On Topological Properties of Some Coverings. An Addendum to a Paper of Lanteri and Struppa

Abstract

AbstractLet π: X′ → X be a finite surjective morphism of complex projective manifolds which can be factored by an embedding of X′ into the total space of an ample line bundle 𝓛 over X. A theorem of Lazarsfeld asserts that Betti numbers of X and X′ are equal except, possibly, the middle ones. In the present paper it is proved that the middle numbers are actually non-equal if either 𝓛 is spanned and deg π ≥ dim X, or if X is either a hyperquadric or a projective space and π is not a double cover of an odd-dimensional projective space by a hyperquadric.