Families of curves with ordinary singular points on regular surfaces

Sunto Fissata una superficie algebrica liscia X sopra un campo algebricamente chiuso e di caratteristica 0, e una curva ridotta C su X, si introduce, per ogni -upla di numeri naturali m₁,..., m, uno schema W=W(C, m₁,..., m), parametrizzante le curve del sistema lineare ¦C¦ con punti multipli ordinari di molteplicità almeno m₁,..., m. Si studia W in relazione con la configurazione delie singolarità e delle componenti irriducibili di C. Si prova in particolare un teorema di «virtuale connessione», che permette di stabilire l'esistenza di curve irriducibili in alcuni di tali schemi W.

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Membro del G.N.S.A.G.A. del C.N.R.     

Self-intersections of curves on surfaces

Let M be a compact orientable surface with nonempty boundary (x(M)<0) and fundamental group . Let be a geodesic on M (with a fixed hyperbolic structure), and let W be a (cyclically reduced) word in a fixed set of generators of which represents . In this paper, we give an algorithm to count the number of self-intersections of in terms of W, generalizing a result of Birman and Series, where an algorithm was given to decide if was simple. Some applications of the algorithm to surfaces with one boundary and the Markoff spectrum are also given.     

Intersections of curves on surfaces

The authors consider curves on surfaces which have more intersections than the least possible in their homotopy class. Theorem 1.Let f be a general position arc or loop on an orientable surface F which is homotopic to an embedding but not embedded. Then there is an embedded 1-gon or 2-gon on F bounded by part of the image of f. Theorem 2.Let f be a general position arc or loop on an orientable surface F which has excess self-intersection. Then there is a singular 1-gon or 2-gon on F bounded by part of the image of f. Examples are given showing that analogous results for the case of two curves on a surface do not hold except in the well-known special case when each curve is simple.     

Families of curves and hyperbolicity

Translated from Teoriya Funktsii, Funktsional'nyi Analiz i Ikh Prilozheniya, No. 53, pp. 26–43, 1990.     

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     

Isoperimetric curves on hyperbolic surfaces

Least-perimeter enclosures of prescribed area on hyperbolic surfaces are characterized.

     

Computing parallel curves on parametric surfaces

Generating parallel curves on parametric surfaces is an important issue in many industrial settings. Given an initial curve (called the base curve or generator) on a parametric surface, the goal is to obtain curves on the surface that are parallel to the generator. By parallel curves we mean curves that are at a given distance from the generator, where distance is measured point-wise along certain characteristic curves (on the surface) orthogonal to the generator. Except for a few particular cases, computing these parallel curves is a very difficult and challenging problem. In fact, only partial, incomplete solutions have been reported so far in the literature. In this paper we introduce a simple yet efficient method to fill this gap. In clear contrast with other existing techniques, the most important feature of our method is its generality: it can be successfully applied to any differentiable parametric surface and to any kind of characteristic curves on surfaces. To evaluate our proposal, some illustrative examples (not addressed with previous methods) for the cases of section, vector-field, and geodesic parallels are discussed. Our experimental results show the excellent performance of the method even for the complex case of NURBS surfaces.     

Typical convex curves on convex surfaces

In the sense of Baire categories, most convex curves on a smooth twodimensional closed convex surface are smooth. Moreover, if the set of all closed geodesics has empty interior in the space of all convex curves, then most convex curves are strictly convex.This paper was written during the author's visit at Western Washington University, whose substantial support is acknowledged.     

Integer points on curves and surfaces

Various upper bounds are given for the number of integer points on plane curves, on surfaces and hypersurfaces. We begin with a certain class of convex curves, we treat rather general surfaces in ³ which include algebraic surfaces with the exception of cylinders, and we go on to hypersurfaces in ⁿ with nonvanishing Gaussian curvature.Written with partial supports from NSF grant No. MCS-8211461.     

Rational curves on K3 surfaces

We show that projective K3 surfaces with odd Picard rank contain infinitely many rational curves. Our proof extends the Bogomolov-Hassett-Tschinkel approach, i.e., uses moduli spaces of stable maps and reduction to positive characteristic.     

Finite sets on curves and surfaces

A complete proof is given for Schnirelmann’s theorem on the existence of a square inC ² Jordan curves. The following theorems are then proved, using the same method: 1. On every hypersurface inR ⁿ,C ³-diffeomorphic toS ⁿ⁻¹, there exist 2n points which are the vertices of a regular 2 ⁿ -cellC _n. 2. Every planeC′ Jordan curve can beC′ approximated by a curve on which there are 2N distinct points which are the vertices of a centrally symmetric 2N-gon (anglesπ not excluded). 3. On every planeC ² curve there exist 5 distinct points which are the vertices of an axially symmetric pentagon with given base anglesa, π/2≦a<π. (The angle at the vertex on the axis of symmetry might beπ). Research supported by Grant AF-AFOSR-664-64, Air Force Office of Scientific Research.     

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.     

Combinatorial Lie bialgebras of curves on surfaces

Goldman (Invent. Math. 85(2) (1986) 263) and Turaev (Ann. Sci. Ecole Norm. Sup. (4) 24 (6) (1991) 635) found a Lie bialgebra structure on the vector space generated by non-trivial free homotopy classes of curves on a surface. When the surface has non-empty boundary, this vector space has a basis of cyclic reduced words in the generators of the fundamental group and their inverses. We give a combinatorial algorithm to compute this Lie bialgebra on this vector space of cyclic words. Using this presentation, we prove a variant of Goldman's result relating the bracket to disjointness of curve representatives when one of the classes is simple. We exhibit some examples we found by programming the algorithm which answer negatively Turaev's question about the characterization of simple curves in terms of the cobracket. Further computations suggest an alternative characterization of simple curves in terms of the bracket of a curve and its inverse. Turaev's question is still open in genus zero.