HIGHER RANK BRILL–NOETHER THEORY ON SECTIONS OF K3 SURFACES

Abstract

We discuss the role of K3 surfaces in the context of Mercat's conjecture in higher rank Brill–Noether theory. Using liftings of Koszul classes, we show that Mercat's conjecture in rank 2 fails for any number of sections and for any gonality stratum along a Noether–Lefschetz divisor inside the locus of curves lying on K3 surfaces. Then we show that Mercat's conjecture in rank 3 fails even for curves lying on K3 surfaces with Picard number 1. Finally, we provide a detailed proof of Mercat's conjecture in rank 2 for general curves of genus 11, and describe explicitly the action of the Fourier–Mukai involution on the moduli space of curves.