Nonemptiness of Severi varieties on Enriques surfaces

Abstract

Let $(S,L)$ be a general polarized Enriques surface, with $L$ not numerically 2-divisible. We prove the existence of regular components of all Severi varieties of irreducible $\delta$-nodal curves in the linear system $|L|$, with $0\leq \delta\leq p_a(L)-1$. This solves a classical open problem and gives a positive answer to a recent conjecture of Pandharipande--Schmitt, under the additional condition of non-2-divisibility.