Brill-Noether theorems and globally generated vector bundles on Hirzebruch surfaces

In this paper, we show that the cohomology of a general stable bundle on a Hirzebruch surface is determined by the Euler characteristic provided that the first Chern class satisfies necessary intersection conditions. More generally, we compute the Betti numbers of a general stable bundle. We also show that a general stable bundle on a Hirzebruch surface has a special resolution generalizing the Gaeta resolution on the projective plane. As a consequence of these results, we classify Chern characters such that the general stable bundle is globally generated.