NLet \(M(r,\mu,\chi)\) be the moduli space of Gieseker semistable sheaves on \(\mathbb P^2\) of rank \(r\), slope \(\mu\) and Euler characteristic \(\chi\) and \(B^k (r,\mu,\chi) \subset M(r, \mu, \chi)\) the closure of the locus of stable sheaves whose space of sections has dimension at least \(k\). The general stable bundle has at most one nonzero cohomology group by a theorem of \textit{L. Göttsche} and \textit{A. Hirschowitz} [Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math. 200, 63--74 (1998; Zbl 0937.14010)] so their cohomology is determined by \(\chi\). The authors prove that if \(E \in M(r,\mu,\chi)\), then \(h^0 (E) \leq \beta = r \alpha (\mu - \frac{\alpha}{2}+\frac{3}{2})\), where \(\alpha = \lfloor \mu \rfloor+1\). This bound compares favorably with bounds of \textit{B. Gould} et al. [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2023, No. 24, 22096--22137 (2023; Zbl 1548.14142)]. The \textit{deficiency \(\delta\) of \(E\)} is \(\beta - h^0 (E)\). The stable sheaves with deficiency \(\delta=0\) are the twisted Steiner bundles and studied by \textit{J. M. Drezet} [Math. Ann. 275, 25--48 (1986; Zbl 0578.14013)] and more generally, if \(\delta < \alpha\), then \(H^1 (E)=0\) and \(E\) is globally generated. This implies that the corresponding Brill-Noether locus is either empty or all of \(M(r, \mu, \chi)\). The second half of the paper is devoted to sheaves with deficiency \(\delta = \alpha\), which are classified and are more interesting in the sense that \(B^k (r,\mu,\chi) \subset M(r, \mu, \chi)\) can be a nontrivial proper subset. The paper closes with an amusing condition for \(B^{\beta-\alpha} (r, \mu, \chi)\) to be non-empty when \(\chi < \beta - \alpha\) in terms of ratios of Fibonacci numbers.