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Ulrich sheaves and higher-rank Brill-Noether theory

An Ulrich sheaf on an embedded projective variety is a normalized arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay sheaf with the maximum possible number of independent sections. Ulrich sheaves are important in the theory of Chow forms, Boij-Soderberg theory, generalized Clifford algebras, and for an approach to Lech's conjecture in commutative algebra. In this note, we give a reduction of the construction of Ulrich sheaves on a projective variety X to the construction of an Ulrich sheaf for a finite map of curves, which is in turn equivalent to a higher-rank Brill-Noether problem for any of a certain class of curves on X. Then we show that existence of an Ulrich sheaf for a finite map of curves implies sharp numerical constraints involving the degree of the map and the ramification divisor.