On the cohomology of surfaces with $p_g = q = 2$ and maximal Albanese dimension

Abstract: In this paper we study the cohomology of smooth projective complex surfaces $S$ of general type with invariants $p_g = q = 2$ and surjective Albanese morphism. We show that on a Hodge-theoretic level, the cohomology is described by the cohomology of the Albanese variety and a K3 surface $X$ that we call the K3 partner of $S$. Furthermore, we show that in suitable cases we can geometrically construct the K3 partner $X$ and an algebraic correspondence in $S \times X$ that relates the cohomology of $S$ and $X$. Finally, we prove the Tate and Mumford-Tate conjectures for those surfaces $S$ that lie in connected components of the Gieseker moduli space that contain a product-quotient surface.