Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic p. Let X(p^e;N) be the curve parameterizing elliptic curves with full level N structure (where p does not divide N) and full level p^e Igusa structure. By modular curve, we mean a quotient of any X(p^e;N) by any subgroup of ((Z/p^e Z)^* x \SL_2(Z/NZ))/{+-1}. We prove that in any sequence of distinct modular curves over k, the k-gonality tends to infinity. This extends earlier work, in which the result was proved for particular sequences of modular curves, such as X_0(N) for p not dividing N. We give an application to the function field analogue of a uniform boundedness statement for the image of Galois on torsion of elliptic curves.
We determine conditions for the invariance of the gonality under base extension, depending on the numeric invariants of the curve. More generally, we study the Galois descent of morphisms of curves to Brauer-Severi varieties, and also of rational normal scrolls.
We study the problem of lifting curves from finite fields to number fields in a genus and gonality preserving way. More precisely, we sketch how this can be done efficiently for curves of gonality at most four, with an in-depth treatment of curves of genus at most five over finite fields of odd characteristic, including an implementation in Magma. We then use such a lift as input to an algorithm due to the second author for computing zeta functions of curves over finite fields using $p$-adic cohomology.
The result in the title is proven, using the Selberg estimate on the leading eigenvalue of the non-Euclidean Laplacian, and the method of conformal volumes of Li and Yau.
Given an integer $γ\geq 2$ and an odd prime power $q$ we show that for every large genus $g$ there exists a non-singular curve $C$ defined over $\mathbb{F}_q$ of genus $g$ and gonality $γ$ and with exactly $γ(q+1)$ $\mathbb{F}_q$-rational points. This is the maximal number of rational points possible. This answers a recent conjecture by Faber--Grantham. Our methods are based on curves on toric surfaces and Poonen's work on squarefree values of polynomials.
We study the problem of $d$-gonality of the modular curve $X_0(N)$. As a result, we can give an upperbound of the level $N$ by means of $d$. This generalizes Ogg's result on hyperelliptic modular curves ($d = 2$). As a corollary of this result, we prove an analogue of the strong Uniform Boundedness Conjecture for elliptic curves defined over the function fields of curves. If a base curve is $d$-gonal, we can bound orders of torsions of Mordell-Weil groups in terms of $d$ uniformly.
Let d be a positive integer. There are several versions of d-gonality for tropical curves, stable d-gonality and divisorial d-gonality, which are both inspired by d-gonality for compact Riemann surfaces. However, that conditions are not equivalent. We have a condition of divisors equivalent to stable d-gonality for tropical curves.
We determine the gonality and the Clifford index for curves on a compact smooth toric surface. Moreover, it is shown that their gonality are computed by pencils on the ambient surface. From the geometrical view point, this means that the gonality can be read off from the lattice polygon associated to the curve.
The gonality conjecture predicts that the gonality of a curve can be read off Koszul cohomology of line bundles of sufficiently large degree. We verify this conjecture for generic curves of odd genus. The even-genus case was previously solved in the joint work arXiv:math.AG/0301261.
A smooth real curve is called separating in case the complement of the real locus inside the complex locus is disconnected. This is the case if there exists a morphism to the projective line whose inverse image of the real locus of the projective line is the real locus of the curve. Such morphism is called a separating morphism. The minimal degree of a separating morphism is called the separating gonality. The separating gonality cannot be less than the number s of the connected components of the real locus of the curve. A theorem of Ahlfors implies this separating gonality is at most the g+1 …
We use Green's canonical syzygy conjecture for generic curves to prove that the Green-Lazarsfeld gonality conjecture holds for generic curves of genus g, and gonality d, if $g/3<d<[g/2]+2$.
Let $C$ be a smooth curve of genus $g$. For each positive integer $r$ the $r$-gonality $d_r(C)$ of $C$ is the minimal integer $t$ such that there is $L\in {Pic}^t(C)$ with $h^0(C,L) =r+1$. In this paper for all $g\ge 40805$ we construct several examples of smooth curves $C$ of genus $g$ with $d_3(C)/3< d_4(C)/4$, i.e. for which a slope inequality fails.
The purpose of this paper is to show that for a complete intersection curve $C$ in projective space (other than a few stated exceptions), any morphism $f: C \to \mathbb{P}^r$ satisfying $\text{deg}\, f^*\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^r}(1) <\text{deg}\, C$ is obtained by projection from a linear space. In particular, we obtain bounds on the gonality of such curves and compute the gonality of general complete intersection curves. We also prove a special case of one of the well-known Cayley-Bacharach conjectures posed by Eisenbud, Green, and Harris.
In this paper we investigate an arithmetic analogue of the gonality of a smooth projective curve $C$ over a number field $k$: the minimal $e$ such there are infinitely many points $P \in C(\bar{k})$ with $[k(P):k] \leq e$. Developing techniques that make use of an auxiliary smooth surface containing the curve, we show that this invariant can take any value subject to constraints imposed by the gonality. Building on work of Debarre--Klassen, we show that this invariant is equal to the gonality for all sufficiently ample curves on a surface $S$ with trivial irregularity.
For any smooth irreducible projective curve $X$, the gonality sequence $\{d_r \;| \; r \in \mathbb N \}$ is a strictly increasing sequence of positive integer invariants of $X$. In most known cases $d_{r+1}$ is not much bigger than $d_r$. In our terminology this means the numbers $d_r$ satisfy the slope inequality. It is the aim of this paper to study cases when this is not true. We give examples for this of extremal curves in $\PP^r$, for curves on a general K3-surface in $\PP^r$ and for complete intersections in $\PP^3$.
We consider a variant of metrised graphs where the edge lengths take values in a commutative monoid, as a higher-rank generalisation of the notion of a tropical curve. Divisorial gonality, which Baker and Norine defined on combinatorial graphs in terms of a chip firing game, is extended to these monoid-metrised graphs. We define geometric gonality of a monoid-metrised graph as the minimal degree of a horizontally conformal, non-degenerate morphism onto an monoid-metrised tree, and prove that geometric gonality is an upper bound for divisorial gonality in the monoid-metrised case. We also show …
Let $C$ be an integral and projective curve; and let $C'$ be its canonical model. We study the relation between the gonality of $C$ and the dimension of a rational normal scroll $S$ where $C'$ can lie on. We are mainly interested in the case where $C$ is singular, or even non-Gorenstein, in which case $C'\not\cong C$. We first analyze some properties of an inclusion $C'\subset S$ when it is induced by a pencil on $C$. Afterwards, in an opposite direction, we assume $C'$ lies on a certain scroll, and check some properties $C$ may satisfy, such as gonality and the kind of its singularities. At t…
In this paper we use admissible covers to investigate the gonality of a stable curve $C$ over $\mathbb{C}$. If $C$ is irreducible, we compare its gonality to that of its normalization. If $C$ is reducible, we compare its gonality to that of its irreducible components. In both cases we obtain lower and upper bounds. Furthermore, we show that four admissible covers constructed give rise to generically injective maps between Hurwitz schemes. We show that the closures of the images of three of these maps are components of the boundary of the target Hurwitz schemes, and the closure of the image of …
We study the existence of linear series on curves lying on an Enriques surface and general in their complete linear system. Using a method that works also below the Bogomolov-Reider range, we compute, in all cases, the gonality of such curves. We also give a new result about the positive cone of line bundles on an Enriques surface and we show how this relates to the gonality.
We describe a conjectural stratification of the Brill-Noether variety for general curves of fixed genus and gonality. As evidence for this conjecture, we show that this Brill-Noether variety has at least as many irreducible components as predicted by the conjecture, and that each of these components has the expected dimension. Our proof uses combinatorial and tropical techniques. Specifically, we analyze containment relations between the various strata of tropical Brill-Noether loci identified by Pflueger in his classification of special divisors on chains of loops.
Fix $d \ge 2$ and a field $k$ such that $\mathrm{char}~k \nmid d$. Assume that $k$ contains the $d$th roots of $1$. Then the irreducible components of the curves over $k$ parameterizing preperiodic points of polynomials of the form $z^d+c$ are geometrically irreducible and have gonality tending to $\infty$. This implies the function field analogue of the strong uniform boundedness conjecture for preperiodic points of $z^d+c$. It also has consequences over number fields: it implies strong uniform boundedness for preperiodic points of bounded eventual period, which in turn reduces the full conje…
We define the Seshadri constant of a space curve and consider ways to estimate it. We then show that it governs the gonality of the curve. We use an argument based on Bogomolov's instability theorem on a threefold. The same methods are then applied to the study of the behaviour of a stable vector bundle on P^3 under restriction to curves and surfaces.
We prove two statements concerning the linear strand of the minimal free resolution of a curve of fixed gonality. Firstly, we show that a general curve C of genus g of non-maximal gonality k\leq (g+1)/2 satisfies Schreyer's Conjecture, that is, b_{g-k,1}(C,K_C)=g-k, and all its highest order linear syzygies are of Eagon-Northcott type. This is a statement going beyond Green's Conjecture and predicts that all highest order linear syzygies in the canonical embedding of C are determined by the syzygies of the (k-1)-dimensional scroll containing C. Secondly, we formulate an optimal effective versi…
This paper concerns the existence of curves with low gonality on smooth hypersurfaces of sufficiently large degree. It has been recently proved that if $X\subset \mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ is a hypersurface of degree $d\geq n+2$, and if $C\subset X$ is an irreducible curve passing through a general point of $X$, then its gonality verifies $\mathrm{gon}(C)\geq d-n$, and equality is attained on some special hypersurfaces. We prove that if $X\subset \mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ is a very general hypersurface of degree $d\geq 2n+2$, the least gonality of an irreducible curve $C\subset X$ passing through a general poi…
A Brill-Noether locus is a subvariety of M_g consisting of curves having certain linear series g^r_d. We study the relative position of Brill-Noether loci with respect to the gonality stratification of M_g. We construct smooth curves in P^r of given degree and genus and having the `expected' gonality. As an application we give a new proof of our result about the Kodaira dimension of the moduli space of curves of genus 23.
We show that a small variant of the methods used by Voisin in her study of canonical curves leads to a surprisingly quick proof of the gonality conjecture of Green and the second author, asserting that one can read off the gonality of a curve C from its resolution in the embedding defined by any one line bundle of sufficiently large degree. More generally, we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for the asymptotic vanishing of the weight one syzygies of the module associated to an arbitrary line bundle on C.
Let C be an ACM (projectively normal) nondegenerate smooth curve in projective 3-space, and suppose C is general in its Hilbert scheme - this is irreducible once the postulation is fixed. Answering a question posed by Peskine, we show the gonality of C is d-l, where d is the degree of the curve, and l is the maximum order of a multisecant line of C. Furthermore l=4 except for two series of cases, in which the postulation of C forces every surface of minimum degree containing C to contain a line as well. We compute the value of l in terms of the postulation of C in these exceptional cases. We a…
We study the complexity of birational self-maps of a projective threefold $X$ by looking at the birational type of surfaces contracted. These surfaces are birational to the product of the projective line with a smooth projective curve. We prove that the genus of the curves occuring is unbounded if and only if $X$ is birational to a conic bundle or a fibration into cubic surfaces. Similarly, we prove that the gonality of the curves is unbounded if and only if $X$ is birational to a conic bundle.
Let $K_d$ be the complete metric graph on $d$ vertices. We compute the gonality of graphs obtained from $K_d$ by omitting edges forming a $K_h$, or general configurations of at most $d-2$ edges. We also investigate if these graphs can be lifted to curves with the same gonality. We lift the former graphs and the ones obtained by removing up to $d-2$ edges not forming a $K_3$ using models of plane curves with certain singularities. We also study the gonality when removing $d-1$ edges not forming a $K_3$. We use harmonic morphism to lift these graphs to curves with the same gonality because in th…
We show that any Fermat hypercubic is apolar to a trigonal curve, and vice versa. We show also that the Waring number of the polar hypercubic associated to a tetragonal curve of genus $g$ is at most $\lceil 3/2g - 7/2\rceil$, and for a large class of them is at most $4/3g - 3$.
Let $C$ be a curve and $L$ a very ample line bundle. The Green-Lazarsfeld Secant conjecture predicts that if the degree of $L$ is at least $2g+p+1-2h^1(C,L)-Cliff(C)$ and if, in addition, $L$ is $p+1$ very ample, then the Koszul group $K_{p,2}(C,L)$ vanishes. In this article, we establish the conjecture in the extremal case, i.e.\ the case where the degree is exactly $2g+p+1-2h^1(C,L)-Cliff(C)$, subject to explicit genericity assumptions on $C$ and $L$. In particular, the gonality of $C$ is allowed to be arbitrary (in our cases $gon(C)=Cliff(C)+2$).
For every integer $k \geq 3$ we construct a $k$-gonal curve $C$ along with a very ample divisor of degree $2g + k - 1$ (where $g$ is the genus of $C$) to which the vanishing statement from the Green-Lazarsfeld gonality conjecture does not apply.
We study the interplay between the classical theory of linear series on curves, and the recent theory of linear series on graphs. We prove that every d-gonal (weighted) graph of Hurwitz type is the dual graph of a d-gonal curve. Conversely the dual graph of a d-gonal curve is equivalent to a d-gonal graph. We define d-gonal graphs by what we call harmonic indexed morphisms. Generalizations to higher dimensional linear series, and applications to tropical curves and hyperelliptic graphs are given.
Ein and Lazarsfeld have shown that one can read off the gonality of an algebraic curve from its syzygies in the embedding defined by any one line bundle of sufficiently large degree. This note extends their approach and shows that the gonality can be detected from the syzygies of an embedding by any line bundle of degree at least 4g-3.
This note is an appendix to 'Measures of irrationality for hypersurfaces of large degree' by L. Ein, R. Lazarsfeld and B. Ullery. We prove an existence result for families of curves having low gonality, and lying on fundamental loci of first order congruences of lines in $\mathbb{P}^{n+1}$. As an application, we follow the ideas of the main paper, and we present a slight refinement of a theorem included in it. In particular, we show that given a very general hypersurface $X\subset \mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ of degree $d \geq 3n-2 \geq 7$, and a dominant rational map $f \colon X \dashrightarrow \mathbb{…
The gonality sequence $(γ_r)_{r\geq1}$ of a finite graph / metric graph / algebraic curve comprises the minimal degrees $γ_r$ of linear systems of rank $r$. For the complete graph $K_d$, we show that $γ_r = kd - h$ if $r<g=\frac{(d-1)(d-2)}{2}$, where $k$ and $h$ are the uniquely determined integers such that $r = \frac{k(k+3)}{2} - h$ with $1\leq k\leq d-3$ and $0 \leq h \leq k $. This shows that the graph $K_d$ has the gonality sequence of a smooth plane curve of degree $d$. The same result holds for the corresponding metric graphs.
Harris and Morrison constructed semistable families f:F \to Y of k-gonal curves of genus g such that for every k the corresponding modular curves give a sweeping family in the k-gonal locus in the moduli space. Their construction depends on the choice of a smooth curve X. We show that if the genus g(X) is sufficiently high with respect to g, then the ratio K_F^2 / χ(O_F) is 8 asymptotically with respect to g(X). We show also that if the gonality is maximal and some conjectured estimates of Harris and Morrison hold, the slope of the fibration f: F\to Y is 12 asymptotically with respect to g and…
Let $C$ be an integral and projective curve whose canonical model $C'$ lies on a rational normal scroll $S$ of dimension $n$. We mainly study some properties on $C$, such as gonality and the kind of singularities, in the case where $n=2$ and $C$ is non-Gorenstein, and in the case where $n=3$, the scroll $S$ is smooth, and $C'$ is a local complete intersection inside $S$. We also prove that a rational monomial curve with just one singular point lies on a surface scroll if and only if its gonality is at most $3$, and that it lies on a threefold scroll if and only if its gonality is at most $4$.
In this paper we review the notions of gonality and Clifford index of an abstract curve. For a curve embedded in a projective space, we investigate the connection between the \ci of the curve and the \gc al properties of its \emb. In particular if $C$ is a curve of degree $d$ in $¶^3$, and if $L$ is a multisecant of maximum order $k$, then the pencil of planes through $L$ cuts out a $g^1_{d-k}$ on $C$. If the gonality of $C$ is equal to $d-k$ we say the gonality of $C$ can be computed by multisecants. We discuss the question whether the \go of every smooth ACM curve in $¶^3$ can be computed by…
We prove a generalization of the Brill-Noether theorem for the variety of special divisors $W^r_d(C)$ on a general curve $C$ of prescribed gonality. Our main theorem gives a closed formula for the dimension of $W^r_d(C)$. We build on previous work of Pflueger, who used an analysis of the tropical divisor theory of special chains of cycles to give upper bounds on the dimensions of Brill--Noether varieties on such curves. We prove his conjecture, that this upper bound is achieved for a general curve. Our methods introduce logarithmic stable maps as a systematic tool in Brill-Noether theory. A pr…
To any graph we associate a sequence of integers called the gonality sequence of the graph, consisting of the minimum degrees of divisors of increasing rank on the graph. This is a tropical analogue of the gonality sequence of an algebraic curve. We study gonality sequences for graphs of low genus, proving that for genus up to $5$, the gonality sequence is determined by the genus and the first gonality. We then prove that any reasonable pair of first two gonalities is achieved by some graph. We also develop a modified version of Dhar's burning algorithm more suited for studying higher gonaliti…
Let C be a smooth complex projective curve of genus g and let X be its second symmetric product. This paper concerns the study of some attempts at extending to X the notion of gonality. In particular, we prove that the degree of irrationality of X is at least g-1 when C is a generic curve, and that the minimum gonality of curves through the generic point of X equals the gonality of C. In order to produce the main results we deal with correspondences on the k-fold symmetric product of C, with some interesting linear subspaces of \mathbb{P}^n enjoying a condition of Cayley-Bacharach type, and wi…
We present a method to control gonality of nonarchimedean curves based on graph theory. Let k denote a complete nonarchimedean valued field. We first prove a lower bound for the gonality of a curve over the algebraic closure of k in terms of the minimal degree of a class of graph maps, namely: one should minimize over all so-called finite harmonic graph morphisms to trees, that originate from any refinement of the dual graph of the stable model of the curve. Next comes our main result: we prove a lower bound for the degree of such a graph morphism in terms of the first eigenvalue of the Laplac…
Noether's problem asks whether, for a given field K and finite group G, the fixed field L := K(x_h : h \in G)^G is a purely transcendental extension of K, where G acts on the x_h by gx_h = x_gh. The field L is naturally the function field of a quotient variety V := V (K,G). In analogy to the case of curves, we define the gonality of V to be the minimal degree of a dominant rational map from V to projective space, which, in a sense, measures the extent to which L may fail to be purely transcendental over K. When G is abelian, we give bounds for the gonality of V (K; G).
