Views on level $\mathit \ell$ curves, K3 surfaces and Fano threefolds

Abstract

An analogue of the Mukai map $m_g: \mathcal P_g \to \mathcal M_g$ is studied for the moduli $\mathcal R_{g, \ell}$ of genus $g$ curves $C$ with a level $\ell$ structure. Let $\mathcal P^{\perp}_{g, \ell}$ be the moduli space of $4$-tuples $(S, \mathcal L, \mathcal E, C)$ so that $(S, \mathcal L)$ is a polarized K3 surface of genus $g$, $\mathcal E$ is orthogonal to $\mathcal L$ in Pic$S$ and defines a standard degree $\ell$ K3 cyclic cover of $S$, $C \in \vert \mathcal L \vert$. We say that $(S, \mathcal L, \mathcal E)$ is a level $\ell$ K3 surface. These exist for $\ell \leq 8$ and their families are known. We define a level $\ell$ Mukai map $r_{g, \ell}: \mathcal P^{\perp}_{g, \ell} \to \mathcal R_{g, \ell}$, induced by the assignment of $(S, \mathcal L, \mathcal E, C)$ to $ (C, \mathcal E \otimes \mathcal O_C)$. We investigate a curious possible analogy between $m_g$ and $r_{g, \ell}$, that is, the failure of the maximal rank of $r_{g, \ell}$ for $g = g_{\ell} \pm 1$, where $g_{\ell}$ is the value of $g$ such that $\dim \mathcal P^{\perp}_{g, \ell} = \dim \mathcal R_{g,\ell}$. This is proven here for $\ell = 3$. As a related open problem we discuss Fano threefolds whose hyperplane sections are level $\ell$ K3 surfaces and their classification.