Graded Betti numbers of general curves of large degree

Abstract

Let $C$ be a smooth projective complex curve of genus $g$ and gonality $k$, and $L$ be a very ample line bundle on $C$. When $L$ has sufficiently large degree, the vanishing and nonvanishing of the Koszul cohomology groups $K_{p,q}(C,L)$ have been determined previously, but the exact values of the graded Betti numbers $\kappa_{p,q}(C, L)$ remain largely unknown. In this paper, we give explicit closed formulas for all graded Betti numbers $\kappa_{p,q}(C, L)$ when the Brill--Noether locus $W_k^1(C)$ has the expected dimension and $H^1(C, L \otimes \omega_C^{-1})=0$. Consequently, we determine the complete Betti table for a general curve when $\deg L \geq 4g-3$ or when $\deg L \geq 3g-3$ and $L$ is general. We also explicitly compute the Boij--S\"{o}derberg coefficient of the section ring $R(C, L)$ governing asymptotic purity, and show eventual monotonicity of the remaining coefficients: they decrease for hyperelliptic curves and increase under a natural generic reducedness assumption on the relevant Brill--Noether loci.