We present versal complex analytic families, over a smooth base and of fibre dimension zero, one, or two, where the discriminant constitutes a free divisor. These families include finite flat maps, versal deformations of reduced curve singularities, and versal deformations of Gorenstein surface singularities in C^5. It is shown that such free divisors often admit a "fast normalization", obtained by a single application of the Grauert-Remmert normalization algorithm. For a particular Gorenstein surface singularity in C^5, namely the simple elliptic singularity of type \tilde A_4, we exhibit an explicit discriminant matrix and show that the slice of the discriminant for a fixed j-invariant is the cone over the dual variety of an elliptic curve.
We show that analytic torsion of smooth theta divisor is represented by a Siegel modular form characterizing the Andreotti-Mayer locus if its dimension is positive.
All components of complements of discriminant varieties of simple real function singularities are explicitly listed. New invariants of such components (for not necessarily simple singularities) are introduced. A combinatorial algorithm enumerating topological types of morsifications of real function singularities is promoted.
We study the topology of the complements of discriminants of simple real boundary singularities by counting the connected components of these sets and assigning to them certain topological characteristics. Results of this paper serve as a generalization of those recently acquired by Vassiliev arXiv:2109.12287 for ordinary function singularities.
One deals with arbitrary reduced free divisors in a polynomial ring over a field of characteristic zero, by stressing the ideal theoretic and homological behavior of the corresponding singular locus. A particular emphasis is given to both weighted homogeneous and homogeneous polynomials, allowing to introduce new families of free divisors which do not come from hyperplane arrangements nor as explicit discriminants from singularity theory.
Linear free divisors are free divisors, in the sense of K.Saito, with linear presentation matrix (example: normal crossing divisors). Using techniques of deformation theory on representations of quivers, we exhibit families of linear free divisors as discriminants in representation spaces for real Schur roots of a finite quiver. We review some basic material on quiver representations, and explain in detail how to verify whether the discriminant is a free divisor and how to determine its components and their equations, using techniques of A. Schofield. As an illustration, the linear free diviso…
We describe a method for computing discriminants for a large class of families of isolated determinantal singularities -- more precisely, for subfamilies of ${\mathcal G}$-versal families. The approach intrinsically provides a decomposition of the discriminant into two parts and allows the computation of the determinantal and the non-determinantal loci of the family without extra effort; only the latter manifests itself in the Tjurina transform. This knowledge is then applied to the case of Cohen-Macaulay codimension 2 singularities putting several known, but previously unexplained observation…
Building on previous work of Kollar, Ein, Lazarsfeld, and Hacon, we show that ample divisors of low degree on an abelian variety have mild singularities in case the abelian variety is simple or the degree of the polarization is two.
The singularities of theta divisors have played an important role in the study of algebraic varieties. This paper surveys some of the recent progress in this subject, using as motivation some well known results, especially those for Jacobians.
Let $f(Y)\in K[[X_1,\dots,X_d]][Y]$ be a quasi-ordinary Weierstrass polynomial with coefficients in the ring of formal power series over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. In this paper we study the discriminant $D_f$ of $f(Y)-V$, where $V$ is a new variable. We show that the Newton polytope of $D_f$ depends only on contacts between the roots of $f(Y)$. Then we prove that $f(Y)$ is irreducible if and only if the Newton polytope of $D_f$ satisfies some arithmetic conditions. Finally we generalize these results to quasi-ordinary power series.
The main goal of this paper is to show that the notions of Weil and Cartier $\mathbb{Q}$-divisors coincide for $V$-manifolds and give a procedure to express a rational Weil divisor as a rational Cartier divisor. The theory is illustrated on weighted projective spaces and weighted blow-ups.
It is known by results of Kollár, Ein, Lazarsfeld, Hacon and Debarre that divisors representing principal and other low degree polarizations on abelian varieties have mild singularities. In this note we extend such results to polarizations of degree $<g$ on simple $g$-dimensional abelian varieties, settling a conjecture of Debarre and Hacon.
For the Jacobian of a curve, the Riemann singularity theorem gives a geometric interpretation of the singularities of the theta divisor in terms of special linear series on the curve. This paper proves an analogous theorem for Prym varieties. Applications of this theorem to cubic threefolds, and Prym varieties of dimension five, are also considered.
In this paper we calculate genaral n-canonical divisors on smoothable semi-log-terminal singularities in dimension 2, in other words, the full sheaves associated to the double dual of the nth tensor power of the dualizing sheaves of these singularities. And as its application we give the inequality which bound the Gorenstein index by the local self intersection number of the n-canonical divisor of these singularities.
We explore the connection between the rank of a polynomial and the singularities of its vanishing locus. We first describe the singularity of generic polynomials of fixed rank. We then focus on cubic surfaces. Cubic surfaces with isolated singularities are known to fall into 22 singularity types. We compute the rank of a cubic surface of each singularity type. This enables us to find the possible singular loci of a cubic surface of fixed rank. Finally, we study connections to the Hessian discriminant. We show that a cubic surface with singularities that are not ordinary double points lies on t…
Let $X$ be a Gorenstein canonical Fano variety of coindex $4$ and dimension $n$ with $H$ fundamental divisor. Assume $h^0(X, H) \geq n -2$. We prove that a general element of the linear system $|mH|$ has at worst canonical singularities for any integer $m \geq 1$. When $X$ has terminal singularities and $n \geq 5$, we show that a general element of $|mH|$ has at worst terminal singularities for any integer $m \geq 1$. When $n=4$, we give an example of Gorenstein terminal Fano fourfold $X$ such that a general element of $|H|$ does not have terminal singularities.
We give an alternative proof of a recent result by Pasquier stating that for a generalized flag variety $X=G/P$ and an effective $\mathbb{Q}$-divisor $D$ stable with respect to a Borel subgroup the pair $(X,D)$ is Kawamata log terminal if and only if $\lfloor D\rfloor=0$.
In this paper we give a lower bound for the codimension of the Andreotti-Mayer loci in the moduli space of principally polarized complex abelian varieties. We also present a conjecture on this codimension.
We show that if $(X,Θ)$ is a PPAV over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$ and $D\in |mΘ|$, then $(X,\frac 1 m D)$ is a limit of strongly $F$-regular pairs and in particular ${\rm mult}_x(D)\leq m\cdot \dim X$ for any $x\in X$.
We define two tau functions, $τ$ and $\hatτ$ , on moduli spaces of spectral covers of $GL(n)$ Hitchin's systems. Analyzing the properties of $τ$, we express the divisor class of the universal Hitchin's discriminant in terms of standard generators of the rational Picard group of the moduli spaces of spectral covers with variable base. The function $\hatτ$ is used to compute the divisor of canonical 1-forms with multiple zeros.
The paper reviews recent developments in the study of Alexander invariants of quasi-projective manifolds using methods of singularity theory. Several results in topology of the complements to singular plane curves and hypersurfaces in projective space extended to the case of curves on simply connected smooth projective surfaces.
In this note we study the geometry of principally polarized abelian varieties (ppavs) with a vanishing theta-null (i.e. with a singular point of order two and even multiplicity lying on the theta divisor). We describe the locus within the theta-null divisor where this singularity is not an ordinary double point. By using theta function methods we first show that this locus does not equal the entire theta-null divisor (this was shown previously by O. Debarre). We then show that this locus is contained in the intersection of the theta-null divisor with the other irreducible components of the And…
We study several subseries of the space of second order theta functions on the Jacobian of a non-hyperelliptic curve. In particular, we are interested in the subseries PΓ_{00} consisting of 2theta-divisors having multiplicity at least 4 at the origin, or, equivalently, containing the surface C-C, and in its analogues consisting of 2theta-divisors having higher multiplicities at the origin, containing the four-fold Sym^2C-Sym^2C, or singular along the surface C-C. We use rank 2 vector bundles with a given number of global sections to prove canonical isomorphisms between quotients of the above i…
In this paper we show that any hypersurface singularities of germs of varieties in positive characteristic can be resolved by iterated monoidal transformations in centers in smooth subvarieties, if we have a valuation ring of iterated divisor type associated with the germ. Besides, we introduce fundamental concepts for the study of resolution of singularities of germs such as space germs, iterated analytic monoidal transformations with a normal crossing, Weierstrass representations, reduction sequences, and so forth.
The purpose of this paper is to prove the a priori estimates for constant scalar curvature Kaehler metrics with conic singularities along normal crossing divisors. The zero order estimates are proved by a reformulated version of Alexandrov's maximum principle. The higher order estimates follow from Chen-Cheng's frame work, equipped with new techniques to handle the singularities. Finally, we extend these estimates to the twisted equations.
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.
Let X be the germ of a Gorenstein 3-fold singularity and C a smooth curve through it such that the general hyperplane section S of X containing D is DuVal of type E6 or E7. In this paper we obtain criteria for the existence of a terminal divisorial extremal neighborhood f: Y-->X contracting an irreducible divisor E onto C and classify all such neighborhoods.
Rational pairs generalize the notion of rational singularities to reduced pairs $(X,D)$. In this paper we deal with the problem of determining whether a normal variety $X$ has a rationalizing divisor, i.e. a reduced divisor $D$ such that $(X, D)$ is a rational pair. We give a criterion for cones to have a rationalizing divisor, and relate the existence of such a divisor to the locus of rational singularities of a variety.
In this paper we use the results from the first part to compute the vanishing topology for matrix singularities based on certain spaces of matrices. We place the variety of singular matrices in a geometric configuration of free divisors which are the "exceptional orbit varieties" for repesentations of solvable groups. Because there are towers of representations for towers of solvable groups, the free divisors actually form a tower of free divisors $E_n$, and we give an inductive procedure for computing the vanishing topology of the matrix singularities. The inductive procedure we use is an ext…
In this note we present a description of wave front evolving from an algebraic hypersurface by means of a pull-back of the discriminantal loci of a tame polynomial via a polynomial mapping. As an application we give examples of wave fronts which define free/almost free divisors near the focal point.
In this paper we give a birational model for the theta divisor of the intermediate Jacobian of a generic cubic threefold $X$. We use the standard realization of $X$ as a conic bundle and a $4-$dimensional family of plane quartics which are totally tangent to the discriminant quintic curve of such a conic bundle structure. The additional data of an even theta characteristic on the curves in the family gives us a model for the theta divisor.
Let $(X,o)$ be a germ of a 3-dimensional terminal singularity of index $m\geq 2$. If $(X,o)$ has type cAx/4, cD/3-3, cD/2-2, or cE/2, then assume that the standard equation of $X$ in $\mathbb{C}^4/\mathbb{Z}_m$ is non-degenerate with respect to its Newton diagram. Let $π\colon Y\to X$ be a resolution. We show that there are not more than 2 non-rational divisors $E_i$, $i=1,2$, on $Y$ such that $π(E_i)=o$ and discrepancy $a(E_i,X)\leq 1$. When such divisors exist, we describe them as exceptional divisors of certain blowups of $X$ and study their birational type.
We introduce a variant of the usual Kahler forms on free and almost free divisors and their deformations, and show that they enjoy the same depth properties as Kahler forms on isolated complete intersection singularities. Using these forms, it is possible to describe analytically the vanishing cohomology in families of free divisors, in precise analogy with the classical description for the Milnor fibration of an ICIS, due to Brieskorn and Greuel. This applies in par- ticular to the family of discriminants of a versal deformation of an unstable map-germ.
The aim of this paper is to study jumping numbers and multiplier ideals of any ideal in a two-dimensional local ring with a rational singularity. In particular we reveal which information encoded in a multiplier ideal determines the next jumping number. This leads to an algorithm to compute sequentially the jumping numbers and the whole chain of multiplier ideals in any desired range. As a consequence of our method we develop the notion of jumping divisor that allows to describe the jump between two consecutive multiplier ideals. In particular we find a unique minimal jumping divisor that is s…
Nash proved that every irreducible component of the space of arcs through a singularity corresponds to an exceptional divisor that occurs on every resolution. He asked if the converse also holds: does every such exceptional divisor correspond to an arc family? We prove that the converse holds for toric singularities but fails in general.
We prove that the anti-canonical divisors of weak Fano 3-folds with log canonical singularities are semiample. Moreover, we consider semiampleness of the anti-log canonical divisor of any weak log Fano pair with log canonical singularities. We show semiampleness dose not hold in general by constructing several examples. Based on those examples, we propose sufficient conditions which seem to be the best possible and we prove semiampleness under such conditions. In particular we derive semiampleness of the anti-canonical divisors of log canonical weak Fano 4-folds whose lc centers are at most 1-…
We study the codimension two locus H in A_g consisting of principally polarized abelian varieties whose theta divisor has a singularity that is not an ordinary double point. We compute the class of H in A_g for every g. For g=4, this turns out to be the locus of Jacobians with a vanishing theta-null. For g=5, via the Prym map we show that H in A_5 has two components, both unirational, which we completely describe. This gives a geometric classification of 5-dimensional ppav whose theta-divisor has a quadratic singularity of non-maximal rank. We then determine the slope of the effective cone of …
We introduce a method for obtaining new classes of free divisors from representations $V$ of connected linear algebraic groups $G$ where $\dim(G)=\dim(V)$, with $V$ having an open orbit. We give sufficient conditions that the complement of this open orbit, the "exceptional orbit variety", is a free divisor (or a slightly weaker free* divisor) for "block representations" of both solvable groups and extensions of reductive groups by them. These are representations for which the matrix defined from a basis of associated "representation vector fields" on $V$ has block triangular form, with blocks …
Let C be a smooth curve on an index 1 terminal 3-fold. We investigate the existence of extremal terminal divisorial contractions Y-->X that contract an irreducible surface E to C. We consider cases in respect to the singularities of the general hypersurface section S of X through C. We completely classify such contractions in the case that S has A_i, i < 4 and D_2n for any n, type singularities.
We describe two situations where adding the adjoint divisor to a divisor D with smooth normalization yields a free divisor. Both also involve stability or versality. In the first, D is the image of a corank one stable germ of a map from complex n-space to complex (n+1)-space, and is not free. In the second, D is the discriminant of a versal deformation of a weighted homogeneous function with isolated critical point (subject to certain numerical conditions on the weights). Here D itself is already free. We also prove an elementary result, inspired by these first two, from which we obtain a plet…
We give an explicit formula for the Hodge filtration on the $\mathscr{D}_X$-module $O_X(*Z)f^{1-α}$ associated to the effective $\mathbb{Q}$-divisor $D=α\cdot Z$, where $0<α\le1$ and $Z=(f=0)$ is an irreducible hypersurface defined by $f$, a weighted homogeneous polynomial with an isolated singularity at the origin. In particular this gives a formula for the Hodge ideals of $D$. We deduce a formula for the generating level of the Hodge filtration, as well as further properties of Hodge ideals in this setting. We also extend the main theorem to the case when $f$ is a germ of holomorphic functio…
We consider the moduli space of log smooth pairs formed by a cubic surface and an anticanonical divisor. We describe all compactifications of this moduli space which are constructed using Geometric Invariant Theory and the anticanonical polarization. The construction depends on a weight on the divisor. For smaller weights the stable pairs consist of mildly singular surfaces and very singular divisors. Conversely, a larger weight allows more singular surfaces, but it restricts the singularities on the divisor. The one-dimensional space of stability conditions decomposes in a wall-chamber struct…
