In this note we study curves (arrangements) in the complex projective plane which can be considered as generalizations of free curves. We construct families of arrangements which are nearly free and possess interesting geometric properties. More generally, we study $3$-syzygy arrangements and we present examples that admit unexpected curves.
Here we consider the set of bundles $\{V_n\}_{n\geq 1}$ associated to the plane trinomial curves $k[x,y,z]/(h)$. We prove that the Frobenius semistability behaviour of the reduction mod $p$ of $V_n$ is a function of the congruence class of $p$ modulo $2λ_h$ (an integer invariant associated to $h$). As one of the consequences of this, we prove that if $V_n$ is semistable in characteristic 0, then its reduction mod $p$ is strongly semistable, for $p$ in a Zariski dense set of primes. Moreover, for any given finitely many such semistable bundles $V_n$, there is a common Zariski dense set of such …
We reformulate a fundamental result due to Cook, Harbourne, Migliore and Nagel on the existence and irreduciblity of unexpected plane curves of a set of points $Z$ in $\mathbb{P}^2$, using the minimal degree of a Jacobian syzygy of the defining equation for the dual line arrangement $\mathcal A_Z$. Several applications of this new approach are given. In particular, we show that the irreducible unexpected quintics may occur only when the set $Z$ has the cardinality equal to 11 or 12, and describe five cases where this happens.
We investigate degenerations of syzygy bundles on plane curves over $p$-adic fields. We use Mustafin varieties which are degenerations of projective spaces to find a large family of models of plane curves over the ring of integers such that the special fiber consists of multiple projective lines meeting in one point. On such models we investigate vector bundles whose generic fiber is a syzygy bundle and which become trivial when restricted to each projective line in the special fiber. Hence these syzygy bundles have strongly semistable reduction. This investigation is motivated by the fundamen…
We start the study of reduced complex projective plane curves, whose Jacobian syzygy module has 3 generators. Among these curves one finds the nearly free curves introduced by the authors, and the plus-one generated line arrangements introduced by Takuro Abe. All the Thom-Sebastiani type plane curves, and more generally, any curve whose global Tjurina number is equal to a lower bound given by A. du Plessis and C.T.C. Wall, are 3-syzygy curves. Rational plane curves which are nearly cuspidal, i.e. which have only cusps except one singularity with two branches, are also related to this class of …
Let $C:f=0$ be a reduced curve in the complex projective plane. The minimal degree $mdr(f)$ of a Jacobian syzygy for $f$, which is the same as the minimal degree of a derivation killing $f$, is an important invariant of the curve $C$, for instance it can be used to determined whether $C$ is free or nearly free. In this note we study the relations of this invariant $mdr(f)$ with a decomposition of $C$ as a union of two curves $C_1$ and $C_2$, without common irreducible components. When all the singularities that occur are quasihomogeneous, a result by Schenck, Terao and Yoshinaga yields finer i…
In previous works, the authors investigated the relationships between linear stability of a generated linear series $|V|$ on a curve $C$, and slope stabillity of the vector bundle $M_{V,L} := \ker (V \otimes \mathcal{O}_C \to L)$. In particular, the second named author and L. Stoppino conjecture that, for a complete linear system $|L|$, linear (semi)stability is equivalent to slope (semi)stability of $M_V$, and the first and third named authors proved that this conjecture holds for hyperelliptic and for generic curves. In this work we provide a counterexample to this conjecture on any smooth p…
Several papers have been written studying unexpected hypersurfaces. We say a finite set of points Z admits unexpected hypersurfaces if a general union of fat linear subspaces imposes less that the expected number of conditions on the ideal of Z. In this paper, we introduce the concept of a very unexpected hypersurface. This is a stronger condition which takes into account an explanation for some hypersurfaces previously considered unexpected. We then develop a duality theory to relate the study of very unexpected hypersurfaces to the derivations of dual hyperplane arrangements. This allows us …
A closed subscheme of codimension two $T \subset P^2$ is a quasi complete intersection (q.c.i.) of type $(a,b,c)$ if there exists a surjective morphism $\mathcal{O} (-a) \oplus \mathcal{O} (-b) \oplus \mathcal{O} (-c) \to \mathcal{I} _T$. We give bounds on deg$(T)$ in function of $a,b,c$ and $r$, the least degree of a syzygy between the three polynomials defining the q.c.i. As a by-product we recover a theorem of du Plessis-Wall on the global Tjurina number of plane curves and some other related results.
We identify several classes of curves $C:f=0$, for which the Hilbert vector of the Jacobian module $N(f)$ can be completely determined, namely the 3-syzygy curves, the maximal Tjurina curves and the nodal curves, having only rational irreducible components. A result due to Hartshorne, on the cohomology of some rank 2 vector bundles on $\mathbb{P}^2$, is used to get a sharp lower bound for the initial degree of the Jacobian module $N(f)$, under a semistability condition.
First we give a sharp upper bound for the cardinal $m$ of a minimal set of generators for the module of Jacobian syzygies of a complex projective reduced plane curve $C$. Next we discuss the sharpness of an upper bound, given by A. du Plessis and C.T.C. Wall, for the global Tjurina number of such a curve $C$, in terms of its degree $d$ and of the minimal degree $r\leq d-1$ of a Jacobian syzygy. We give a homological characterization of the curves whose global Tjurina number equals the du Plessis-Wall upper bound, which implies in particular that for such curves the upper bound for $m$ is also …
Our research is motivated by recent work of Cook II, Harbourne, Migliore, and Nagel on configurations of points in the projective plane with properties that are unexpected from the point of view of the postulation theory. In this note, we revisit the basic configuration of nine points appearing in work of Gennaro/Ilardi/Vallès and Harbourne, and we exhibit some additional new properties of this configuration. We then pass to projective three-space and exhibit a surface with unexpected postulation properties there. Such higher dimensional phenomena have not been observed so far.
The purpose of this note is to establish a direct link between the theory of unexpected hypersurfaces and varieties with defective osculating behavior. We identify unexpected plane curves of degree 4 as sections of a rational surface X of degree 7 in P^5 with its osculating spaces of order 2 which in every point of X have dimension lower than expected. We put this result in perspective with earlier examples of surfaces with defective osculating spaces due to Shifrin and Togliatti. Our considerations are rendered by an analysis of Lefschetz Properties of ideals associated with the studied surfa…
In a recent paper arXiv:1602.02300v2, Cook II, Harbourne, Migliore and Nagel related the splitting type of a line arrangement in the projective plane to the number of conditions imposed by a general fat point of multiplicity $j$ to the linear system of curves of degree $j+1$ passing through the configuration of points dual to the given arrangement. If the number of conditions is less than the expected, we say that the configuration of points admits unexpected curves. In this paper, we characterize supersolvable line arrangements whose dual configuration admits unexpected curves and we provide …
The computation of the dimension of linear systems of plane curves through a bunch of given multiple points is one of the most classic issues in Algebraic Geometry. In general, it is still an open problem to understand when the points fail to impose independent conditions. Despite many partial results, a complete solution is not known, even if the fixed points are in general position. The answer in the case of general points in the projective plane is predicted by the famous Segre-Harbourne-Gimigliano-Hirschowitz conjecture. When we consider fixed points in special position, even more interest…
The notion of an unexpected curve in the plane was introduced in 2018, and was quickly generalized in several directions in a flurry of mathematical activity by many authors. In this expository paper we first describe some of the main results on unexpected hypersurfaces. Then we summarize two offshoots of this theory. First we look at sets of points in $\mathbb P^3$ whose general projection is a planar complete intersection (so-called {\it geproci} sets). Although we now know a lot about these sets, much remains mysterious. Then we describe an interesting measure of unexpectedness called {\it …
Let $\mathcal C :f=0$ be a curve arrangement in the complex projective plane. If $\mathcal C$ contains a curve subarrangement consisting of at least three members in a pencil, then one obtains an explicit syzygy among the partial derivatives of the homogeneous polynomial $f$. In many cases this observation reduces the question about the freeness or the nearly freeness of $\mathcal C$ to an easy computation of Tjurina numbers. Some consequences for Terao's conjecture in the case of line arrangements are also discussed as well as the asphericity of some complements of geometrically constructed f…
We study deformations of plane curve singularities from an analytic point of view and obtain some new concrete results. We show some rather unexpected properties of Puiseux coefficients treated as functions on a suitably defined parameter space. The methods used in paper are very elementary.
We introduce a new class of line arrangements in the projective plane, called nearly supersolvable, and show that any arrangement in this class is either free or nearly free. More precisely, we show that the minimal degree of a Jacobian syzygy for the defining equation of the line arrangement, which is a subtle algebraic invariant, is determined in this case by the combinatorics. When such a line arrangement is nearly free, we discuss the splitting types and the jumping lines of the associated rank two vector bundle, as well as the corresponding jumping points, introduced recently by S. Marche…
In a recent paper by Cook, et al., which introduced the concept of unexpected plane curves, the focus was on understanding the geometry of the curves themselves. Here we expand the definition to hypersurfaces of any dimension and, using constructions which appeal to algebra, geometry, representation theory and computation, we obtain a coarse but complete classification of unexpected hypersurfaces. In particular, we determine each $(n,d,m)$ for which there is some finite set of points $Z\subset\mathbb P^n$ with an unexpected hypersurface of degree $d$ in $\mathbb P^n$ having a general point $P$…
In this article we address the problem of computing the dimension of the space of plane curves of degree $d$ with $n$ general points of multiplicity $m$. A conjecture of Harbourne and Hirschowitz implies that when $d \geq 3m$, the dimension is equal to the expected dimension given by the Riemann-Roch Theorem. Also, systems for which the dimension is larger than expected should have a fixed part containing a multiple $(-1)$-curve. We reformulate this conjecture by explicitly listing those systems which have unexpected dimension. Then we use a degeneration technique developed in a previous artic…
The motivating problem addressed by this paper is to describe those non-degenerate sets of points $Z$ in $\mathbb P^3$ whose general projection to a general plane is a complete intersection of curves in that plane. One large class of such $Z$ is what we call $(m,n)$-grids. We relate this problem to the {\em unexpected cone property} ${\mathcal C}(d)$, a special case of the unexpected hypersurfaces which have been the focus of much recent research. After an analysis of ${\mathcal C}(d)$ for small $d$, we show that a non-degenerate set of $9$ points has a general projection that is the complete …