Nodal Curves on K3 Surfaces

Abstract

In this paper, we study the Severi variety $V_{L,g}$ of genus $g$ curves in $|L|$ on a general polarized K3 surface $(X,L)$. We show that the closure of every component of $V_{L,g}$ contains a component of $V_{L,g-1}$. As a consequence, we see that the general members of every component of $V_{L,g}$ are nodal.