Let $X$ be an irreducible, reduced complex projective hypersurface of degree $d$. A point $P$ not contained in $X$ is called uniform if the monodromy group of the projection of $X$ from $P$ is isomorphic to the symmetric group $S_d$. We prove that the locus of non--uniform points is finite when $X$ is smooth or a general projection of a smooth variety. In general, it is contained in a finite union of linear spaces of codimension at least $2$, except possibly for a special class of hypersurfaces with singular locus linear in codimension $1$. Moreover, we generalise a result of Fukasawa and Takahashi on the finiteness of Galois points.
We give a survey on some aspects of the topological investigation of isolated singularities of complex hypersurfaces by means of Picard-Lefschetz theory. We focus on the concept of distinguished bases of vanishing cycles and the concept of monodromy.
Let $X$ be a general complex projective hypersurface in $\mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ of degree $d>1$. A point $P$ not in $X$ is called uniform if the monodromy group of the projection of $X$ from $P$ is isomorphic to the symmetric group. We prove that all the points in $\mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ are uniform for $X$, generalizing a result of Cukierman on general plane curves.
For a subvariety of a smooth projective variety, consider the family of smooth hypersurfaces of sufficiently large degree containing it, and take the quotient of the middle cohomology of the hypersurfaces by the cohomology of the ambient variety and also by the cycle classes of the irreducible components of the subvariety. Using Deligne's semisimplicity theorem together with Steenbrink's theory for semistable degenerations, we give a simpler proof of the first author's theorem (with a better bound of the degree of hypersurfaces) that this monodromy representation is irreducible.
We introduce braid monodromy for the discriminant hypersurface in versal unfoldings of hypersurface singularities. Our objective is then to compute this invariant for singularities of Brieskorn Pham type: First we consider the unfolding by linear monomials in some detail and relate it to the versal unfolding. Next we present the A_n case in our framework. The two main chapters then provide the result in case of two variables and the inductive step to all higher dimensions. We finish with a presentation of the fundamental group of the discriminant complement.
We consider an arbitrary polynomial map $f:{\mathbb C}^{n+1}\to {\mathbb C} $ and we study the Alexander invariants of ${\mathbb C}^{n+1}\setminus X$ for any fiber $X$ of $f$. The article has two major messages. First, the most important qualitative properties of the Alexander modules are completely independent of the behaviour of $f$ at infinity, or about the special fibers. Second, all the Alexander invariants of all the fibers of the polynomial $f$ are closely related to the monodromy representation of $f$. In fact, all the torsion parts of the Alexander modules (associated with all the pos…
We study the topology of the space of affine hyperplanes $L \subset \CC^n$ which are in general position with respect to a given generic quadratic hypersurface $A$, and calculate the monodromy action of the fundamental group of this space on the relative homology groups $H_*(\CC^n, A \cup L)$ associated with such hyperplanes.
The monodromy conjecture is an umbrella term for several conjectured relationships between poles of zeta functions, monodromy eigenvalues and roots of Bernstein-Sato polynomials in arithmetic geometry and singularity theory. Even the weakest of these relations -- the Denef--Loeser conjecture on topological zeta functions -- is open for surface singularities. We prove it for a wide class of multidimensional singularities that are non-degenerate with respect to their Newton polyhedra, including all such singularities of functions of four variables. A crucial difference from the known case of thr…
Let $Y$ be an $(m+1)$-dimensional irreducible smooth complex projective variety embedded in a projective space. Let $Z$ be a closed subscheme of $Y$, and $δ$ be a positive integer such that $\mathcal I_{Z,Y}(δ)$ is generated by global sections. Fix an integer $d\geq δ+1$, and assume the general divisor $X \in |H^0(Y,\ic_{Z,Y}(d))|$ is smooth. Denote by $H^m(X;\mathbb Q)_{\perp Z}^{\text{van}}$ the quotient of $H^m(X;\mathbb Q)$ by the cohomology of $Y$ and also by the cycle classes of the irreducible components of dimension $m$ of $Z$. In the present paper we prove that the monodromy represent…
A relation is proved between the Poincaré series of the coordinate algebra of a two-dimensional quasihomogeneous isolated hypersurface singularity and the characteristic polynomial of its monodromy operator. For a Kleinian singularity not of type $A_{2n}$, this amounts to the statement that the Poincaré series is the quotient of the characteristic polynomial of the Coxeter element by the characteristic polynomial of the affine Coxeter element of the corresponding root system. We show that this result also follows from the McKay correspondence.
We describe an algorithm computing the monodromy and the pole order filtration on the top Milnor fiber cohomology of hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{P}^n$ whose pole order spectral sequence degenerates at the second page. In the case of hyperplane arrangements and free, locally quasi-homogeneous hypersurfaces, and assuming a key conjecture, this algorithm is much faster than for a hypersurface as above. Our conjecture is supported by the results due to L. Narv\' ez Macarro and M. Saito on the roots of Bernstein-Sato polynomials of such hypersurfaces, by all the examples computed so far, and by one p…
The Monodromy Conjecture asserts that if c is a pole of the local topological zeta function of a hypersurface, then exp(2πi c) is an eigenvalue of the monodromy on the cohomology of the Milnor fiber. A stronger version of the conjecture asserts that every pole is a root of the Bernstein-Sato polynomial of the hypersurface. In this note we prove the weak version of the conjecture for hyperplane arrangements. Furthermore, we reduce the strong version to the following conjecture: -n/d is always a root of the Bernstein-Sato polynomial of an indecomposable essential central hyperplane arrangement o…
Let $\{V_q\}_{q}$ be a complex one-parameter family of smooth hypersurfaces in a toric variety. In this paper, we give a concrete description of the monodromy transformation of $\{V_q\}_q$ around $q=\infty$ in terms of tropical geometry. The main tool is the tropical localization introduced by Mikhalkin.
I describe the monodromy of smooth hypersurfaces $X$ of high degree in a fixed smooth variety $Y$ containing a fixed subvariety $W$ of $Y$. The cohomology of $X$ in middle degree spanned by the pull-back of the cohomology of $Y$ and by the classes of the irreducible components of $W$ is monodromy invariant. I show that the monodromy representation on the orthogonal of those classes is irreducible. The proof is essentially topological. Difficulties arise from the fact that $W$ may have arbitrary singularities.
A log generic hypersurface in $\mathbb{P}^n$ with respect to a birational modification of $\mathbb{P}^n$ is by definition the image of a generic element of a high power of an ample linear series on the modification. A log very-generic hypersurface is defined similarly but restricting to line bundles satisfying a non-resonance condition. Fixing a log resolution of a product $f=f_1\ldots f_p$ of polynomials, we show that the monodromy conjecture, relating the motivic zeta function with the complex monodromy, holds for the tuple $(f_1,\ldots,f_p,g)$ and for the product $fg$, if $g$ is log generic…
Let $k$ be an uncountable algebraically closed field of characteristic $0$, and let $X$ be a smooth projective connected variety of dimension $2p$, appropriately embedded into $\mathbb P^m$ over $k$. Let $Y$ be a hyperplane section of $X$, and let $A^p(Y)$ and $A^{p+1}(X)$ be the groups of algebraically trivial algebraic cycles of codimension $p$ and $p+1$ modulo rational equivalence on $Y$ and $X$ respectively. Assume that, whenever $Y$ is smooth, the group $A^p(Y)$ is regularly parametrized by an abelian variety $A$ and coincides with the subgroup of degree $0$ classes in the Chow group $CH^…
This paper is a sequel to [He7]. There a notion of marking of isolated hypersurface singularities was defined, and a moduli space $M_μ^{mar}$ for marked singularities in one $μ$-homotopy class of isolated hypersurface singularities was established. One can consider it as a global $μ$-constant stratum or as a Teichmüller space for singularities. It comes together with a $μ$-constant monodromy group $G^{mar}\subset G_Z$. Here $G_Z$ is the group of automorphisms of a Milnor lattice which respect the Seifert form. It was conjectured that $M_μ^{mar}$ is connected. This is equivalent to $G^{mar}= G_…
We introduce and study the vanishing homology of singular projective hypersurfaces. We prove its concentration in two levels in case of 1-dimensional singular locus $Σ$, and moreover determine the ranks of the nontrivial homology groups. These two groups depend on the monodromy at special points of $Σ$ and on the effect of the monodromy of the local system over its complement.
Let X be an irreducible, reduced complex projective hypersurface of degree d. A uniform point for X is a point P such that the projection of X from P has maximal monodromy. We extend and improve some results concerning the finiteness of the locus of non-uniform points for projections of hypersurfaces obtained by the authors and Cuzzucoli only for P not contained in X.
This paper is the second in a series. The first one describes pillow degenerations of a $K3$ surface with genus $g$. In this paper we study the $(2,2)$-pillow degeneration of a non-prime $K3$ surface and the braid monodromy of the branch curve of the surface with respect to a generic projection onto $\C¶^2$. In future papers we study the fundamental group of the complement of the branch curve and the fundamental group of the Galois cover of the surface with respect to this generic projection.
Linearly projecting smooth projective varieties provides a method of obtaining hypersurfaces birational to the original varieties. We show that in low dimension, the resulting hypersurfaces only have Du Bois singularities. Moreover, we conclude that these Du Bois singularities are in fact semi log canonical. However, we demonstrate the existence of counterexamples in high dimension -- the generic linear projection of certain varieties of dimension 30 or higher is neither semi log canonical nor Du Bois.
Following Newton, Ivory and Arnold, we study the Newtonian potentials of algebraic hypersurfaces in $R^n$. The ramification of (analytic continuations of) these potential depends on a monodromy group, which can be considered as a proper subgroup of the local monodromy group of a complete intersection (acting on a {\em twisted} vanishing homology group if $n$ is odd). Studying this monodromy group we prove, in particular, that the attraction force of a hyperbolic layer of degree $d$ in $R^n$ coincides with appropriate algebraic vector-functions everywhere outside the attracting surface if $n=2$…
The uniform position principle states that, given an irreducible nondegenerate curve C in the projective r-space $P^r$, a general (r-2)-plane L is uniform, that is, projection from L induces a rational map from C to $P^1$ whose monodromy group is the full symmetric group. In this paper we show the locus of non-uniform (r-2)-planes has codimension at least two in the Grassmannian for a curve C with arbitrary singularities. This result is optimal in $P^2$. For a smooth curve C in $P^3$ that is not a rational curve of degree three, four or six, we show any irreducible surface of non-uniform lines…
We describe a multivariable polynomial invariant for certain class of non isolated hypersurface singularities generalizing the characteristic polynomial on monodromy. The starting point is an extension of a theorem due to Le Dung Trang and K.Saito on commutativity of the local fundamental groups of certain hypersurfaces. The description of multivariable polynomial invariants is given in terms of the ideals and polytopes of quasiadjunction generalizing corresponding data used in the study of the homotopy groups of the complements to projective hypersurfaces and Alexander invariants of plane red…
We explore the existence of irreducible and reducible arc-sections in an irreducible hypersurface singularity germ along finite projections. In particular we provide examples of irreducible isolated hypersurface singularities for which no irreducible arc-sections exist, and show that reducible ones always exist. Moreover, we give an algorithm to check if a given projection allows irreducible arc-sections, and find them if they exist.
This paper is a sequel to [He11] and [GH17]. In [He11] a notion of marking of isolated hypersurface singularities was defined, and a moduli space $M_μ^{mar}$ for marked singularities in one $μ$-homotopy class of isolated hypersurface singularities was established. It is an analogue of a Teichmüller space. It comes together with a $μ$-constant monodromy group $G^{mar}\subset G_{\mathbb{Z}}$. Here $G_{\mathbb{Z}}$ is the group of automorphisms of a Milnor lattice which respect the Seifert form. It was conjectured that $M_μ^{mar}$ is connected. This is equivalent to $G^{mar}= G_{\mathbb{Z}}$. Als…
Let $X$ be a smooth hypersurface $X$ of degree $d\geq4$ in a projective space $\mathbb P^{n+1}$. We consider a projection of $X$ from $p\in\mathbb P^{n+1}$ to a plane $H\cong\mathbb P^n$. This projection induces an extension of function fields $\mathbb C(X)/\mathbb C(\mathbb P^n)$. The point $p$ is called a Galois point if the extension is Galois. In this paper, we will give a necessary and sufficient conditions for $X$ to have Galois points by using linear automorphisms.
We show that the kernel of the monodromy representation for hypersurfaces of degree d and dimension n is large for d at least three with the exception of the cases (d,n) = (3,0) and (3,1). For these the kernel is finite. By "large" we mean a group that admits a homomorphism to a semisimple Lie group of noncompact type with Zariski-dense image. By the Tits alternative a large group contains a free subgroup of rank two.
In the author's paper ''Poincaré series and monodromy of a two-dimensional quasihomogeneous hypersurface singularity'' a relation is proved between the Poincaré series of the coordinate algebra of a two-dimensional quasihomogeneous isolated hypersurface singularity and the characteristic polynomial of its monodromy operator. We study this relation for Fuchsian singularities and show that it is connected with the mirror symmetry of K3 surfaces and with automorphisms of the Leech lattice. We also indicate relations between other singularities and Conway's group.
Computation of the fundamental group of the complement in the complex plane of the branch curve S , of a generic projection of the Veronese surface to the plane is presented. This paper is a continuation of our previous papers: Braid Group Technique I - IV. In I and II we developed algorithms to compute braid monodromy of a brunch curve, provided there exist a degeneration of the surface to union of planes in a configuration where the associated branch curve is partial to a line arrangement dual to generic. In III we constructed a degeneration of the Veronese surface of order 3 to union of pla…
Consider the projection of a smooth irreducible surface in $\mathbb{P}^3$ from a point. The uniform position principle implies that the monodromy group of such a projection from a general point in $\mathbb{P}^3$ is the whole symmetric group. We will call such points uniform. Inspired by a result of Pirola and Schlesinger for the case of curves, we prove that the locus of non-uniform points of $\mathbb{P}^3$ is at most finite.
Fix integers $r\geq 4$ and $i\geq 2$ (for $r=4$ assume $i\geq 3$). Assuming that the rational number $s$ defined by the equation $\binom{i+1}{2}s+(i+1)=\binom{r+i}{i}$ is an integer, we prove an upper bound for the genus of a reduced and irreducible complex projective curve in $\mathbb P^r$, of degree $d\gg s$, not contained in hypersurfaces of degree $\leq i$. It turns out that this bound coincides with the Castelnuovo's bound for a curve of degree $d$ in $\mathbb P^{s+1}$. We prove that the bound is sharp if and only if there exists an integral surface $S\subset \mathbb P^r$ of degree $s$, n…
A point $P$ in projective space is said to be Galois with respect to a hypersurface if the function field extension induced by the projection from $P$ is Galois. We present a hyperplane section theorem for Galois points. Precisely, if $P$ is a Galois point for a hypersurface, then $P$ is Galois for a general hyperplane section passing through $P$. As an application, we determine hypersurfaces of dimension $n$ with $n$-dimensional sets of Galois points.
The image of the cone of positive semidefinite matrices under a linear map is a convex cone. Pataki characterized the set of linear maps for which that image is not closed. The Zariski closure of this set is a hypersurface in the Grassmannian. Its components are the coisotropic hypersurfaces of symmetric determinantal varieties. We develop the convex algebraic geometry of such bad projections, with focus on explicit computations.
Given a projective surface and a generic projection to the plane, the braid monodromy factorization (and thus, the braid monodromy type) of the complement of its branch curve is one of the most important topological invariants, stable on deformations. From this factorization, one can compute the fundamental group of the complement of the branch curve, either in C^2 or in CP^2. In this article, we show that these groups, for the Hirzebruch surface F_{1,(a,b)}, are almost-solvable. That is - they are an extension of a solvable group, which strengthen the conjecture on degeneratable surfaces.
For a projective variety $Z$ and for any integer $p$, define the $p$-th Néron-Severi group $NS_p(Z)$ of $Z$ as the image of the cycle map $A_{p}(Z)\to H_{2p}(Z; \mathbb{C})$. Now let $X\subset \Ps^{2m+1}$ ($m\geq 1$) be a projective variety of dimension $2m-1$, with isolated singularities, complete intersection of a smooth hypersurface of degree $k$, with a hypersurface of degree $n>max\{k, 2m+1\}$, and let $F$ be a general hypersurface of degree $n$ containing $X$. We prove that the natural map $NS_m(X)\to NS_m(F)$ is surjective, and that if $dim NS_m(F)=1$ then $dim NS_m(X)=1$. In particular…
We consider the topology for a class of hypersurfaces with highly nonisolated singularites which arise as exceptional orbit varieties of a special class of prehomogeneous vector spaces, which are representations of linear algebraic groups with open orbits. These hypersurface singularities include both determinantal hypersurfaces and linear free (and free*) divisors. Although these hypersurfaces have highly nonisolated singularities, we determine the topology of their Milnor fibers, complements and links. We do so by using the action of linear algebraic groups beginning with the complement, ins…
A polar hypersurface P of a complex analytic hypersurface germ, f=0, can be investigated by analyzing the invariance of certain Newton polyhedra associated to the image of P, with respect to suitable coordinates, by certain morphisms appropriately associated to f. We develop this general principle of Teissier (see Varietes polaires. I. Invariants polaires des singularites d'hypersurfaces, Invent. Math. 40 (1977), 3, 267-292) when f=0 is a quasi-ordinary hypersurface germ and P is the polar hypersurface associated to any quasi-ordinary projection of f=0. We build a decomposition of P in bunches…
In this article we use a theorem of Carlson and Griffiths and compute periods of linear algebraic cycles inside the Fermat variety of even dimension $n$ and degree $d$. As an application, for examples of $n$ and $d$ we prove that the locus of hypersurfaces containing two linear cycles whose intersection is of low dimension, is a reduced component of the Hodge locus in the underlying parameter space. We also check the same statement for hypersurfaces containing a complete intersection algebraic cycle. Our result confirms the Hodge conjecture for Hodge cycles obtained by the monodromy of the hom…
The Galois group of a parameterized polynomial system of equations encodes the structure of the solutions. This monodromy group acts on the set of solutions for a general set of parameters, that is, on the fiber of a projection from the incidence variety of parameters and solutions onto the space of parameters. When this projection is decomposable, the Galois group is imprimitive, and we show that the structure can be exploited for computational improvements. Furthermore, we develop a new algorithm for solving these systems based on a suitable trace test. We illustrate our method on examples i…
We prove that the monodromy group of a reduced irreducible square system of general polynomial equations equals the symmetric group. This is a natural first step towards the Galois theory of general systems of polynomial equations, because arbitrary systems split into reduced irreducible ones upon monomial changes of variables. In particular, our result proves the multivariate version of the Abel--Ruffini theorem: the classification of general systems of equations solvable by radicals reduces to the classification of lattice polytopes of mixed volume 4 (which we prove to be finite in every dim…
