English

Theta divisors of stable vector bundles may be nonreduced

Algebraic Geometry 2013-06-11 v2

Abstract

A generic strictly semistable bundle of degree zero over a curve X has a reducible theta divisor, given by the sum of the theta divisors of the stable summands of the associated graded bundle. The converse is not true: Beauville and Raynaud have each constructed stable bundles with reducible theta divisors. For X of genus at least 5, we construct stable vector bundles over X of rank rr for all r5r \geq 5, with reducible and nonreduced theta divisors. We also adapt the construction to symplectic bundles. In the appendix, Raynaud's original example of a stable rank 2 vector bundle with reducible theta divisor over a bi-elliptic curve of genus 3 is generalized to bi-elliptic curves of genus g3g \geq 3.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1211.1064,
  title  = {Theta divisors of stable vector bundles may be nonreduced},
  author = {George H. Hitching and With an appendix by Christian Pauly},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1211.1064},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

18 pages. Some statements improved. Appendix by Christian Pauly added