Secant varieties and Hirschowitz bound on vector bundles over a curve

Abstract

For a vector bundle V over a curve X of rank n and for each integer r in the range 1 \le r \le n-1, the Segre invariant s_r is defined by generalizing the minimal self-intersection number of the sections on a ruled surface. In this paper we generalize Lange and Narasimhan's results on rank 2 bundles which related the invariant s_1 to the secant varieties of the curve inside certain extension spaces. For any n and r, we find a way to get information on the invariant s_r from the secant varieties of certain subvariety of a scroll over X. Using this geometric picture, we obtain a new proof of the Hirschowitz bound on s_r.