We prove two results about vector bundles on singular algebraic surfaces. First, on proper surfaces there are vector bundles of rank two with arbitrarily large second Chern number and fixed determinant. Second, on separated normal surfaces any coherent sheaf is the quotient of a vector bundle. As a consequence, for such surfaces the Quillen K-theory of vector bundles coincides with the Waldhausen K-theory of perfect complexes. Examples show that, on non-separated schemes, usually many coherent sheaves are not quotients of vector bundles.

Abstract. We show that a proper algebraic n-dimensional scheme Y admits nontrivial vector bundles of rank n, even if Y is non-projective, provided that there is a modification containing a projective Cartier divisor that intersects the exceptional locus in only finitely many points. Moreover, there are such vector bundles with arbitrarily large top Chern number. Applying this to toric varieties, we infer that every proper toric threefold admits such vector bundles of rank three. Furthermore, we describe a class of higher-dimensional toric varieties for which the result applies, in terms of convexity properties around rays.

We analyse the diagonal quotient for the product of certain Artin-Schreier curves. The smooth models are almost always surfaces of general type, with Chern slopes tending asymptotically to 1. The calculation of numerical invariants relies on a close examination of the relevant wild quotient singularity in characteristic p. It turns out that the canonical model has q − 1 rational double points of type A q−1 , and embeds as a divisor of degree q in P 3 , which is in some sense reminiscent of the classical Kummer quartic.