We consider a family of smooth del Pezzo surfaces of degree four and study the geometry and arithmetic of a genus one fibration with two reducible fibres for which a Brauer element is vertical.
We explicitly construct a del Pezzo surface $X$ of degree 4 over a field $k$ such that $\operatorname{H}^1(k,\operatorname{Pic}\overline X)$ is isomorphic to $\mathbb{ZZ}/2\mathbb{Z}$ while $\operatorname{Br} X/\operatorname{Br} k$ is trivial. This proves that the algorithm to compute the Brauer group in [VAV] cannot be generalized in some cases.
We study the algebraic Brauer classes on open del Pezzo surfaces of degree $4$. I.e., on the complements of geometrically irreducible hyperplane sections of del Pezzo surfaces of degree $4$. We show that the $2$-torsion part is generated by classes of two different types. Moreover, there are two types of $4$-torsion classes. For each type, we discuss methods for the evaluation of such a class at a rational point over a $p$-adic field.
We show that, for every integer $1 \leq d \leq 4$ and every finite set $S$ of places, there exists a degree $d$ del Pezzo surface $X$ over ${\mathbb Q}$ such that ${\rm Br}(X)/{\rm Br}({\mathbb Q}) \cong {\mathbb Z}/2{\mathbb Z}$ and the Brauer-Manin obstruction works exactly at the places in $S$. For $d = 4$, we prove that in all cases, with the exception of $S = \{\infty\}$, this surface may be chosen diagonalizably over ${\mathbb Q}$.
We study arithmetic properties of del Pezzo surfaces of degree 4 for which the Brauer group has the largest possible order using different fibrations into curves. We show that if such a surface admits a conic fibration, then it always has a rational point. We also answer a question of Várilly-Alvarado and Viray by showing that the Brauer groups these surfaces cannot be vertical with respect to any projection away from a plane. We conclude that the available techniques for proving existence of rational points or even Zariski density do not directly apply if there is no Brauer-Manin obstruction …
We show that Brauer classes of a locally solvable degree 4 del Pezzo surface X are vertical for some projection away from a plane f: X ---> P^1, i.e., that every Brauer class is obtained by pullback from an element of Br k(P^1). As a consequence, we prove that a Brauer class does not obstruct the existence of a rational point if and only if there exists a fiber of f that is locally solvable. The proof is constructive and gives a simple and practical algorithm, distinct from that in [BBFL07], for computing all classes in the Brauer group of X (modulo constant algebras).
We describe the effect of rational singularities on the Brauer group of a surface, and compute the Brauer groups of all singular del Pezzo surfaces over an algebraically closed field.
We study the arithmetic of certain del Pezzo surfaces of degree 2. We produce examples of Brauer-Manin obstruction to the Hasse principle, coming from 2- and 4-torsion elements in the Brauer group.
We classify morphisms from proper varieties to Brauer-Severi varieties, which generalizes the classical correspondence between morphisms to projective space and globally generated invertible sheaves. As an application, we study del Pezzo surfaces of large degree with a view towards Brauer-Severi varieties, and recover classical results on rational points, the Hasse principle, and weak approximation.
Let U be the complement of a smooth anticanonical divisor in a del Pezzo surface of degree at most 7 over a number field k. We show that there is an effective uniform bound for the size of the Brauer group of U in terms of the degree of k.
We give an asymptotic expansion for the density of del Pezzo surfaces of degree four in a certain Birch Swinnerton-Dyer family violating the Hasse principle due to a Brauer-Manin obstruction. Under the assumption of Schinzel's hypothesis and the finiteness of Tate-Shafarevich groups for elliptic curves, we obtain an asymptotic formula for the number of all del Pezzo surfaces in the family, which violate the Hasse principle.
We report on our investigations concerning algebraic and transcendental Brauer-Manin obstructions to integral points on complements of a hyperplane section in degree four del Pezzo surfaces. We discuss moreover two concepts of an obstruction at an archimedean place. Concrete examples are given of pairs of non-homogeneous quadratic polynomials in four variables representing (0,0) over Q and over Z_p for all primes p, but not over Z. By blow-up, these yield cubic polynomials in three variables all integral solutions of which satisfy a gcd condition.
We study del Pezzo surfaces of degree 1 of the form w^2 = z^3 + Ax^6 + By^6 in the weighted projective space P_k(1,1,2,3), where k is a perfect field of characteristic not 2 or 3 and A,B \in k^*. Over a number field, we exhibit an infinite family of (minimal) counterexamples to weak approximation amongst these surfaces, via a Brauer-Manin obstruction.
We give a correspondence which associates, to any Del Pezzo surface X of degree 6 over a field k of characteristic 0, a collection of data consisting of a Severi-Brauer variety/k and a set of points defined over some extension of k.
We study the birational properties of geometrically rational surfaces from a derived categorical point of view. In particular, we give a criterion for the rationality of a del Pezzo surface over an arbitrary field, namely, that its derived category decomposes into zero-dimensional components. For del Pezzo surfaces of degree at least 5, we construct explicit semiorthogonal decompositions by subcategories of modules over semisimple algebras arising as endomorphism algebras of vector bundles and we show how to retrieve information about the index of the surface from Brauer classes and Chern clas…
We relate the Brauer group of a smooth variety over a p-adic field to the geometry of the special fibre of a regular model, using the purity theorem in étale cohomology. As an illustration, we describe how the Brauer group of a smooth del Pezzo surface is determined by the singularity type of its reduction. We then relate the evaluation of an element of the Brauer group to the existence of points on certain torsors over the special fibre; we use this to describe situations when the evaluation is constant, and situations when the evaluation is surjective. In the latter case, we describe how thi…
Let $X$ be a smooth projective variety with a fibration into varieties that either satisfy a condition on representability of zero-cycles or that are torsors under an abelian variety. We study the classes in the Brauer group that never obstruct the Hasse principle for $X$. We prove that if the generic fiber has a zero-cycle of degree $d$ over the generic point, then the Brauer classes whose orders are prime to $d$ do not play a role in the Brauer--Manin obstruction. As a result we show that the odd torsion Brauer classes never obstruct the Hasse principle for del Pezzo surfaces of degree 2, ce…
This paper surveys recent progress towards the Manin conjecture for (singular and non-singular) del Pezzo surfaces. To illustrate some of the techniques available, an upper bound of the expected order of magnitude is established for a singular del Pezzo surface of degree four.
We isolate a class of smooth rational cubic fourfolds X containing a plane whose associated quadric surface bundle does not have a rational section. This is equivalent to the nontriviality of the Brauer class of the even Clifford algebra over the K3 surface S of degree 2 arising from X. Specifically, we show that in the moduli space of cubic fourfolds, the intersection of divisors C_8 and C_14 has five irreducible components. In the component corresponding to the existence of a tangent conic to the sextic degeneration curve of the quadric bundle, we prove that the general member is both pfaffi…
This paper establishes the Manin conjecture for a certain non-split singular del Pezzo surface of degree four, via an analysis of the corresponding height zeta function.
We determine which singular del Pezzo surfaces are equivariant compactifications of G_a^2, to assist with proofs of Manin's conjecture for such surfaces. Additionally, we give an example of a singular quartic del Pezzo surface that is an equivariant compactification of a semidirect product of G_a and G_m.
For split smooth Del Pezzo surfaces, we analyse the structure of the effective cone and prove a recursive formula for the value of alpha, appearing in the leading constant as predicted by Peyre of Manin's conjecture on the number of rational points of bounded height on the surface. Furthermore, we calculate alpha for all singular Del Pezzo surfaces of degree at least 3.
An asymptotic formula is established for the number of rational points of bounded height on a non-singular quartic del Pezzo surface with a conic bundle structure.
We establish Manin's conjecture for a quartic del Pezzo surface split over Q and having a singularity of type A_3 and containing exactly four lines. It is the first example of split singular quartic del Pezzo surface whose universal torsor is not a hypersurface for which Manin's conjecture is proved.
In this paper we prove that, over a Hilbertian ground field, surfaces with two conic fibrations whose fibres have non-zero intersection product have the Hilbert property. We then give an application of this result, namely the verification of the Hilbert property for certain del Pezzo varieties.
Upper and lower bounds, of the expected order of magnitude, are obtained for the number of rational points of bounded height on any quartic del Pezzo surface over $\mathbb{Q}$ that contains a conic defined over $\mathbb{Q}$.
We discuss Manin's conjecture concerning the distribution of rational points of bounded height on Del Pezzo surfaces, and its refinement by Peyre, and explain applications of universal torsors to counting problems. To illustrate the method, we provide a proof of Manin's conjecture for the unique split singular quartic Del Pezzo surface with a singularity of type D4. (Lectures at the summer school "Equidistribution in number theory", Montreal, August 2005)
In this article, we consider weak del Pezzo surfaces defined over a finite field, and their associated, singular, anticanonical models. We first define arithmetic types for such surfaces, by considering the Frobenius actions on their Picard groups; this extends the classification of Swinnerton-Dyer and Manin for ordinary del Pezzo surfaces. We also show that some invariants of the surfaces only depend on the above type.Then we study an inverse Galois problem for singular del Pezzo surfaces having degree $3\leq d\leq 6$: we describe which types can occur over a given finite field (of odd charac…
Let $X$ be a minimal del Pezzo surface of degree $2$ over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. The image $Γ$ of the Galois group $\operatorname{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{F}}_q / \mathbb{F}_q)$ in the group $\operatorname{Aut}(\operatorname{Pic}(\overline{X}))$ is a cyclic subgroup of the Weyl group $W(E_7)$. There are $60$ conjugacy classes of cyclic subgroups in $W(E_7)$ and $18$ of them correspond to minimal del Pezzo surfaces. In this paper we study which possibilities of these subgroups for minimal del Pezzo surfaces of degree $2$ can be achieved for given $q$.
We study del Pezzo varieties, higher-dimensional analogues of del Pezzo surfaces. In particular, we introduce ADE classification of del Pezzo varieties, show that in type A the dimension of non-conical del Pezzo varieties is bounded by $12 - d - r$, where $d$ is the degree and $r$ is the rank of the class group, and classify maximal del Pezzo varieties.
We address weak approximation for certain del Pezzo surfaces defined over the function field of a curve. We study the rational connectivity of the smooth locus of degree two del Pezzo surfaces with two A1 singularities in order to prove weak approximation for degree two del Pezzo surfaces with square-free discriminant.
We study del Pezzo fibrations of degree 1 with terminal singularities. A connection between singularities on del Pezzo surfaces of degree 1 and Kodaira's classification of elliptic singular fibers will be studied in this paper. By this investigation we obtain several results on birational maps of del Pezzo fibrations of degree 1 with terminal singularities.
We consider the problem of interpolating projective varieties through points and linear spaces. We show that del Pezzo surfaces satisfy weak interpolation.
We discuss the rational points on del Pezzo surface of degree 1 and 2 over any finite field $\mathbb F_q$, and give out the explicit equations of del Pezzo surfaces that have unique rational point.
We consider del Pezzo surfaces with du Val singularities. We'll prove that a del Pezzo surface $X$ with du Val singularities has a $-K_X$-polar cylinder if and only if there exist tiger such that the support of this tiger does not contain anti-canonical divisor. Also we classify all del Pezzo surfaces $X$ such that $X$ has not any cylinders.