An effective divisor D on a smooth (compact complex) surface X is called even, if its class $[D] \in H^2(X,\Z)$ is divisible by 2. D may be assumed reduced w.l.o.g. Then D being even is equivalent to the existence of a double cover $Y \to X$ branched exactly over D.
The aim of this note is to study arrangements of $n \leq 10$ distinct lines on a smooth quartic surface $X \subset ¶_3$, which form an even divisor in this sense. The result is that for $n \leq 8$ there are no unexpected ones (one type of six lines, four types of eight lines). And for n=10 a partial classification is given in the following sense: Each even set of ten lines on a smooth quartic surface is of one of eleven different types. At the moment I do not know which of these types do actually occur. The proof for these facts is messy, essentially checking cases.
We study the geometry and codes of quartic surfaces with many cusps. We apply Gröbner bases to find examples of various configurations of cusps on quartics.
We give a defining equation of a complex smooth quartic surface containing 56 lines, and investigate its reductions to positive characteristics. This surface is isomorphic to the complex Fermat quartic surface, which contains only 48 lines. We give the isomorphism explicitly.
We show that the maximal number of (real) lines in a (real) nonsingular spatial quartic surface is 64 (respectively, 56). We also give a complete projective classification of all quartics containing more than 52 lines: all such quartics are projectively rigid. Any value not exceeding 52 can appear as the number of lines of an appropriate quartic.
We prove the sharp bound of at most 64 lines on complex projective quartic surfaces (resp. affine quartics) that are not ruled by lines. We study configurations of lines on certain non-K3 surfaces of degree four and give various examples of singular quartics with many lines.
Let $C$ be a general plane quartic and let ${\rm Fl}(C)$ denote the configuration of inflection lines of $C$. We show that if $D$ is any plane quartic with the same configuration of inflection lines ${\rm Fl}(C)$, then the quartics $C$ and $D$ coincide.
We provide explicit equations of some smooth complex quartic surfaces with many lines, including all 10 quartics with more than 52 lines. We study the relation between linear automorphisms and some configurations of lines such as twin lines and special lines. We answer a question by Oguiso on a determinantal presentation of the Fermat quartic surface.
In this paper, we study the embedded topology of smooth plane quartics and its bitangent lines via two-graphs and apply it to construct interesting examples for Zariski $m$-ple.
Over a field k of characteristic 3, we prove that there are no smooth quartic surfaces S in IP^3 with more than 112 lines. Moreover, the surface with 112 lines is projectively equivalent over k-bar to the Fermat quartic. As a key ingredient, we derive a characteristic free upper bound for the number of lines met by a quadric on a smooth quartic surface.
We give examples of smooth $\k$-unirational line-free quartic hypersurfaces over a non algebraically closed field $\k$. Unlike other methods of proving unirationality, our method does not rely on existence of linear spaces on quartics.
We prove that a K3 quartic surface defined over a field of characteristic 2 can contain at most 68 lines. If it contains 68 lines, then it is projectively equivalent to a member of a 1-dimensional family found by Rams and Schütt.
We show that there cannot be more than 64 lines on a quartic surface admitting isolated rational double points over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p \neq 2,\,3$, thus extending Segre--Rams--Schütt theorem. Our proof offers a deeper insight into the triangle-free case and takes advantage of a special configuration of lines, thereby avoiding the technique of the flecnodal divisor. We provide several examples of non-smooth K3 quartic surfaces with many lines.
In this paper, we give a Zariski triple of the arrangements for a smooth quartic and its four bitangents. A key criterion to distinguish the topology of such curves is given by a matrix related to the height pairing of rational points arising from three bitangent lines.
We explain a classical construction of a del Pezzo surface of degree d = 4 or 5 as a smooth order two congruence of lines in 3-space whose focal surface is a quartic surface $X_{20-d}$ with 20-d ordinary double points. We also show that $X_{15}$ can be realized as a hyperplane section of the Castelnuovo-Richmond-Igusa quartic hypersurface. This leads to the proof of rationality of the moduli space of 15-nodal quartic surfaces. We discuss some other birational models of $X_{15}$: quartic symmetroids, 5-nodal quartic surfaces, 10-nodal sextic surfaces in $P^4$ and nonsingular surfaces of degree …
A recent result shows that a general smooth plane quartic can be recovered from its 24 inflection lines and a single inflection point. Nevertheless, the question whether or not a smooth plane curve of degree at least 4 is determined by its inflection lines is still open. Over a field of characteristic 0, we show that it is possible to reconstruct any smooth plane quartic with at least 8 hyperinflection points by its inflection lines. Our methods apply also in positive characteristic, where we show a similar result, with two exceptions in characteristic 13.
Costantini and Kappes gave an algebraic equation of the universal family over the Kenyon-Smillie (2,3,4)-Teichmüller curve. This equation gives rise to a family of projective plane quartic curves with three singular members. These singular curves are: (1) an integral nodal quartic, (2) the union of a line and a nodal cubic, and (3) a quadruple line. We determine the limit Weierstrass points on these singular curves.
In this paper, we introduce the terminology of matroids into the study of Zariski-pairs related to rational elliptic surfaces, aiming to simplify the presentation and arguments involved. As an application, we provide new examples of Zariski $N$-ples of relatively low degree. Namely we show that a Zariski 102-ple of degree 18 exists.
We study the moduli space of triples $(C, L_1, L_2)$ consisting of quartic curves $C$ and lines $L_1$ and $L_2$. Specifically, we construct and compactify the moduli space in two ways: via geometric invariant theory (GIT) and by using the period map of certain lattice polarized $K3$ surfaces. The GIT construction depends on two parameters $t_1$ and $t_2$ which correspond to the choice of a linearization. For $t_1=t_2=1$ we describe the GIT moduli explicitly and relate it to the construction via $K3$ surfaces.
In 1884 the German mathematician Karl Rohn published a substantial paper on \cite{ROH} on the properties of quartic surfaces with triple points, proving (among many other things) that the maximum number of lines contained in a quartic monoid surface is $31$. In this paper we study in details this class of surfaces. We prove that there exists an open subset $A \subseteq \mathbb{P}^1_K$ ($K$ is a characteristic zero field) that parametrizes (up to a projectivity) all the quartic monoid surfaces with $31$ lines; then we study the action of $\mathrm{PGL}(4,K)$ on these surfaces, we show that the s…
This work concerns Waring decompositions of a certain kind of plane quartics of high rank. The main result is the following. Let x, l_1, ...., l_7 be linear forms and q a quadratic form on a vector space of dimension 3. If x^2q=l_1^4+...+l_7^4 and the lines l_1=0, ..., l_7=0 in P^2 intersect x=0 in seven distinct points, then the line x=0 is (possibly improperly) tangent to the conic q=0.
We show that the Hilbert scheme which parameterises bitangent lines to a general quartic surface is a counterexample to the infinitesimal Torelli claim and is a smooth regular surface with no rational curves and very ample canonical divisor.
Given a nonsingular quartic del Pezzo surface, a conjecture of Manin predicts the density of rational points on the open subset of the surface formed by deleting the lines. We prove that this prediction is of the correct order of magnitude for a particular surface.
In [BN] the authors construct a special complex of degree 20 over M, which for an open three dimensional set parametrizes smooth complex surfaces of degree four invariant which are Heisenberg invariant and each member of the family contains 32 lines but only 16 skew lines. The coordinates of the lines however need not be real. For a point l in a Zariski open set of M an algorithm is presented which evaluates the real coefficients of l in terms of the K-coordinates of l. The author uses a code in Maple which allows him to construct very explicite examples of real smooth Heisenberg invariant Kum…
Let k be a field of characteristic other than 2,3. We prove that there are no geometrically smooth quartic surfaces in IP^3 with more than 64 lines. As a key step, we derive the sharp bound that any line meets at most 20 other lines on a smooth quartic.
We study the geometry of quartic surfaces in IP^3 that contain a line of the second kind over algebraically closed fields of characteristic different from 2,3. In particular, we correct Segre's claims made for the complex case in 1943.
Let K be a field of characteristic 2. We give a geometric proof that there are no smooth quartic surfaces in IP^3 with more than 64 lines (predating work of Degtyarev which improves this bound to 60). We also exhibit a smooth quartic containing 60 lines which thus attains the record in characteristic 2.
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.
We classify quartic del Pezzo surface fibrations over the projective line via numerical invariants, giving explicit examples for small values of the invariants. For generic such fibrations, we describe explicitly the geometry of spaces of sections to the fibration, and mappings to the intermediate Jacobian of the total space. We exhibit examples where these are birational, which has applications to arithmetic questions, especially over finite fields.
We compute the complete set of candidates for the zeta function of a K3 surface over F_2 consistent with the Weil conjectures, as well as the complete set of zeta functions of smooth quartic surfaces over F_2. These sets differ substantially, but we do identify natural subsets which coincide. This gives some numerical evidence towards a Honda-Tate theorem for transcendental zeta functions of K3 surfaces; such a result would refine a recent theorem of Taelman, in which one must allow an uncontrolled base field extension.
Aronhold's classical result states that a plane quartic can be recovered by the configuration of any Aronhold systems of bitangents, i.e. special 7-tuples of bitangents such that the six points at which any subtriple of bitangents touches the quartic do not lie on the same conic in the projective plane. In 2005 Lehavi proved that a smooth plane quartic can be explicitly reconstructed from its 28 bitangents; this result improved Aronhold's method of recovering the curve. In a 2011 paper Plaumann, Sturmfels and Vinzant introduced an eight by eight symmetric matrix parametrizing the bitangents of…
Motivated by a kind of Penrose correspondence, we investigate the space of hyperplane sections of Segre quartic surfaces which have an ordinary cusp. We show that the space of such hyperplane sections is empty for two kinds of Segre surfaces, and it is a connected surface for all other kinds of Segre surfaces. We also show that when it is non-empty, the closure of the space is either birational to the surface itself or birational to a double covering of the surface, whose branch divisor consists of some specific lines on the surface.
For a binary quartic form $ϕ$ without multiple factors, we classify the quartic K3 surfaces $ϕ(x,y)=ϕ(z,t)$ whose Neron-Severi group is (rationally) generated by lines. For generic binary forms $ϕ$, $ψ$ of prime degree without multiple factors, we prove that the Neron-Severi group of the surface $ϕ(x,y)=ψ(z,t)$ is rationally generated by lines.
We study bitangents of non-smooth tropical plane quartics. Our main result is that with appropriate multiplicities, every such curve has 7 equivalence classes of bitangent lines. Moreover, the multiplicity of bitangent lines varies continuously in families of tropical plane curves.
Special types of quartic surfaces were much studied objects during the 1860s. Quartics were thus very much in the air when Sophus Lie and Felix Klein first met in Berlin in 1869. As this study shows, such surfaces played a major role in their subsequent work, much of which centered on linear and quadratic line complexes. This mutual interest led them to a number of new results on the quartic surfaces of Steiner, Plücker, and Kummer, as well as various types of ruled quartics studied earlier by Cremona. This paper, which draws on unpublished archival sources as well as published work from the p…
We study the rationality of the intersection points of certain lines and smooth plane quartics C defined over F_q. For q \geq 127, we prove the existence of a line such that the intersection points with C are all rational. Using another approach, we further prove the existence of a tangent line with the same property as soon as the characteristic of F_q is different from 2 and q \geq 66^2+1. Finally, we study the probability of the existence of a rational flex on C and exhibit a curious behavior when the characteristic of F_q is equal to 3.
Building on work of Brenner and Monsky from 2010 and on a Hilbert-Kunz calculation of Monsky from 1998, we exhibit a novel example of a hypersurface over $\overline{\mathbb{F}_2}$ in which tight closure does not commute with localization. Our methods involve a surprising tiling argument using Sierpiński triangles, as well as an inspection of a certain dynamical system in characteristic two.
Recent work of Kass--Wickelgren gives an enriched count of the $27$ lines on a smooth cubic surface over arbitrary fields. Their approach using $\mathbb{A}^1$-enumerative geometry suggests that other classical enumerative problems should have similar enrichments, when the answer is computed as the degree of the Euler class of a relatively orientable vector bundle. Here, we consider the closely related problem of the $28$ bitangents to a smooth plane quartic. However, it turns out the relevant vector bundle is not relatively orientable and new ideas are needed to produce enriched counts. We int…
We study smooth tropical plane quartic curves and show that they satisfy certain properties analogous to (but also different from) smooth plane quartics in algebraic geometry. For example, we show that every such curve admits either infinitely many or exactly 7 bitangent lines. We also prove that a smooth tropical plane quartic curve cannot be hyperelliptic.
The subject of this paper is the study of various families of quartic K3 surfaces which are invariant under a certain $(\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})^{4}$ action. In particular, we describe families whose general member contains $8,16,24$ or $32$ lines as well as the $320$ conics found by Eklund (some of which degenerate into the mentioned lines). The second half of this paper is dedicated to finding the Picard group of a general member of each of these families, and describing it as a lattice. It turns out that for each family the Picard group of a very general surface is generated by the lines and…
A smooth tropical quartic curve has seven tropical bitangent classes. Their shapes can vary within the same combinatorial type of curve. We study deformations of these shapes and we show that the conditions determined by Cueto and Markwig for lifting them to real bitangent lines are independent of the deformations. From this we deduce a tropical proof of Plücker and Zeuthen's count of the number of real bitangents to smooth plane quartic curves.
Given a nondegenerate ternary form $f=f(x_1,x_2,x_3)$ of degree 4 over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, we use the geometry of K3 surfaces to construct a certain positive-dimensional family of irreducible representations of the generalized Clifford algebra associated to $f.$ From this we obtain the existence of linear Pfaffian representations of the quartic surface $X_f=\{w^4=f(x_1,x_2,x_3)\},$ as well as information on the Brill-Noether theory of a general smooth curve in the linear system $|\mathcal{O}_{X_f}(3)|.$
We give two algorithms to compute linear determinantal representations of smooth plane curves of any degree over any field. As particular examples, we explicitly give representatives of all equivalence classes of linear determinantal representations of two special quartics over the field $\mathbb{Q}$ of rational numbers, the Klein quartic and the Fermat quartic. This paper is a summary of third author's talk at the JSIAM JANT workshop on algorithmic number theory in March 2018. Details will appear elsewhere.
A smooth quartic curve in the complex projective plane has 36 inequivalent representations as a symmetric determinant of linear forms and 63 representations as a sum of three squares. These correspond to Cayley octads and Steiner complexes respectively. We present exact algorithms for computing these objects from the 28 bitangents. This expresses Vinnikov quartics as spectrahedra and positive quartics as Gram matrices. We explore the geometry of Gram spectrahedra and we find equations for the variety of Cayley octads. Interwoven is an exposition of much of the 19th century theory of plane quar…
We study quartic double fivefolds from the perspective of Fano manifolds of Calabi-Yau type and that of exceptional quaternionic representations. We first prove that the generic quartic double fivefold can be represented, in a finite number of ways, as a double cover of P^5 ramified along a linear section of the Sp 12-invariant quartic in P^31. Then, using the geometry of the Vinberg's type II decomposition of some exceptional quaternionic representations, and backed by some cohomological computations performed by Macaulay2, we prove the existence of a spherical rank 6 vector bundle on such a …
Let a,b,c,d be nonzero rational numbers whose product is a square, and let V be the diagonal quartic surface in PP^3 defined by ax^4+by^4+cz^4+dw^4=0. We prove that if V contains a rational point that does not lie on any of the 48 lines on V or on any of the coordinate planes, then the set of rational points on V is dense in both the Zariski topology and the real analytic topology.
