Surjectivity of Gaussian maps for curves on Enriques surfaces

Abstract

Abstract Making suitable generalizations of known results we prove some general facts about Gaussian maps. These facts are then used, in the second part of the article, to give a set of conditions that insure the surjectivity of Gaussian maps for curves on Enriques surfaces. To do this we also solve a problem of independent interest: a tetragonal curve of genus g ≥ 7 lying on an Enriques surface and general in its linear system, cannot be, in its canonical embedding, a quadric section of a surface of degree g − 1 in ℙ g−1.