Linked Hom spaces

In this note, we describe a theory of linked Hom spaces which complements that of linked Grassmannians. Given two chains of vector bundles linked by maps in both directions, we give conditions for the space of homomorphisms from one chain to the other to be itself represented by a vector bundle. We apply this to present a more transparent version of an earlier construction of limit linear series spaces out of linked Grassmannians.Comment: 7 page

Limit linear series for curves not of compact type

We introduce a notion of limit linear series for nodal curves which are not of compact type. We give a construction of a moduli space of limit linear series, which works also in smoothing families, and we prove a corresponding specialization result. For a more restricted class of curves which simultaneously generalizes two-component curves and curves of compact type, we give an equivalent definition of limit linear series, which is visibly a generalization of the Eisenbud-Harris definition. Finally, for the same class of curves, we prove a smoothing theorem which constitutes an improvement over known results even in the compact-type case.Comment: 34 pages, 1 figure. v2: added smoothing theorem, and proposition on independence of choice of concentrated multidegrees. v3: minor revisions, primarily for compatibility with [MO

Limit linear series moduli stacks in higher rank

In order to prove new existence results in Brill-Noether theory for rank-2 vector bundles with fixed special determinant, we develop foundational definitions and results for limit linear series of higher-rank vector bundles. These include two entirely new constructions of "linked linear series" generalizing earlier work of the author for the classical rank-1 case, as well as a new canonical stack structure for the previously developed theory due to Eisenbud, Harris and Teixidor i Bigas. This last structure is new even in the classical rank-1 case, and yields the first proper moduli space of Eisenbud-Harris limit linear series for families of curves. We also develop results comparing these three constructions.Comment: 62 pages, 1 figur

Brill-Noether loci with fixed determinant in rank 2

In the 1990's, Bertram, Feinberg and Mukai examined Brill-Noether loci for vector bundles of rank 2 with fixed canonical determinant, noting that the dimension was always bigger in this case than the naive expectation. We generalize their results to treat a much broader range of fixed-determinant Brill-Noether loci. The main technique is a careful study of symplectic Grassmannians and related concepts.Comment: 20 pages. Expanded appendix on codimension for stack