The purpose of this paper is two-fold. We first prove a series of results, concerned with the notion of Zariski multiplicity, mainly for non-singular algebraic curves. These results are required in the paper "A Theory of Branches for Algebraic Curves",(*), where, following Severi, we introduced the notion of the "branch" of an algebraic curve. Secondly, we use results from the cited paper, (*), in order to develop a refined theory of g_{n}^{r} on an algebraic curve. The refinement depends critically on relacing the notion of a point with a branch. This allows us to construct a theory of divisors, \emph{generalising} the corresponding theory in the special case when the algebraic curve is non-singular, which is birationally invariant.
For a hyperelliptic curve of genus $g$, a divisor in general position of degree $g+1$ is given by polynomial equations. There is an action from an algebraic group on the representations of divisors by polynomials which fixes divisor classes. This structure reduces the question of rationality of divisor classes to rationality of polynomials which is more easy to control.
In this paper we study certain homogeneous spaces, which we call generalised affine Stiefel algebraic varieties. The main aim is to characterise the canonical divisor of generalised affine Stiefel algebraic varieties in terms of group representations. Affine Stiefel algebraic varieties and in particular $S^{n}$ are two special cases of the generalised affine Stiefel algebraic varieties.
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.
In this note we consider the problem of integrality of Zariski decompositions for pseudoeffective integral divisors on algebraic surfaces. We show that while sometimes integrality of Zariski decompositions forces all negative curves to be $(-1)$-curves, there are examples where this is not true.
We provide a complete description of normal affine varieties with effective algebraic torus action in terms of what we call proper polyhedral divisors on semiprojective varieties. Our theory extends classical cone constructions of Dolgachev, Demazure and Pinkham to the multigraded case, and it comprises the theory of affine toric varieties.
We present a purely algebraic proof of the commutativity of the operation defined by intersection with divisors on the Chow group of a local Noetherian domain.
For a non-singular real algebraic projective curve, topological restrictions on a closed motion of a simple real divisor in its linear equivalence class are found.
In previous papers we define certain Lagrangian shadows of ample divisors in algebraic varieties. In the present brief note an existence condition is discussed for these Lagrangian shadows.
Given a real curve, we study special linear systems called "very special" for which the dimension does not satisfy a Clifford type inequality. We classify all these very special linear systems when the gonality of the curve is small.
The aim of this paper is to provide another perspective on secant varieties on algebraic curves by reformulating the problem in terms of refined de Jonquières divisors, that is divisors on the curve with prescribed multiplicities and dimensions of their spaces of global sections. We are able to both recover some already known results and to obtain some new statements concerning the dimension theory of secant varieties. We do this via the study of the dimension theory of refined de Jonquières divisors in some relevant cases and degeneration arguments.
We study special linear systems called "very special" whose dimension does not satisfy a Clifford type inequality given by Huisman. We classify all these very special linear systems when they are compounded of an involution. Examples of very special linear systems that are simple are also given.
We study the algebraic rank of a divisor on a graph, an invariant defined using divisors on algebraic curves dual to the graph. We prove it satisfies the Riemann-Roch formula, a specialization property, and the Clifford inequality. We prove that it is at most equal to the (usual) combinatorial rank, and that equality holds in many cases, though not in general.
In this paper we classify the singular curves whose theta divisors in their generalized Jacobians are algebraic, meaning that they are cut out by polynomial analogs of theta functions. We also determine the degree of an algebraic theta divisor in terms of the singularities of the curve. Furthermore, we show a precise relation between such algebraic theta functions and the corresponding tau functions for the KP hierarchy.
Rational curves on Hilbert schemes of points on $K3$ surfaces and generalised Kummer manifolds are constructed by using Brill-Noether theory on nodal curves on the underlying surface. It turns out that all wall divisors can be obtained, up to isometry, as dual divisors to such rational curves. The locus covered by the rational curves is then described, thus exhibiting algebraically coisotropic subvarieties that deform to general small deformations of the manifold. This provides strong evidence for a conjecture by Voisin concerning the Chow ring of irreducible holomorphic symplectic manifolds. …
The volume of a Cartier divisor on a projective variety is a nonnegative real number that measures the asymptotic growth of sections of multiples of the divisor. It is known that the set of these numbers is countable and has the structure of a multiplicative semigroup. At the same time it still remains unknown which nonnegative real algebraic numbers arise as volumes of Cartier divisors on some variety. Here we extend a construction first used by Cutkosky, and use the theory of real multiplication on abelian varieties to obtain a large class of examples of algebraic volumes. We also show that …
We prove relations among the classes of certain divisors on the moduli spaces of curves with marked points, generalizing the Brill-Noether Ray Theorem of Eisenbud and Harris.
Inside the symmetric product of a very general curve, we consider the codimension-one subvarieties of symmetric tuples of points imposing exceptional secant conditions on linear series on the curve of fixed degree and dimension. We compute the classes of such divisors, and thus obtain improved bounds for the slope of the cone of effective divisor classes on symmetric products of a very general curve. By letting the moduli of the curve vary, we study more generally the classes of the related divisors inside the moduli space of stable pointed curves.
Given a singular curve on a smooth surface, we determine which exceptional divisors on the minimal resolution of that curve contribute toward its jumping numbers.
In this paper we show that semistable vector bundles on a Castelnuovo curve of genus g >= 2 have theta divisors. As a corollary, we deduce that semistable vector bundles on a smooth, general curve of genus g >= 2 which extend to semistable vector bundles on any Castelnuovo degeneration of the general curve admit a theta divisor.
The classical De Jonquieres and MacDonald formulas describe the virtual number of divisors with prescribed multiplicities in a linear system on an algebraic curve. We establish an essentially optimal result concerning the enumerative validity of these formulas in the case of a general curve of genus g.
In the study of hyperelliptic curve cryptography, presentations of semi-reduced divisors on a hyperelliptic curve play important roles. In this note, we give an interpretation for such presentations from view points of Gröbner bases. As applications, (i) we give a method to construct weak $n$-contact curves and (ii) we study plane curves satisfying quasi-toric relations of type $(2, n, 2)$
A broadly applicable geometric approach for constructing nef divisors on blow ups of algebraic surfaces at n general points is given; it works for all surfaces in all characteristics for any n. This construction is used to obtain substantial improvements for currently known lower bounds for n point Seshadri constants. Remarks are included about a range of applications to classical problems involving linear systems on P2.
In this note, we extend work of Farkas and Rimányi on applying quadric rank loci to finding divisors of small slope on the moduli space of curves by instead considering all divisorial conditions on the hypersurfaces of a fixed degree containing a projective curve. This gives rise to a large family of virtual divisors on $\overline{\mathcal{M}_g}$. We determine explicitly which of these divisors are candidate counterexamples to the Slope Conjecture. The potential counterexamples exist on $\overline{\mathcal{M}_g}$, where the set of possible values of $g\in \{1,\ldots,N\}$ has density $Ω(\log(N)…
Following the first paper, we continue to study Mori extractions from singular curves centred in a smooth 3-fold. We treat the case where the divisorial extraction exists in relative codimension at most 3.
Let X be a smooth Fano variety of dimension at least 4. We show that if X has an elementary birational contraction sending a divisor to a curve, then the Picard number of X is smaller or equal to 5.
In the framework of Special Bohr - Sommerfeld geometry it was established that an ample divisor in compact algebraic variety can define almost canonically certain real submanifold which is lagrangian with respect to the corresponding Kahler form. It is natural to call it "lagrangian shadow"; below we emphasize this correspondence and present some simple examples, old and new. In particular we show that for irreducible divisors from the linear system $\vert - \frac{1}{2} K_{F^3} \vert$ on the full flag variety $F^3$ their lagrangian shadows are Gelfand - Zeytlin type lagrangian 3 - spheres.
Let F/F_q be an algebraic function field of genus g defined over a finite field F_q. We obtain new results on the existence, the number and the density of dimension zero divisors of degree g-k in F where k is a positive integer. In particular, for q=2,3 we prove that there always exists a dimension zero divisor of degree γ-1 where γis the q-rank of F. We also give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a dimension zero divisor of degree g-k for a hyperelliptic field F in terms of its Zeta function.
We investigate the notion of the $p$-divisor for foliations on a smooth algebraic surface defined over a field of positive characteristic $p$ and we study some of their properties. We present a structure theorem for the $p$-divisor of foliations in the projective plane and the Hirzebruch surfaces where we show that, under certain conditions, such $p$-divisors are reduced.
Raynaud has shown that over a general curve of genus $g \ge 2$, every semistable bundle of rank three and integral slope admits a theta divisor. We show that this can fail for special curves: Over any bielliptic curve of genus $g \ge 5$, we construct a stable rank three bundle of trivial determinant with no theta divisor. This gives a partial answer to a question of Beauville.
S. Kondō used periods of $K3$ surfaces to prove that the moduli space of genus three curves is birational to an arithmetic quotient of a complex 6-ball. In this paper we study Heegner divisors in the ball quotient, given by arithmetically defined hyperplane sections of the ball. We show that the corresponding loci of genus three curves are given by: hyperelliptic curves, singular plane quartics and plane quartics admitting certain rational "splitting curves".
We show that the locus of stable rank four vector bundles without theta divisor over a smooth projective curve of genus two is in canonical bijection with the set of theta-characteristics. We give several descriptions of these bundles and compute the degree of the rational theta map.
We study birational projective models of ${\mathcal M}_{2,2}$ obtained from the moduli space of curves with nonspecial divisors. We describe geometrically which singular curves appear in these models and show that one of them is obtained by blowing down the Weierstrass divisor in the moduli stack of ${\mathcal Z}$-stable curves $\overline{\mathcal M}_{2,2}({\mathcal Z})$ defined by Smyth. As a corollary, we prove projectivity of the coarse moduli space $\overline{M}_{2,2}({\mathcal Z})$.
Motivated by a conjecture of Xiao, we study supporting divisors of fibred surfaces. On the one hand, after developing a formalism to treat one-dimensional families of varieties of any dimension, we give a structure theorem for fibred surfaces supported on relatively rigid divisors. On the other hand, we study how to produce supporting divisors by constructing a global adjoint map for a fibration over a curve (generalizing the infinitesimal constructions of Collino, Pirola, Rizzi and Zucconi).
We study the existence of non-special divisors of degree $g$ and $g-1$ for algebraic function fields of genus $g\geq 1$ defined over a finite field $\F_q$. In particular, we prove that there always exists an effective non-special divisor of degree $g\geq 2$ if $q\geq 3$ and that there always exists a non-special divisor of degree $g-1\geq 1$ if $q\geq 4$. We use our results to improve upper and upper asymptotic bounds on the bilinear complexity of the multiplication in any extension $\F_{q^n}$ of $\F_q$, when $q=2^r\geq 16$.
We study effective divisors on $\overline{M}_{0,n}$, focusing on hypertree divisors introduced by Castravet and Tevelev and the proper transforms of divisors on $\overline{M}_{1,n-2}$ introduced by Chen and Coskun. Results include a database of hypertree divisor classes and closed formulas for Chen--Coskun divisor classes. We relate these two types of divisors, and from this construct extremal divisors on $\overline{M}_{0,n}$ for $n \geq 7$ that furnish counterexamples to the conjectural description of the effective cone of $\overline{M}_{0,n}$ given by Castravet and Tevelev.
Let $(X,D)$ be a log smooth pair of dimension $n$, where $D$ is a reduced effective divisor such that the log canonical divisor $K_X + D$ is pseudo-effective. Let $G$ be a connected algebraic subgroup of $\mathrm{Aut}(X,D)$. We show that $G$ is a semi-abelian variety of dimension $\le \min\{n-\barκ(V), n\}$ with $V := X\setminus D$. In the dimension two, Shigeru Iitaka claimed in his 1979 Osaka J. Math. paper that $\dim G\le \bar{q}(V)$ for a log smooth surface pair with $\barκ(V) = 0$ and $\bar{p}_g(V) = 1$. We (re)prove and generalize this classical result for all surfaces with $\barκ=0$ wit…
Given a divisor $D$ on a tropical curve $Γ$, we show that reduced divisors define an integral affine map from the tropical curve to the complete linear system $|D|$. This is done by providing an explicit description of the behavior of reduced divisors under infinitesimal modifications of the base point. We consider the cases where the reduced-divisor map defines an embedding of the curve into the linear system, and in this way, classify all the tropical curves with a very ample canonical divisor. As an application of the reduced-divisor map, we show the existence of Weierstrass points on tropi…
We introduce a new technique for proving positivity of certain divisor classes on $\bar{M}_{0,n}$ and its weighted variants. Our methods give an unconditional description of the spaces of symmetric weighted pointed rational curves as log canonical models of $\bar{M}_{0,n}$.
We study the pencils of minimal degree on the smooth curves lying on a K3 surface X which carries a fixed-point free involution. Generically, the gonality of these curves is totally governed by the genus 1 fibrations of X
These are notes of a talk to the International Conference on Algebra in honor of A. I. Mal'tsev, Novosibirsk, USSR, 1989 (to appear in Contemporary Mathematics). The concept of a divisor with complex coefficients on an algebraic curve is introduced. We consider families of complex divisors, or, equivalently, families of invertible sheaves and define Arakelov-type metrics on some invertible sheaves produced from them on the base. We apply this technique to obtain a formula for the measure on the moduli space that gives tachyon correlators in string theory.
We prove the following converse of Riemann's Theorem: let (A,Θ) be an indecomposable principally polarized abelian variety whose theta divisor can be written as a sum of a curve and a codimension two subvariety Θ=C+Y. Then C is smooth, A is the Jacobian of C, and Y is a translate of W_{g-2}(C). As applications, we determine all theta divisors that are dominated by a product of curves and characterize Jacobians by the existence of a d-dimensional subvariety with curve summand whose twisted ideal sheaf is a generic vanishing sheaf.
We carry out a detailed intersection theoretic analysis of the Deligne-Mumford compactification of the divisor on M_{10} consisting of curves sitting on K3 surfaces. This divisor is not of classical Brill-Noether type, and is known to give a counterexample to the Slope Conjecture. The computation relies on the fact that this divisor has four different incarnations as a geometric subvariety of the moduli space of curves, one of them as a higher rank Brill-Noether divisor consisting of curves with an exceptional rank 2 vector bundle. As an application we describe the birational nature of the mod…
Let $Z \to X$ be a finite branched Galois cover of normal projective geometrically integral varieties of dimension $d \geq 2$ over a perfect field $k$. For such a cover, we prove a Chebotarev-type density result describing the decomposition behaviour of geometrically integral Cartier divisors. As an application, we classify Galois covers among all finite branched covers of a given normal geometrically integral variety $X$ over $k$ by the decomposition behaviour of points of a fixed codimension $r$ with $0 < r < \dim X$.
A plane curve on a the projective space over a field of characteristic zero is free if its associated sheaf T of tangent vector fields tangent is a free module. Relatively few free curves are known. Here we prove that a divisor consisting of a union of curves of a pencil of plane projective curves with the same degree and with a smooth base locus is a free divisor if and only this union contains all the singular members of the pencil and its Jacobian ideal is locally a complete intersection.
The moduli space of canonical divisors (with prescribed zeros and poles) on nonsingular curves is not compact since the curve may degenerate. We define a proper moduli space of twisted canonical divisors in the moduli space of Deligne-Mumford stable pointed curves which includes the space of canonical divisors as an open subset. The theory leads to geometric/combinatorial constraints on the closures of the moduli spaces of canonical divisors. In case the differentials have at least one pole (the strictly meromorphic case), the moduli spaces of twisted canonical divisors on genus g curves are o…
We calculate the cycle class of the Hurwitz divisor $D_2$ on the moduli space of stable curves of genus $g=2k$ given by the degree $k+1$ covers of the projective line with simple ramification points, two of which lie in the same fibre. We also study some aspects of the geometry of the natural map of the Hurwitz space of admissible covers of degree $k+1$ and genus $2k$ to the moduli space of stable curves of genus $2k$.
We study the theta divisor of the compactified jacobian of a nodal, possibly reducible, curve. We compute its irreducible components and give it a geometric interpretation consistent with the classical Brill-Noether theory of smooth curves. Some applications on hyperelliptic stable curves are appended.
In this mostly expository paper we review several known results about the cohomology of moduli spaces of smooth and stable curves, focusing in particular on low degree cohomology. We also give a new proof of Harer's theorem describing the second cohomology group of the moduli space of smooth n-pointed curves of given genus
Given a moduli problem with a nice coarse moduli space, which is the most intrinsic and natural divisor on this moduli space? We describe a general method of constructing effective divisors on a large class of moduli spaces using the syzygies of the parametrized objects. In this paper we treat the case of the moduli space of curves and we compute the slope of a doubly infinite sequence of Koszul divisors on M_g. We present a single formula which apart from giving myriads of new counterexamples to the Harris-Morrison Slope Conjecture it also encodes virtually all interesting divisor class calcu…
Given a pseudo-effective divisor L we construct the diminished ideal of L, a "continuous" extension of the asymptotic multiplier ideal for big divisors to the pseudo-effective boundary. For most pseudo-effective divisors L the multiplier ideal of the metric of minimal singularities of L is contained in the diminished ideal. We also characterize abundant divisors using the diminished ideal, indicating that in this case the geometric and analytic information should coincide.
In the moduli space $\mathcal{R}_g$ of double étale covers of curves of a fixed genus $g$, the locus of covers of curves with a semicanonical pencil decomposes as the union of two divisors $\mathcal{T}^e_g$ and $\mathcal{T}^o_g$. Adapting arguments of Teixidor for the divisor of curves having a semicanonical pencil, we prove that both divisors are irreducible and compute their divisor classes in the Deligne-Mumford compactification $\overline{\mathcal{R}}_g$.
We give a criterion for a nef divisor $D$ to be semiample on a Calabi--Yau threefold $X$ when $D^3=0=c_2(X)\cdot D$ and $c_3(X)\neq 0$. As a direct consequence, we show that on such a variety $X$, if $D$ is strictly nef and $ν(D)\neq 1$, then $D$ is ample; we also show that if there exists a nef non-ample divisor $D$ with $D\not\equiv 0$, then $X$ contains a rational curve when its topological Euler characteristic is not $0$.
Let M_g be the moduli space of smooth curves of genus g >= 3, and \bar{M}_g the Deligne-Mumford compactification in terms of stable curves. Let \bar{M}_g^{[1]} be an open set of \bar{M}_g consisting of stable curves of genus g with one node at most. In this paper, we determine the necessary and sufficient condition to guarantee that a Q-divisor D on \bar{M}_g is nef over \bar{M}_g^{[1]}, that is, (D . C) >= 0 for all irreducible curves C on \bar{M}_g with C \cap \bar{M}_g^{[1]} \not= \emptyset.
The Jacobian varieties of smooth curves fit together to form a family, the universal Jacobian, over the moduli space of smooth marked curves, and the theta divisors of these curves form a divisor in the universal Jacobian. In this paper we describe how to extend these families over the moduli space of stable marked curves (or rather an open subset thereof) using a stability parameter. We then prove a wall-crossing formula describing how the theta divisor varies with the stability parameter. We use that result to analyze a divisor on the moduli space of smooth marked curves that has recently be…
