RATIONAL FAMILIES OF VECTOR BUNDLES ON CURVES

Let C be a smooth projective complex curve of genus g≥2 and let M be the moduli space of rank 2, stable vector bundles on C, with fixed determinant of degree 1. For any k≥1, we find all the irreducible components of the space of rational curves on M, of degree k. In particular, we find the maximal rationally connected fibrations of these components. We prove that there is a one-to-one correspondence between moduli spaces of rational curves on M and moduli spaces of rank 2 vector bundles on ℙ1×C.