The geometry of the Fano scheme of maximal linear spaces contained in the base locus of a pencil of quadrics has been studied by algebraic geometers when the base field is algebraically closed. In this paper, we work over an arbitrary base field of characteristic not equal to 2 and show how these Fano schemes are related to the Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves. In particular, if $B$ is the base locus of a generic pencil of quadrics in $\bbp^{2n+1}$, and $F$ is the Fano variety of $n - 1$ planes contained in $B$, then $F$ is a component of a disconnected commutative algebraic group $G = \picz(C) \dcup F \dcup \pico(C) \dcup F'$, where $C$ is the hyperelliptic curve defined by the discriminant form of the pencil. In the second half of this paper, we study regular pencils of quadrics, where the hyperelliptic curve defined by the discriminant is singular.
For any pencil of conics or higher-dimensional quadrics over the rationals, with all degenerate fibres defined over the rationals, we show that the Brauer-Manin obstruction controls weak approximation. The proof is based on the Hasse principle and weak approximation for some special intersections of quadrics, which is a consequence of recent advances in additive combinatorics.
We give a geometric description of singular pencils of quadrics of constant rank, relating them to the splitting type of some naturally associated vector bundles on $\mathbb{P}^1$. Then we study their orbits in the Grassmannian of lines, under the natural action of the general linear group.
Two-dimensional linear spaces of symmetric matrices are classified by Segre symbols. After reviewing known facts from linear algebra and projective geometry, we address new questions motivated by algebraic statistics and optimization. We compute the reciprocal curve and the maximum likelihood degrees, and we study strata of pencils in the Grassmannian.
We establish a formula for the Gromov-Witten-Welschinger invariants of $\mathbb CP^3$ with mixed real and conjugate point constraints. The method is based on a suggestion by J. Kollár that, considering pencils of quadrics, some real and complex enumerative invariants of $\mathbb CP^3$ could be computed in terms of enumerative invariants of $\mathbb CP^1\times\mathbb CP^1$ and of elliptic curves.
We study the deep interplay between geometry of quadrics in d-dimensional space and the dynamics of related integrable billiard systems. Various generalizations of Poncelet theorem are reviewed. The corresponding analytic conditions of Cayley's type are derived giving the full description of periodical billiard trajectories; among other cases, we consider billiards in arbitrary dimension d with the boundary consisting of arbitrary number k of confocal quadrics. Several important examples are presented in full details demonstrating the effectiveness of the obtained results. We give a thorough a…
In [GH], Griffiths and Harris asked whether a projective complex submanifold of codimension two is determined by the moduli of its second fundamental forms. More precisely, given a nonsingular subvariety $X^n \subset {\mathbb P}^{n+2}$, the second fundamental form $II_{X,x}$ at a point $x \in X$ is a pencil of quadrics on $T_x(X)$, defining a rational map $μ^X$ from $X$ to a suitable moduli space of pencils of quadrics on a complex vector space of dimension $n$. The question raised by Griffiths and Harris was whether the image of $μ^X$ determines $X$. We study this question when $X^n \subset {…
Given two vector bundles E and F on a variety X and a morphism from Sym^2(E) to F, we compute the cohomology class of the locus in X where the kernel of this morphism contains a quadric of prescribed rank. Our formulas have many applications to moduli theory: (i) we find a simple proof of Borcherds' result that the Hodge class on the moduli space of polarized K3 surfaces of fixed genus is of Noether-Lefschetz type, (ii) we construct an explicit canonical divisor on the Hurwitz space parametrizing degree k covers of the projective line from curves of genus 2k-1, (iii) we provide a closed formul…
We construct Eagon--Northcott cycles on Hurwitz space and compare their classes to Kleiman's multiple point loci. Applying this construction towards the classification of Betti tables of canonical curves, we find that the value of the extremal Betti number records the number of minimal pencils. The result holds under transversality hypotheses equivalent to the virtual cycles having a geometric interpretation. We analyse the case of two minimal pencils, showing that the transversality hypotheses hold generically.
The thirty years old programme of Griffiths and Harris of understanding higher-dimensional analogues of Poncelet-type problems and synthetic approach to higher genera addition theorems has been settled and completed in this paper. Starting with the observation of the billiard nature of some classical constructions and configurations, we construct the billiard algebra, that is a group structure on the set T of lines in $R^d$ simultaneously tangent to d-1 quadrics from a given confocal family. Using this tool, the related results of Reid, Donagi and Knoerrer are further developed, realized and s…
The present paper describes a relation between the quotient of the fundamental group of a smooth quasi-projective variety by its second commutator and the existence of maps to orbifold curves. It extends previously studied cases when the target was a smooth curve. In the case when the quasi-projective variety is a complement to a plane algebraic curve this provides new relations between the fundamental group, the equation of the curve, and the existence of polynomial solutions to certain equations generalizing Pell's equation. These relations are formulated in terms of the depth which is an in…
We study geometry of confocal quadrics in pseudo-Euclidean spaces of an arbitrary dimension $d$ and any signature, and related billiard dynamics. The goal is to give a complete description of periodic billiard trajectories within ellipsoids. The novelty of our approach is based on introduction of a new discrete combinatorial-geometric structure associated to a confocal pencil of quadrics, a colouring in $d$ colours, by which we decompose quadrics of $d+1$ geometric types of a pencil into new relativistic quadrics of $d$ relativistic types. Deep insight of related geometry and combinatorics com…
We study the moduli space of smooth complete intersections of two quadrics in $\mathbb{P}^n$ by relating it to the geometry of the singular members of the corresponding pencils. Giving an alternative presentation for the moduli space of complete intersections, we compute the Picard group for all $n\geq 3$.
We study the variety of rank $\leq k$ quadrics containing a general projective curve and show that it has the expected dimension in the range $g-d+r\leq 1$. By considering the loci where this expectation is not true, we construct new divisor classes in $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$. We use one of these classes to show that $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{15,9}$ is of general type.
The billiard systems within quadrics, playing the role of discrete analogues of geodesics on ellipsoids, are incorporated into the theory of integrable quad-graphs. An initial observation is that the Six-pointed star theorem, as the operational consistency for the billiard algebra, is equivalent to an integrabilty condition of a line congruence. A new notion of the double-reflection nets as a subclass of dual Darboux nets associated with pencils of quadrics is introduced, basic properies and several examples are presented. Corresponding Yang-Baxter maps, associated with pencils of quadrics are…
In this note, we introduce and study position space Feynman quadrics that are the loci of divergences of the position space Feynman integrals for Euclidean massless scalar quantum field theories. We prove that the Feynman quadrics define objects in the category of mixed Tate motives for complete graphs with a bound on the number of vertices. This result shows a strong contrast with the graph hypersurfaces approach which produces also non-mixed Tate examples.
Let us consider the locus in the moduli space of curves of genus 2k defined by curves with a pencil of degree k. Since the Brill-Noether number is equal to -2, such a locus has codimension two. Using the method of test surfaces, we compute the class of its closure in the moduli space of stable curves.
We determine the scrollar invariants of the normalization $C$ of a nodal curve $Γ$ of type $(k,a)$ on a smooth quadric $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$ associated to the $g^1_k$ defined by the pencil of lines of type $(0,1)$ in case all nodes are contained in at most $k-1$ lines of type $(1,0)$. This result is very much related to results obtained by E. Ballico, but in this paper the proof follows directly from an easy lemma. Also a result of E. Ballico on the existence of curves with prescribed scrollar invariant is a consequence of that lemma making the arguments much shorter.
We prove that the Hilbert scheme of degeneracy loci of pairs of global sections of Omega(2), the twisted cotangent bundle on P^(n-1), is unirational and dominated by the Grassmannian of lines in the projective space of skew-symmetric forms over a vector space of dimension n. We provide a constructive method to find the fibers of the dominant map. In classical terminology, this amounts to giving a method to realize all the pencils of linear line complexes having a prescribed set of centers. In particular, we show that the previous map is birational when n=4.
This research monograph focuses on the arithmetic, over number fields, of surfaces fibred into curves of genus 1 over the projective line, and of intersections of two quadrics in projective space. The first half takes up and develops further the technique initiated by Swinnerton-Dyer in 1993, and later generalised by Colliot-Thélène, Skorobogatov and Swinnerton-Dyer, for studying rational points on pencils of curves of genus 1. The second half, which builds upon the first, is devoted to quartic del Pezzo surfaces and to higher-dimensional intersections of two quadrics. Conditionally on two wel…
We analyze the stratification of the moduli space S_g of spin curves of genus g given by the dimension of the theta-characteristic. Using the relation between gaussian maps and the strata S_g^r, we construct "regular" components of S_g^r having expected codimension r(r+1)/2 inside S_g. We also relate moduli spaces of pointed curves with a moving spin structure to the classical Gieseker-Petri loci in M_g. We show that the locus of curves for which the Gieseker-Petri theorem fails for a pencil is always a divisor on M_g. Finally, we give a sufficient criterion for the injectivity of Gaussian map…
The free singularity locus of a noncommutative polynomial f is defined to be the sequence $Z_n(f)=\{X\in M_n^g : \det f(X)=0\}$ of hypersurfaces. The main theorem of this article shows that f is irreducible if and only if $Z_n(f)$ is eventually irreducible. A key step in the proof is an irreducibility result for linear pencils. Apart from its consequences to factorization in a free algebra, the paper also discusses its applications to invariant subspaces in perturbation theory and linear matrix inequalities in real algebraic geometry.
We compute the class of the locus in M_g of curves having a pencil with two unspecified triple ramification points. This is the first example of a geometric divisor on M_g which is not the pull-back of a divisor on the moduli space of pseudo-stable curves. This space, in which elliptic tails are replaced by cusps, appears as a result of the first divisorial contraction in the minimal model program for M_g. In particular, we show that our divisor picks-up the locus of Fermat cubic tails when restricted to the boundary divisor of elliptic tails. We also give various enumerative applications conc…
Bidouble covers $π: S \mapsto Q$ of the quadric Q are parametrized by connected families depending on four positive integers a,b,c,d. In the special case where b=d we call them abc-surfaces. Such a Galois covering $π$ admits a small perturbation yielding a general 4-tuple covering of Q with branch curve $\De$, and a natural Lefschetz fibration obtained from a small perturbation of the composition of $ π$ with the first projection. We prove a more general result implying that the braid monodromy factorization corresponding to $\De$ determines the three integers a,b,c in the case of abc-surfaces…
In this paper, we study how simple linear projections of some projective varieties behave when the projection center runs through the ambient space. More precisely, let $X \subset ¶^r$ be a projective variety satisfying Green-Lazarsfeld's property $N_p$ for some $p \geq 2$, $q \in ¶^r$ a closed point outside of $X$, and $X_q := π_q (X) \subset ¶^{r-1}$ the projected image of $X$ from $q$. First, it is shown that the secant locus $Σ_q (X)$ of $X$ with respect to $q$, i.e. the set of all points on $X$ spanning secant lines passing through $q$, is either empty or a quadric in a subspace of $¶^r$.…
We investigate properties of Waring decompositions of real homogeneous forms. We study the moduli of real decompositions, so-called Space of Sums of Powers, naturally included in the Variety of Sums of Powers. Explicit results are obtained for quaternary quadrics, relating the algebraic boundary of ${\rm SSP}$ to various loci in the Hilbert scheme of four points in $\mathbb{P}^3$. Further, we study the locus of general real forms whose real rank coincides with the complex rank. In case of quaternary quadrics the boundary of this locus is a degree forty hypersurface $J(σ_3(v_3(\mathbb{P}^3)),τ(…
We study transformations as in the title with emphasis on those having smooth connected base locus, called "special". In particular, we classify all special quadratic birational maps into a quadric hypersurface whose inverse is given by quadratic forms by showing that there are only four examples having general hyperplane sections of Severi varieties as base loci.
A birational map from a projective space onto a not too much singular projective variety with a single irreducible non-singular base locus scheme (special birational transformation) is a rare enough phenomenon to allow meaningful and concise classification results. We shall concentrate on transformations defined by quadratic equations onto some varieties (especially projective hypersurfaces of small degree), where quite surprisingly the base loci are interesting projective manifolds appearing in other contexts; for example, exceptions for adjunction theory, small degree or small codimensional …
A section K on a genus g canonical curve C is identified as the key tool to prove new results on the geometry of the singular locus Theta_s of the theta divisor. The K divisor is characterized by the condition of linear dependence of a set of quadrics containing C and naturally associated to a degree g effective divisor on C. K counts the number of intersections of special varieties on the Jacobian torus defined in terms of Theta_s. It also identifies sections of line bundles on the moduli space of algebraic curves, closely related to the Mumford isomorphism, whose zero loci characterize speci…
A hyperelliptic curve over $\mathbb Q$ is called "locally soluble" if it has a point over every completion of $\mathbb Q$. In this paper, we prove that a positive proportion of hyperelliptic curves over $\mathbb Q$ of genus $g\geq 1$ are locally soluble but have no points over any odd degree extension of $\mathbb Q$. We also obtain a number of related results. For example, we prove that for any fixed odd integer $k > 0$, the proportion of locally soluble hyperelliptic curves over $\mathbb Q$ of genus $g$ having no points over any odd degree extension of $\mathbb Q$ of degree at most $k$ tends …
In this note, we extend work of Farkas and Rimányi on applying quadric rank loci to finding divisors of small slope on the moduli space of curves by instead considering all divisorial conditions on the hypersurfaces of a fixed degree containing a projective curve. This gives rise to a large family of virtual divisors on $\overline{\mathcal{M}_g}$. We determine explicitly which of these divisors are candidate counterexamples to the Slope Conjecture. The potential counterexamples exist on $\overline{\mathcal{M}_g}$, where the set of possible values of $g\in \{1,\ldots,N\}$ has density $Ω(\log(N)…
Università di Siena（锡耶纳大学）；University of the National Education Commission（国家教育委员会大学）；Università degli studi di Palermo（巴勒莫大学）；University of Nebraska, Lincoln（内布拉斯加大学林肯分校）；University of Notre Dame（圣母大学）
基于经典 Weddle 曲面，通过投影到 d 次条件引入 d-Weddle 方案，利用 Macaulay 对偶和插值矩阵研究其性质，证明一般点集下为超曲面并计算次数。
