Minitwistor spaces,Severi varieties,and Einstein–Weyl structure

In this article, we show that the space of nodal rational curves, which is so called a Severi variety (of rational curves), on any non-singular projective surface is always equipped with a natural Einstein–Weyl structure, if the space is 3-dimensional. This is a generalization of the Einstein–Weyl structure on the space of smooth rational curves on a complex surface, given by Hitchin. As geometric objects naturally associated to Einstein–Weyl structure, we investigate null surfaces and geodesics on the Severi varieties. Also, we see that if the projective surface has an appropriate real structure, then the real locus of the Severi variety becomes a positive definite Einstein–Weyl manifold. Moreover, we construct various explicit examples of rational surfaces having 3-dimensional Severi varieties of rational curves.     

Severi varieties on blow-ups of the symmetric square of an elliptic curve

We prove that certain Severi varieties of nodal curves of positive genus on general blow-ups of the twofold symmetric product of a general elliptic curve are nonempty and smooth of the expected dimension. This result, besides its intrinsic value, is an important preliminary step for the proof of nonemptiness of Severi varieties on general Enriques surfaces.     

Algorithms for finding proper essential surfaces in 3-manifolds

In this paper, we present an algorithm which, for a given compact orientable irreducible boundary irreducible 3-manifold M, verifies whether M contains an essential orientable surface (possibly, with boundary), whose genus is at most N. The algorithm is based on Haken’s theory of normal surfaces, and on a trick suggested by Jaco and consisting in estimating the mean length of boundary curves in an unknown essential surface of a given genus in the given manifold.     

Error-correcting codes on low rank surfaces

In this paper we construct some algebraic geometric error-correcting codes on surfaces whose Néron–Severi group has low rank. If the Néron–Severi group is generated by an effective divisor, the intersection of this surface with an irreducible surface of lower degree will be an irreducible curve, and this makes possible the construction of codes with good parameters. Such surfaces are not easy to find, but we are able to find surfaces with low rank, and those will give us good codes too.     

On universal Severi varieties of low genus K3 surfaces

We prove the irreducibility of universal Severi varieties parametrizing irreducible, reduced, nodal hyperplane sections of primitive K3 surfaces of genus g, with 3?≤ g≤11, g?≠ 10.     

Families of space curves with large cohomology

We investigate space curves with large cohomology. To this end we introduce curves of subextremal type. This class includes all subextremal curves. Based on geometric and numerical characterizations of curves of subextremal type, we show that, if the cohomology is “not too small,” then they can be parameterized by the union of two generically smooth irreducible families; one of them corresponds to the subextremal curves. For curves of negative genus, the general curve of each of these families is also a smooth point of the support of an irreducible component of the Hilbert scheme. The two components have the same (large) dimension and meet in a subscheme of codimension one.     

A New Proof of the Protasov-Voynov Theorem on Semigroups of Nonnegative Matrices

A new combinatorial proof of the Protasov-Voynov theorem on the structure of irreducible semigroups of nonnegative matrices is proposed. The original proof was obtained by geometric methods.

     

Parameter spaces for curves on surfaces and enumeration of rational curves

Let S be a smooth, minimal rational surface. The geometry of the Severi variety parametrising irreducible, rational curves in a given linear system on S is studied. The results obtained are applied to enumerative geometry, in combination with ideas from Quantum Cohomology. Formulas enumerating rational curves are found, some of which generalised Kontsevich's formula for plane curves.     

Remarks on the Gieseker-Petri divisor in genus eight

In the moduli space of curves of genus 8, M ₈, denote by GP ₈ the locus of curves that do not satisfy the Gieseker-Petri theorem. In this short note we study the projective plane models of curves of genus 8 that do not satisfy the Gieseker-Petri theorem. We use these projective models to exhibit an irreducible divisorial component in GP ₈ and we show that GP ₈ is an irreducible divisor.     

Relative node polynomials for plane curves

We generalize the recent work of S.?Fomin and G.?Mikhalkin on polynomial formulas for Severi degrees. The degree of the Severi variety of plane curves of degree d and ?? nodes is given by a polynomial in d, provided ?? is fixed and d is large enough. We extend this result to generalized Severi varieties parametrizing plane curves that, in addition, satisfy tangency conditions of given orders with respect to a given line. We show that the degrees of these varieties, appropriately rescaled, are given by a combinatorially defined ??relative node polynomial?? in the tangency orders, provided the latter are large enough. We describe a method to compute these polynomials for arbitrary ??, and use it to present explicit formulas for ????6. We also give a threshold for polynomiality, and compute the first few leading terms for any???.     

Counting curves on rational surfaces

In [CH3], Caporaso and Harris derive recursive formulas counting nodal plane curves of degree d and geometric genus g in the plane (through the appropriate number of fixed general points). We rephrase their arguments in the language of maps, and extend them to other rational surfaces, and other specified intersections with a divisor. As applications, (i) we count irreducible curves on Hirzebruch surfaces in a fixed divisor class and of fixed geometric genus, (ii) we compute the higher-genus Gromov–Witten invariants of (or equivalently, counting curves of any genus and divisor class on) del Pezzo surfaces of degree at least 3. In the case of the cubic surface in (ii), we first use a result of Graber to enumeratively interpret higher-genus Gromov–Witten invariants of certain K-nef surfaces, and then apply this to a degeneration of a cubic surface. Received: 30 June 1999 / Revised version: 1 January 2000     

Refined Noether Normalization Theorem and Sharp Degree Bounds for Dominating Morphisms

Abstract

After the proof of a not very known refinement of the Noether Normalization Theorem, we obtain two sharp degree bounds for the geometric degree of a dominating morphism of irreducible affine algebraic varieties and for the degree of the components of the inverse of an isomorphism of such varieties, generalizing by this way the well-known Gabber bound for automorphisms of affine spaces.     

On the irreducibility of Hilbert scheme of surfaces of minimal degree

The article contains a new proof that the Hilbert scheme of irreducible surfaces of degree m in ? ^m+1 is irreducible except m = 4. In the case m = 4 the Hilbert scheme consists of two irreducible components explicitly described in the article. The main idea of our approach is to use the proof of Chisini conjecture [Kulikov Vik.S., On Chisini’s conjecture II, Izv. Math., 2008, 72(5), 901–913 (in Russian)] for coverings of projective plane branched in a special class of rational curves.     

On the number of curves of genus 2 over a finite field

In this paper we compute the number of curves of genus 2 defined over a finite field k of odd characteristic up to isomorphisms defined over k; the even characteristic case is treated in an ongoing work (G. Cardona, E. Nart, J. Pujolàs, Curves of genus 2 over field of even characteristic, 2003, submitted for publication). To this end, we first give a parametrization of all points in , the moduli variety that classifies genus 2 curves up to isomorphism, defined over an arbitrary perfect field (of zero or odd characteristic) and corresponding to curves with non-trivial reduced group of automorphisms; we also give an explicit representative defined over that field for each of these points. Then, we use cohomological methods to compute the number of k-isomorphism classes for each point in .     

A Proof of the Refined PRV Conjecture via the Cyclic Convolution Variety

In this brief note we illustrate the utility of the geometric Satake correspondence by employing the cyclic convolution variety to give a simple proof of the Parthasarathy-Ranga Rao-Varadarajan conjecture, along with Kumar’s refinement. The proof involves recognizing certain MV-cycles as orbit closures of a group action, which we make explicit by unique characterization. In an Appendix, joint with P. Belkale, we discuss how this work fits in a more general framework.

     

Mutation on knots and Whitney’s 2-isomorphism theorem

Whitney’s 2-switching theorem states that any two embeddings of a 2-connected planar graph in S ² can be connected via a sequence of simple operations, named 2-switching. In this paper, we obtain two operations on planar graphs from the view point of knot theory, which we will term “twisting” and “2-switching” respectively. With the twisting operation, we give a pure geometrical proof of Whitney’s 2-switching theorem. As an application, we obtain some relationships between two knots which correspond to the same signed planar graph. Besides, we also give a necessary and sufficient condition to test whether a pair of reduced alternating diagrams are mutants of each other by their signed planar graphs.     

On the finiteness theorem of Siegel and Mahler concerning diophantine equations

In this paper we present a new proof, involving so-called nonstandard arguments, of Siegel's classical theorem on diophantine equations: Any irreducible algebraic equation f(x,y) = 0 of genus g > 0 admits only finitely many integral solutions. We also include Mahler's generalization of this theorem, namely the following: Instead of solutions in integers, we are considering solutions in rationals, but with the provision that their denominators should be divisible only by such primes which belong to a given finite set. Then again, the above equation admits only finitely many such solutions. From general nonstandard theory, we need the definition and the existence of enlargements of an algebraic number field. The idea of proof is to compare the natural arithmetic in such an enlargement, with the functional arithmetic in the function field defined by the above equation.     

A Few Remarks About the Hilbert Scheme of Smooth Projective Curves

We discuss two conjectures by Francesco Severi and Joe Harris about the irreducibility and the dimension of the Hilbert scheme parameterizing smooth projective curves of given degree and genus.