The Abel-Jacobi map of a moduli component of vector bundles on the cubic threefold

The Abel-Jacobi map of the family of elliptic quintics lying on a general cubic threefold is studied. It is proved that it factors through a moduli component of stable rank 2 vector bundles on the cubic threefold with Chern numbers c_1=0, c_2=2, whose general point represents a vector bundle obtained by Serre's construction from an elliptic quintic. The elliptic quintics mapped to a point of the moduli space vary in a 5-dimensional projective space inside the Hilbert scheme of curves, and the map from the moduli space to the intermediate Jacobian is \'etale. As auxiliary results, the irreducibility of families of elliptic normal quintics and of rational normal quartics on a general cubic threefold is proved. This implies the uniqueness of the moduli component under consideration. The techniques of Clemens-Griffiths and Welters are used for the calculation of the infinitesimal Abel-Jacobi map.