Let X be a geometrically rational (or more generally, separably rationally connected) variety over a finite field K. We prove that if K is large enough then X contains many rational curves defined over K. As a consequence we prove that R-equivalence is trivial on X if K is large enough. These imply that if Y is defined over a local field and it has good, separably rationally connected reduction then the Chow group of zero cycles is trivial for any residue field. R-equivalence is also trivial if the residue field is large enough.
Varieties of Fano type are very well behaved with respect to MMP, and they are known to be rationally connected. We study the relation between classes of rationally connected varieties and varieties of Fano type. We give examples of rationally connected varieties of dimension $\geqslant 3$ which are not birationally equivalent to Fano type varieties, thereby answering the question of Cascini and Gongyo.
We prove that a degeneration rationally connected varieties over a field of characteristic zero always contains a geometrically irreducible subvariety which is rationally connected.
Nonsingular projective varieties which are both convex and rationally connected are considered. We ask whether such varieties must be algebraic homogeneous spaces G/P. In case X is a complete intersection, an affirmative answer is obtained by an elementary argument.
We study for rationally connected varieties $X$ the group of degree 2 integral homology classes on $X$ modulo those which are algebraic. We show that the Tate conjecture for divisor classes on surfaces defined over finite fields implies that this group is trivial for any rationally connected variety.
In this short note we prove that if X is a separably rationally connected variety over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic, then H^1(X, O_X)=0.
A perfect PAC field containing an algebraically closed field is known to be $C_1$, i.e., every degeneration of a Fano complete intersection has a point. We prove that also every degeneration of a separably rationally connected variety has a point.
This is an expository paper on rationally connected varieties. The aim is to provide an introduction to the subject, as well as to discuss a recent result by T. Graber, J. Harris and J. Starr. The paper is based on the talk I gave at the 2004 Summer Research Conference on Algebraic Geometry at Snowbird.
Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field. Chambert-Loir proved that the étale fundamental group of a normal rationally chain connected variety over $k$ is finite. We prove that the fundamental group scheme of a normal rationally chain connected variety over $k$ is finite and étale. In particular, the fundamental group scheme of a Fano variety is finite and étale.
In this short note, we show that a construction by Ottem provides an example of a rationally connected variety that is not birationally equivalent to a Mori dream space. This answers in the negative (at least in the category of terminal varieties) a question posed by Krylov.
This is a survey of weak approximation over complex function fields, touching on the Koll'ar-Miyaoka-Mori theorem, places of good and bad reduction, the special case of rational surfaces, rationally simply connected varieties, and applications to low-degree complete intersections.
Let U be an open subset of a unirational variety (or more generally of a separably rationally connected variety). We prove that there is rational curve C in U such that the fundamental group of C surjects onto the fundamental group of U. The proof improves the earlier proof (math.AG/0003138) and works in any characteristic. Much improved version, thanks to comments of Colliot-Thélène.
We discuss a possible approach to the study of the vanishing of the Kobayashi pseudometric of a projective variety X, using chains of rational or elliptic curves contained in an arbitrarily small neighborhood of X in projective space for the Euclidean topology.
A result of Graber, Harris, and Starr shows that a rationally connected variety defined over the function field of a curve over the complex numbers always has a rational point. Similarly, a separably rationally connected variety over a finite field or the function field of a curve over any algebraically closed field will have a rational point. Here we show that rationally connected varieties over the maximally unramified extension of the p-adics usually, in a precise sense, have rational points. This result is in the spirit of Ax and Kochen's result saying that the p-adics are usually $C_{2}$ …
All curves on a separably rationally connected variety are rationally equivalent to a (non-effective) integral sum of rational curves, hence the first Chow group is generated by rational curves. Applying the same techniques, we also proved that the first Chow group of all separably rationally connected Fano complete intersections with index at least 2 is generated by lines. As a consequence, a question of Professor Burt Totaro about integral Hodge classess on rationally connected 3-folds is solved, and positive answer to the question for general n-fold due to Professor János Kollár will follow…
Let X be a smooth, projective variety defined over a local field K. Following Manin, two K-points of X are called R-equivalent if they can be joined by a rational curve defined over K. The main result of this note shows that if there are only finitely many R-equivalence classes over the algebraic closure of K then the same holds over K. This also yields the unirationality of several classes of varieties over K.
Let U be an open subset of a unirational variety. We prove that there is rational curve C in U such that the fundamental group of C surjects onto the fundamental group of U. As a consequence we obtain new proofs of the theorems of Harbater and Colliot-Thélène on Galois covers and torsors over the p-adic line. We also obtain examples of pencils of curves of genus <14 whose monodromy group is the full Teichmüller group.
Assume that R is a local regular ring containing an infinite perfect field, or that R is the local ring of a point on a smooth scheme over an infinite field. Let K be the field of fractions of R and the characteristic of K is not 2. Let X be an exceptional projective homogeneous scheme over R. We prove that in most cases the condition that X has a K-point implies that X has an R-point.
Under suitable hypotheses, we prove that a form of a projective homogeneous variety $G/P$ defined over the function field of a surface over an algebraically closed field has a rational point. The method uses an algebro-geometric analogue of simple connectedness replacing the unit interval by the projective line. As a consequence, we complete the proof of Serre's Conjecture II in Galois cohomology for function fields over an algebraically closed field.
We consider rationally connected complex projective manifolds M and show that their loop spaces--infinite dimensional complex manifolds--have properties similar to those of M. Furthermore, we give a finite dimensional application concerning holomorphic vector bundles over rationally connected complex projective manifolds.
In this paper, we give a simple proof of a triviality criterion due to I.Biswas and J.Pedro and P.Dos Santos. We also prove a vector bundle on a homogenous space is trivial if and only if the restrictions of the vector bundle to Schubert lines are trivial. Using this result and Chern classes of vector bundles, we give a general criterion of a uniform vector bundle on a homogenous space to be splitting. As an application, we prove a uniform vector bundle on classical Grassmannians and quadrics of low rank is splitting.
We give a characterization of all complete smooth toric varieties whose rational homotopy is of elliptic type. All such toric varieties of complex dimension not more than three are explicitly described.
The Hodge conjecture is shown to hold for rationally connected fivefolds, or more generally for fivefolds for which the base of the maximal rationally connected fibration is at most 3 dimensional.
We report on progress in the qualitative study of rational points on rationally connected varieties over number fields, also examining integral points, zero-cycles, and non-rationally connected varieties. One of the main objectives is to highlight and explain the many recent interactions with analytic number theory.
We study zero cycles on rationally connected varieties defined over characteristic zero Laurent fields with algebraically closed residue fields. We show that the degree map induces an isomorphism for rationally connected threefolds defined over such fields. In general, the degree map is an isomorphism if rationally connected varieties defined over algebraically closed fields of characteristic zero satisfy the integral Hodge/Tate conjecture for one cycles, or if the Tate conjecture is true for divisor classes on surfaces defined over finite fields. To prove these results, we introduce technique…
Let $X$ be a smooth projective rationally connected threefold with nef anticanonical divisor. We give a classification for the case when $-K_X$ is not semi-ample.
We use birational geometry to show that the existence of rational points on proper rationally connected varieties over fields of characteristic $0$ is a consequence of the existence of rational points on terminal Fano varieties. We discuss several consequences of this result, especially in relation to the $C_1$-conjecture. We also provide evidence that supports the conjecture in dimension $3$ for $C_1$ fields of characteristic $0$.
We prove Kawaguchi-Silverman conjecture for all surjective endomorphisms on every smooth rationally connected variety admitting an int-amplified endomorphism.
In this short note we study foliations with rationally connected leaves on surfaces. Our main result is that on surfaces there exists a polarisation such that the Harder-Narasimhan filtration of the tangent bundle with respect to this polarisation yields the maximal rationally quotient of the surface.
We give a generalization of a result of R. Pandharipande to arbitrary characteristic: We prove that, if $X$ is a convex, separably rationally connected, smooth complete intersection in $\mathbb{P}^N$ over an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic, then $X$ is rational homogeneous.
This article proves hypersurfaces of degree d in projective n-space are "rationally simply-connected" if $d^2 \leq n$. In a forthcoming paper, de Jong and I prove a slightly weaker result when $d^2 \leq n+1$.
In this work, we show that for a certain class of threefolds in positive characteristics, rational-chain-connectivity is equivalent to supersingularity. The same result is known for K3 surfaces with elliptic fibrations. And there are examples of threefolds that are both supersingular and rationally chain connected.
A complex projective manifold is rationally connected, resp. rationally simply connected, if finite subsets are connected by a rational curve, resp. the spaces parameterizing these connecting rational curves are themselves rationally connected. We prove that a projective scheme over a global function field with vanishing "elementary obstruction" has a rational point if it deforms to a rationally simply connected variety in characteristic 0. This gives new, uniform proofs over these fields of the Period-Index Theorem, the quasi-split case of Serre's "Conjecture II", and Lang's $C_2$ property.
We show that if X is a smooth rationally connected threefold and C is a smooth projective curve then C can be embedded in X. Furthermore, a version of this property characterises rationally connected varieties of dimension at least 3. We give some details about the toric case.
Let $X$ be a smooth complex projective rationally connected threefold with $-K_X$ nef and not semi-ample. In our previous work, we classified all such threefolds when $|{-}K_X|$ has no fixed divisor. In this paper, we continue our classification when $|{-}K_X|$ has a non-zero fixed divisor.
In his work on birational classification of foliations on projective surfaces, Brunella showed that every regular foliation on a rational surface is algebraically integrable with rational leaves. This led Touzet to conjecture that every regular foliation on a rationally connected manifold is algebraically integrable with rationally connected leaves. Druel proved this conjecture for the case of weak Fano manifolds. In this paper, we extend this result showing that Touzet's conjecture is true for codimension one foliations on threefolds with nef anti-canonical bundle.
We prove that the integral cohomology modulo torsion of a rationally connected threefold comes from the integral cohomology of a smooth curve via the cylinder homomorphism associated to a family of $1$-cycles. Equivalently, it is of strong coniveau 1 in the sense of Benoist-Ottem.
We prove that rationally connected Calabi--Yau 3-folds with kawamata log terminal (klt) singularities form a birationally bounded family, or more generally, rationally connected $3$-folds of $ε$-CY type form a birationally bounded family for $ε>0$. Moreover, we show that the set of $ε$-lc log Calabi--Yau pairs $(X, B)$ with coefficients of $B$ bounded away from zero is log bounded modulo flops. As a consequence, we deduce that rationally connected klt Calabi--Yau $3$-folds with mld bounded away from $1$ are bounded modulo flops.
In this paper, combining the works of Miyanishi-Tsunoda and Keel-McKernan, we prove the log Castelnuovo's rationality criterion for smooth quasiprojective surfaces over complex numbers.
Using deformation theory of rational curves, we prove a conjecture of Sommese on the extendability of morphisms from ample subvarieties when the morphism is a smooth (or mildly singular) fibration with rationally connected fibers. We apply this result in the context of Fano fibrations and prove a classification theorem for projective bundle and quadric fibration structures on ample subvarieties.
In this paper, the technique of foliations in characteristic $p$ is used to investigate the difference between rational connectedness and separable rational connectedness in positive characteristic. The notion of being freely rationally connected is defined; a variety is freely rationally connected if a general pair of points can be connected by a free rational curve. It is proved that a freely rationally connected variety admits a finite purely inseparable morphism to a separably rationally connected variety. As an application, a generalized Graber-Harris-Starr type theorem in positive charac…
This is, mostly, a survey of results about the birational geometry of rationally connected manifolds, using rational curves analogous to lines in ${\mathbb P}^n$ ({\it quasi-lines}). Various characterizations of a Zariski neighbourhood of a line in ${\mathbb P}^n$ are obtained, some of them being new. Also, methods of formal geometry are applied for deducing results of birational nature.
We prove that a fibration X \to \Bbb P_1, the general fiber of which is a smooth Fano threefold, is rationally connected. The proof is based on a generalization of Tsen's classical theorem: a fibration X/C over a curve the general fiber of which is a Fano complete intersection in a product of weighted projective spaces has a section.
We show that the only finite quasi-simple non-abelian groups that can faithfully act on rationally connected threefolds are the following groups: $\mathfrak{A}_5$, $\operatorname{PSL}_2(\mathbf{F}_7)$, $\mathfrak{A}_6$, $\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbf{F}_8)$, $\mathfrak{A}_7$, $\operatorname{PSp}_4(\mathbf{F}_3)$, $\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbf{F}_{7})$, $2.\mathfrak{A}_5$, $2.\mathfrak{A}_6$, $3.\mathfrak{A}_6$ or $6.\mathfrak{A}_6$. All of these groups with a possible exception of $2.\mathfrak{A}_6$ and $6.\mathfrak{A}_6$ indeed act on some rationally connected threefolds.
We study the Iitaka-Kodaira dimension of nef relative anti-canonical divisors. As a consequence, we prove that given a complex projective variety with klt singularities, if the anti-canonical divisor is nef, then the dimension of a general fibre of the maximal rationally connected fibration is at least the Iitaka-Kodaira dimension of the anti-canonical divisor.
We prove a structure theorem for non-isomorphic endomorphisms of weak Q-Fano threefolds, or more generally for threefolds with big anti-canonical divisor. Also provided is a criterion for a fibred rationally connected threefold to be rational. As a consequence, we show (without using the classification) that every smooth Fano threefold having a non-isomorphic surjective endomorphism is rational.
In this paper we describe the fundamental group-scheme of a proper variety fibered over an abelian variety with rationally connected fibers over an algebraically closed field. We use old and recent results for the Nori fundamental group-scheme, and of finite group-schemes in general to prove that the kernel of such a fibration is finite, and that the homotopy exact sequence holds in this case. As an application, we describe the fundamental group-schemes of certain proper varieties that are connected by curves or are related to them.
A well known result of Miyaoka asserts that a complex projective manifold is uniruled if its cotangent bundle restricted to a general complete intersection curve is not nef. Using the Harder-Narasimhan filtration of the tangent bundle, it can moreover be shown that the choice of such a curve gives rise to a rationally connected foliation of the manifold. In this note we show that, conversely, a movable curve can be found so that the maximal rationally connected fibration of the manifold may be recovered as a term of the associated Harder-Narasimhan filtration of the tangent bundle.
