On the Brauer group of Enriques surfaces (Q971489)

The author studies the Brauer group of a complex Enriques surface in relation to the Brauer group of a \(K3\) surface. Let \(S\) be a complex Enriques surface and let \(\pi: X\to S\) be 2-to-1 cover by a \(K3\) surface \(X\). Let \(Br(S)\) (resp. \(Br(X)\)) denote the Brauer group of \(S\) (resp. \(X\)). There is a unique element \(b_S \neq 0\) in \(Br(S)\). The paper studies the pull-back \(\pi^*b_S\) in \(Br(X)\). Is it nonzero? The main results are formulated as follows. Theorem: (a) \(\pi*b_S = 0\) if and only if there exists a line bundle \(L\) on \(X\) with \(\sigma^* L = L^{-1}\) and \(c_1(L)^2\equiv 2\pmod{4}\). Here \(\sigma\) is a generator of the Galois group of \(\pi\). (b) \(\pi^*b_S = 0\) if and only if the period point \(\wp(S,\phi)\) belongs to one of the hypersurfaces \(H_\lambda\) for some vector \(\lambda\in L^-\) with \(\lambda^2\equiv2\pmod{4}\). As a corollary, it is shown that the surfaces \(S\) for which \(\pi^*b_S = 0\) form an infinite, countable union of (non-empty) hypersurfaces in the moduli space of Enriques surfaces.