The minimal resolution conjecture on a general quartic surface in P3

Abstract

Mustaţă has given a conjecture for the graded Betti numbers in the minimal free resolution of the ideal of a general set of points on an irreducible projective algebraic variety. For surfaces in P3 this conjecture has been proven for points on quadric surfaces and on general cubic surfaces. In the latter case, Gorenstein liaison was the main tool. Here we prove the conjecture for general quartic surfaces. Gorenstein liaison continues to be a central tool, but to prove the existence of our links we make use of certain dimension computations. We also discuss the higher degree case, but now the dimension count does not force the existence of our links.