# References

A NOTE ON A CONJECTURE OF XIAO   

Miguel A. BARJA<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1Partially supported by CICYT PS93-0790 and HCM project n.ERBCHRXCT-940557..

Departament de Matemàtica Aplicada I. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Barcelona. Spain

Francesco ZUCCONI<sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2Partially supported by HCM project n.ERBCHRXCT-940557..

Dipartamento di Matematica e Informatica. Università degli Studi di Udine. Udine. Italy

When $`f:SB`$ is a surjective morphism of a complex, smooth surface $`S`$ onto a complex, smooth, genus $`b`$ curve $`B`$, such that the fibre $`F`$ of $`f`$ has genus $`g`$, it is well known that $`f_{}\omega _{S/B}=`$ is a locally free sheaf of rank $`g`$ and degree $`d=𝒳𝒪_S(b1)(g1)`$ and that $`f`$ is not an holomorphic fibre bundle if and only if $`d>0`$. In this case the slope, $`\lambda (f)=\frac{K_S^28(b1)(g1)}{d}`$, is a natural invariant associated by Xiao to $`f`$ (cf. ). In \[Conjecture 2\] he conjectured that $``$ has no locally free quotient of degree zero (i.e., $``$ is ample) if $`\lambda (f)<4`$. We give a partial affirmative answer to this conjecture:

Theorem 1. Let $`f:SB`$ be a relatively minimal fibration with general fibre $`F`$. Let $`b=g(B)`$ and assume that $`g=g(F)2`$ and that $`f`$ is not locally trivial.

If $`\lambda (f)<4`$ then $`=f_{}\omega _{S/B}`$ is ample provided one of the following conditions hold

1. $`F`$ is non hyperelliptic.
2. $`b1`$.
3. $`g(F)3`$.

Proof. (i) If $`q(S)>b`$ the result follows from  Corollary 2.1. Now assume $`q(S)=b`$. By Fujita’s decomposition theorem (see ,  and also  for a proof)

$$=𝒜_1\mathrm{}_r$$

where $`h^0(B,(𝒜_1\mathrm{}_r)^{})=0`$, $`𝒜`$ is an ample sheaf and $`_i`$ are non trivial stable degree zero sheaves. Then we only must prove that $`_i=0`$. If $`F`$ is not hyperelliptic and rank $`(_i)2`$ the claim is the content of  Proposition 3.1. If rank$`(_i)=1`$ we can use  §4.2 or  Theorem 3.4 to conclude that $`_i`$ is torsion in $`\text{Pic}^0(B)`$. Hence it induces an étale base change

By flatness $`\stackrel{~}{f}_{}\omega _{\stackrel{~}{S}/\stackrel{~}{B}}=\sigma ^{}(f_{}\omega _{S/B})`$. Since $`\sigma `$ is étale $`\lambda (f)=\lambda (\stackrel{~}{f})`$ and $`\sigma ^{}(_i)=𝒪_{\stackrel{~}{B}}`$ is a direct summand of $`\stackrel{~}{f}_{}\omega _{\stackrel{~}{S}/\stackrel{~}{B}}`$. In particular by  $`q(\stackrel{~}{S})>\stackrel{~}{b}=g(\stackrel{~}{B})`$ hence $`\lambda (\stackrel{~}{f})4`$ by  Theorem 3.3: a contradiction.

(ii) If $`b=0`$ the claim is trivial. If $`b=1`$, any stable degree zero sheaf has rank one, then as in (i) we conclude.

(iii) If $`g=2`$ and $`𝒜`$, then $`=𝒜`$ where $``$ torsion and we are done. The only non trivial case if $`g=3`$ is $`=𝒜`$ where $`𝒜`$ an ample line bundle and $``$ a stable, degree zero, rank two vector bundle. Then $`K_{S/B}^2(2g2)\text{deg }𝒜=4d`$ and we are done by \[Theorem 2\] $`\mathrm{}`$

Theorem 3.3 of  Xiao says that if $`q(S)>b`$ and $`\lambda (f)=4`$ then $`=𝒪_B`$, where $``$ is a semistable sheaf. We have the following improvement:

Theorem 2. Let $`f:SB`$ be a relatively minimal non locally trivial fibration. If $`\lambda (f)=4`$ then $`=f_{}\omega _{S/B}`$ has at most one degree zero, rank one quotient $``$

Moreover, in this case $`=𝒜`$ with $`𝒜`$ semistable and $``$ torsion. 

Proof. As in the previous theorem the torsion subsheaf $``$ becomes the trivial one after an étale base change; thus

$$\stackrel{~}{f}_{}\omega _{\stackrel{~}{S}/\stackrel{~}{B}}=\stackrel{~}{𝒜}𝒪_{\stackrel{~}{B}},\stackrel{~}{𝒜}=\sigma ^{}𝒜.$$

By \[Theorem 3.3\], $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$ is semistable. Then $`𝒜`$ is also semistable by \[Proposition 3.2\]. $`\mathrm{}`$