Stability and deformations of generalised Picard sheaves

Abstract

Let $C$ be a smooth irreducible complex projective curve of genus $g\ge 2$ and $M$ the moduli space of stable vector bundles on $C$ of rank $n$ and degree $d$ with $\gcd (n,d)=1$. A generalised Picard sheaf is the direct image on $M$ of the tensor product of a universal bundle on $M\times C$ by the pullback of a vector bundle $E_0$ on $C$. In this paper, we investigate the stability of generalised Picard sheaves and, in the case where these are locally free, their deformations. When $g\ge 3$, $n\ge 2$ (with some additional restrictions for $g=3,4$) and the rank and degree of $E_0$ are coprime, this leads to the construction of a fine moduli space for deformations of Picard bundles.

29 pages. Version to appear in Manuscripta Mathematica. Typos corrected, one unused reference deleted