Higher rank Brill-Noether theory on sections of K3 surfaces

Abstract

We discuss the role of K3 surfaces in the context of Mercat's conjecture in higher rank Brill-Noether theory. Using liftings of Koszul classes, we show that Mercat's conjecture in rank 2 fails for any number of sections and for any gonality stratum along a Noether-Lefschetz divisor inside the locus of curves lying on K3 surfaces. Then we show that Mercat's conjecture in rank 3 fails even for curves lying on K3 surfaces with Picard number 1. Finally, we provide a detailed proof of Mercat's conjecture in rank 2 for general curves of genus 11, and describe explicitly the action of the Fourier-Mukai involution on the moduli space M_{11}.