Secant varieties of toric varieties

Let X_P be a smooth projective toric variety of dimension n embedded in P^r using all of the lattice points of the polytope P. We compute the dimension and degree of the secant variety . We also give explicit formulas in dimensions 2 and 3 and obtain partial results for the projective varieties X_A embedded using a set of lattice points A⊂P∩Zⁿ containing the vertices of P and their nearest neighbors.     

On tangential varieties of rational homogeneous varieties

The sphericality of tangential varieties of rational homogeneousvarieties is determined. The homogeneous coordinate rings andrings of covariants of the tangential varieties of homogenouslyembedded compact Hermitian symmetric spaces (CHSS) are determined.Bounds on the degrees of generators of the ideals of tangentialvarieties of CHSS are given, and more explicit information isobtained about the ideals in certain cases.     

Discriminating varieties

In this paper we determine those locally finite varieties that generate decidable discriminator varieties when augmented by a ternary discriminator term.Dedicated to Bjarni Jonsson on the occasion of his 70th birthdayPresented by G. McNulty.The first author gratefully acknowledges the support of NSERC.     

Chordal varieties of Veronese varieties and catalecticant matrices

It is proved that the chordal variety of the Veronese variety is projectively normal, arithmetically caulay, and its homogeneous ideal is generated by the 3×3 minors of two catalecticant matrices. Results are generalized to the catalecticant varieties Gor_≤(T) witht ₁=2. Translated from Itogi Nauki i Tekhniki, Seriya Sovremennaya Matematika i Ee Prilozheniya. Tematicheskie Obzory. Vol. 56. Algebraic Geometry-9, 1998.     

Non-synthesizable varieties

In 2004 a counterexample was given for a 1965 result of R.J. Elliott claiming that discrete spectral synthesis holds on every Abelian group. Here we present a ring-theoretical approach to this problem, and show that some varieties fail to have spectral synthesis. In particular, we give a new proof for the result of the second author that spectral synthesis does not hold on Abelian groups with infinite torsion free rank.     

Higher order secant varieties and blown up varieties

Let π:X→Y be the blowing up of the projective varietyY at s general points. Here we study the higher order secant varieties of the linearly normal embeddings ofX andY into projective spaces. We give conditions on the embedding ofY which imply that the firstt secant varieties of a related embedding ofX have the expected dimension.     

Congruence semimodular varieties I: Locally finite varieties

Dedicated to Bjarni Jónsson on the occasion of his 70th birthday     

Severi varieties

R. Hartshorne conjectured and F. Zak proved (cf [6,p.9]) that any smooth non-degenerate complex algebraic variety with satisfies denotes the secant variety of X; when X is smooth it is simply the union of all the secant and tangent lines to X). In this article, I deal with the limiting case of this theorem, namely the Severi varieties, defined by the conditions and . I want to give a different proof of a theorem of F. Zak classifying all Severi varieties. F. Zak proves that there exists only four Severi varieties and then realises a posteriori that all of them are homogeneous; here I will work in another direction: I prove a priori that any Severi variety is homogeneous and then deduce more quickly their classification, satisfying R. Lazarsfeld et A. Van de Ven's wish [6, p.18]. By the way, I give a very brief proof of the fact that the derivatives of the equation of Sec(X), which is a cubic hypersurface, determine a birational morphism of . I wish to thank Laurent Manivel for helping me in writing this article. Received in final form: 29 March 2001 / Published online: 1 February 2002     

An asymptotic bound for secant varieties of Segre varieties

This paper studies the defectivity of secant varieties of Segre varieties. We prove that there exists an asymptotic lower estimate for the greater non-defective secant variety (without filling the ambient space) of any given Segre variety. In particular, we prove that the ratio between the greater non-defective secant variety of a Segre variety and its expected rank is lower bounded by a value depending just on the number of factors of the Segre variety. Moreover, in the final section, we present some results obtained by explicit computation, proving the non-defectivity of all the secant varieties of Segre varieties of the shape $(\mathbb{P }^{n})^4$ , with $2 \le n\le 10$ , except at most $\sigma _{199}((\mathbb{P }^8)^4)$ and $\sigma _{357}((\mathbb{P }^{10})^4)$ .