Homotopical variations and high-dimensional Zariski-van Kampen theorems

We give a new definition of the homotopical variation operators occurring in a recent high-dimensional Zariski-van Kampen theorem, a definition which opens the way to further generalizations of theorems of this kind.

     

Invariants of 2 × 2 matrices, irreducible {\hbox{SL}(2, \mathbb{C})} characters and the Magnus trace map

We obtain an explicit characterization of the stable points of the action of on the cartesian product G  ^{× n} by simultaneous conjugation on each factor in terms of the corresponding invariant functions. From this, a simple criterion for the irreducibility of representations of finitely generated groups into G is derived. We also obtain analogous results for the action of on the vector space of n-tuples of 2 × 2 complex matrices. For a free group F _n of rank n, we show how to generically reconstruct the 2 ^n-2 conjugacy classes of representations F _n → G from their values under the map considered in Magnus [Math. Zeit. 170, 91–103 (1980)], defined by certain 3n − 3 traces of words of length one and two.      

Standard Embeddings of Smooth Schubert Varieties in Rational Homogeneous Manifolds of Picard Number 1

Smooth Schubert varieties in rational homogeneous manifolds of Picard number 1 are horospherical varieties. We characterize standard embeddings of smooth Schubert varieties in rational homogeneous manifolds of Picard number 1 by means of varieties of minimal rational tangents. In particular, we mainly consider nonhomogeneous smooth Schubert varieties in symplectic Grassmannians and in the 20-dimensional F_4- homogeneous manifold associated to a short simple root.     

A geometric realization of quantum groups of type D

We geometrize quantum groups of type D in the spirit of Beilinson et al. (1990) [1].     

On the modularity level of modular abelian varieties over number fields

Let f be a weight two newform for Γ₁(N) without complex multiplication. In this article we study the conductor of the absolutely simple factors B of the variety Af over certain number fields L. The strategy we follow is to compute the restriction of scalars ResL/Q(B), and then to apply Milne's formula for the conductor of the restriction of scalars. In this way we obtain an expression for the local exponents of the conductor NL(B). Under some hypothesis it is possible to give global formulas relating this conductor with N. For instance, if N is squarefree, we find that NL(B) belongs to Z and , where fL is the conductor of L.     

On Rational Varieties Smooth Except at a Seminormal Singular Point

We construct a class of projective rational varieties X of any dimension m ≥ 1, which are smooth except at a point O, with the projective space ? ^m as normalization, having smooth branches, and reduced projectivized tangent cone in O. The Hilbert function of X is considered and is explicitly computed when the point O is seminormal. Indeed, we study seminormality, obtaining necessary and sufficient conditions for O to be seminormal and show that in such case the tangent cone is reduced and seminormal.     

Codimension Growth of Strong Lie Nilpotent Associative Algebras

We study Lie nilpotent varieties of associative algebras. We explicitly compute the codimension growth for the variety of strong Lie nilpotent associative algebras. The codimension growth is polynomial and found in terms of Stirling numbers of the first kind. To achieve the result we take the free Lie algebra of countable rank L(X), consider its filtration by the lower central series and shift it. Next we apply generating functions of special type to the induced filtration of the universal enveloping algebra U(L(X)) = A(X).     

Existence of Indecomposable Rank Two Vector Bundles on Higher Dimensional Toric Varieties

In the mid 1970s, Hartshorne conjectured that, for all n > 7, any rank 2 vector bundles on ? ⁿ is a direct sum of line bundles. This conjecture remains still open. In this paper, we construct indecomposable rank two vector bundles on a large class of Fano toric varieties. Unfortunately, this class does not contain ? ⁿ .