On asymptotic bounds for the number of irreducible components of the moduli space of surfaces of general type (Q903070)

In the paper under review the authors give a lower bound for the asymptotic growth of the number of irreducible components of the moduli space of surfaces of general type. To achieve this bound they employ surfaces isogenous to a product of curves of unmixed type. These surfaces are quotients of a product of curves of genus at least two \((C_1 \times C_2)/G\) by the free action of a finite group \(G\) which acts effectively on each factor and diagonally on the product; they are minimal and of general type. Moreover, each surface in this class is determined, via the Riemann Existence Theorem, by the finite group \(G\) together with two disjoint systems of generators. Explicitly constructing groups and disjoint systems of generators, the authors prove the following result. Let \(h_{s,q}\) be the number of connected components containing surfaces isogenous to a product of curves of unmixed type with irregularity \(q\) and holomorphic Euler number \(x_s=2^{3s-2}(s-1)(s+q-1)\), constructed from a group of order \(2^{3s}\) with a pair of disjoint systems of generators of type \((0|2^{2s+2})\) and \((q|2^{2s-2q+2})\). Then for \(s\) large enough it holds \[ h_{s,q}\geq 2^{\frac{2}{9}(\log x_s)^3}\,. \] In particular, they obtain increasing sequences \(x_s\) and \(y_s=8x_s\) such that asymptotically \[ \iota^0(x_s,y_s)\geq y_s^{\frac{2}{13}(\log y_s)^2}\,, \] where \(\iota^0(x,y)\) denotes the number of irreducible components of the moduli space of canonical models of regular surfaces of general type \(S\) with \(x=\chi(S)\) and \(y=K_S^2\).