Bounded negativity and Harbourne constants on ruled surfaces

Abstract

Let $X$ be a smooth projective surface and let $\mathcal{C}$ be an arrangement of curves on $X$. The Harbourne constant of $\mathcal{C}$ was defined as a way to investigate the occurrence of curves of negative self-intersection on blow ups of $X$. This is related to the bounded negativity conjecture which predicts that the self-intersection number of all reduced curves on a surface is bounded below by a constant. We consider a geometrically ruled surface $X$ over a smooth curve and give lower bounds for the Harbourne constants of transversal arrangements of curves on $X$.

Added some examples; some other minor changes; to appear in Manuscripta Math