Topology of the compactified Jacobians of singular curves

We compute the Euler number of the compactified Jacobian of a curve whose minimal unibranched normalization has only plane irreducible singularities with characteristic Puiseux exponents (p, q), (4, 2q, s), (6, 8, s), or (6, 10, s). Further, we derive a combinatorial method to compute the Betti numbers of the compactified Jacobian of an unibranched rational curve with singularities like above. Some of the Betti numbers can be stated explicitly.     

Growth functions for semi-regular tilings of the hyperbolic plane

This paper studies the growth function, with respect to the generating set of edge identifications, of a surface group with fundamental domainD in the hyperbolic plane ann-gon whose angles alternate between /p and /q. The possibilities ofn,p andq for which a torsion-free surface group can have such a fundamental polygon are classified, and the growth functions are computed. Conditions are given for which the denominator of the growth function is a product of cyclotomic polynomials and a Salem polynomial.This work was supported in part by NSF Research Grants.     

Bivariate hermite interpolation and applications to Algebraic Geometry

Summary We try to solve the bivariate interpolation problem (1.3) for polynomials (1.1), whereS is a lower set of lattice points, and for theq-th interpolation knot,A _q is the set of orders of derivatives that appear in (1.3). The number of coefficients |S| is equal to the number of equations |A _q |. If this is possible for all knots in general position, the problem is almost always solvable (=a.a.s.). We seek to determine whether (1.3) is a.a.s. An algorithm is given which often gives a positive answer to this. It can be applied to the solution of a problem of Hirschowitz in Algebraic Geometry. We prove that for Hermite conditions (1.3) (when allA _q are lower triangles of orderp) andP is of total degreen, (1.3) is a.a.s. for allp=1, 2, 3 and alln, except for the two casesp=1,n=2 andp=1,n=4.Dedicated to R. S. Varga on the occasion of his sixtieth birthdayThis work has been partly supported by the Texas ARP and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

An upper bound for the minimum weight of dual codes of Figueroa planes

In this note we give an explicit construction for words of weight 2q³ - q² - q in the dual p-ary code of the Figueroa plane of order q³, where q > 2 is any power of the prime p. When p is odd this then allows us, for the Figueroa planes, to improve on the previously known upper bound of 2q³ for the minimum weight of the dual p-ary code of any plane of order q³. The construction is the same as one that applies to desarguesian planes of order q³ as described in [3].     

A rational sextic associated with a Desargues configuration

In this paper we consider a Desargues configuration in the projective plane, i.e. ten points and ten lines, on each line we have three of the points and through each point we have three of the lines. We construct a rational curve of order 6 which has a node at each of the ten points. We have never seen this kind of curve in the literature, but it is well known that for anyn there exists a rational curve of ordern which has [(n–1)(n–2)]/2 nodes and ifn=6 we find a sextic with ten nodes. The purpose of this paper is to obtain a sextic of this kind as a locus of points in connection with special projectivities of the plane associated with the Desargues configuration and to find a rational parametric representation of it. A large part of this paper is done with MACSYMA: it is an application of computer algebra in algebraic geometry. Special cases, where we find a quintic, a quartic or a cubic, are given in the last section.     

The 2‐Blocking Number and the Upper Chromatic Number of PG(2,q)

A twofold blocking set (double blocking set) in a finite projective plane Π is a set of points, intersecting every line in at least two points. The minimum number of points in a double blocking set of Π is denoted by τ₂(Π). Let PG(2,q) be the Desarguesian projective plane over GF(q), the finite field of q elements. We show that if q is odd, not a prime, and r is the order of the largest proper subfield of GF(q), then τ₂PG(2,q))≤ 2(q+(q‐1)/(r‐1)). For a finite projective plane Π, let denote the maximum number of classes in a partition of the point‐set, such that each line has at least two points in some partition class. It can easily be seen that (?) for every plane Π on v points. Let , p prime. We prove that for , equality holds in (?) if q and p are large enough.     

On the number of rational points of a plane algebraic curve

The number of F_q -rational points of a plane non-singular algebraic curve defined over a finite field F_q is computed, provided that the generic point of is not an inflexion and that is Frobenius non-classical with respect to conics. Received: 18 March 2003     

On a class of rational cuspidal plane curves

We obtain new examples and the complete list of the rational cuspidal plane curvesC with at least three cusps, one of which has multiplicitydegC-2. It occurs that these curves are projectively rigid. We also discuss the general problem of projective rigidity of rational cuspidal plane curves.     

A variant of the classical Ramsey problem

For fixed integersp, q an edge coloring of a complete graphK is called a (p, q)-coloring if the edges of everyK _p K are colored with at leastq distinct colors. Clearly, (p, 2)-colorings are the classical Ramsey colorings without monochromaticK _p subgraphs. Letf(n, p, q) be the minimum number of colors needed for a (p, q)-coloring ofK _n . We use the Local Lemma to give a general upper bound forf. We determine for everyp the smallestq for whichf(n, p, q) is linear inn and the smallestq for whichf(n, p, q) is quadratic inn. We show that certain special cases of the problem closely relate to Turán type hypergraph problems introduced by Brown, Erds and T. Sós. Other cases lead to problems concerning proper edge colorings of complete graphs.Supported by OTKA grant 16414.     

Lines in projective spaces

Here we study finite unions, Y, of lines in a projective space PG(n, K). We prove that if K is an infinite field, Y spans PG(n, K) and a general hyperplane section of Y is not in linearly general position, then there exists at least one linear subspace M of PG(n, K) such that 2 dim(M) < n and M contains at least dim(M)+2 lines of Y.The author was partially supported by MIUR and GNSAGA of INdAM (Italy).     

The co-existence of elations and homologies of prime order

N. Krier and J. C. D. S. Yaqub have proved that if a projective plane admits an involutory homology and an involutory elation, then does not belong to the Lenz-Barlotti class I₁, and belongs to the class I₂. In this paper, we find the classification of projective planes having a homology of orderp and an elation of orderq, wherep andq are primes.This is based on a part of the doctoral dissertation of A. Solai Raju. The work was supported by a Senior Research Fellowship of the CSIR, India.     

Any algebraic variety in positive characteristic admits a projective model with an inseparable Gauss map

We determine the values attained by the rank of the Gauss map of a projective model for a fixed algebraic variety in positive characteristic p. In particular, it is shown that any variety in p>0 has a projective model such that the differential of the Gauss map is identically zero. On the other hand, we prove that there exists a product of two or more projective spaces admitting an embedding into a projective space such that the differential of the Gauss map is identically zero if and only if p=2.     

The effect of points fattening on postulation

We classify sets Z of points in the projective plane, for which the difference between the minimal degrees of curves containing 2Z and Z respectively is small.     

A characterization of the minimalbasis of the torus

D. König asks the interesting question in [7] whether there are facts corresponding to the theorem of Kuratowski which apply to closed orientable or non-orientable surfaces of any genus. Since then this problem has been solved only for the projective plane ([2], [3], [8]). In order to demonstrate that König’s question can be affirmed we shall first prove, that every minimal graph of the minimal basis of all graphs which cannot be embedded into the orientable surface f of genusp has orientable genusp+1 and non-orientable genusq with 1≦q≦2p+2. Then let f be the torus. We shall derive a characterization of all minimal graphs of the minimal basis with the nonorientable genusq=1 which are not embeddable into the torus. There will be two very important graphs signed withX ₈ andX ₇ later. Furthermore 19 graphsG ₁,G ₂, ...,G ₁₉ of the minimal basisM(torus, >₄) will be specified. We shall prove that five of them have non-orientable genusq=1, ten of them have non-orientable genusq=2 and four of them non-orientable genusq=3. Then we shall point out a method of determining graphs of the minimal basisM(torus, >₄) which are embeddable into the projective plane. Using the possibilities of embedding into the projective plane the results of [2] and [3] are necessary. This method will be called saturation method. Using the minimal basisM(projective plane, >₄) of [3] we shall at last develop a method of determining all graphs ofM(torus, >₄) which have non-orientable genusq≧2. Applying this method we shall succeed in characterizing all minimal graphs which are not embeddable into the torus. The importance of the saturation method will be shown by determining another graphG ₂₀≠G ₁,G ₂, ...,G ₁₉ ofM(torus, >₄).     

Multiple supersingular elliptic fibers on elliptic surfaces

Elliptic surfaces over an algebraically closed field in characteristic p>0 with multiple supersingular elliptic fibers, that is, multiple fibers of a supersingular elliptic curve, are investigated. In particular, it is shown that for an elliptic surface with q=g+1 and a supersingular elliptic curve as a general fiber, where q is the dimension of an Albanese variety of the surface and g is the genus of the base curve, the multiplicities of the multiple supersingular elliptic fibers are not divisible by p². As an application of this result, the structure of false hyperelliptic surfaces is discussed on this basis.     

Independence,clique size and maximum degree

It was shown before that ifG is a graph of maximum degreep containing no cliques of the sizeq then the independence ratio is greater than or equal to 2 / (p +q). We shall discuss here some extreme cases of this inequality. Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday     

On syzygies of projective bundles over abelian varieties

Syzygies or $N_p$-property of an ample line bundles on abelian varieties are well known. In this paper, we study defining equations and syzygies among them of projective bundles over abelian varieties. We prove an analogue of Pareschi's theorem (or Lazarsfeld's conjecture) on abelian varieties, extended to projective bundles over an abelian variety.     

The singular locus of the secant varieties of a smooth projective curve

Let X be a smooth irreducible non-degenerated projective curve in some projective space P^N. Let r be a positive integer such that 2r + 1 < N and let S_r(X) be the r-th secant variety of X. It is a variety of dimension 2r + 1. In this paper we prove that the singular locus is the (r - 1)-th secant variety S_{r- 1}(X) if X does not have any (2r + 2)-secant 2r-space divisor. Received: 26 November 2002