Modifying an approach of J. Roe, this paper gives an improved lower bound on the degrees d such that for general points p1,...,pn in P2 and m > 0 there is a plane curve of degree d vanishing at each point pi with multiplicity at least m. In certain cases, for m not too large compared with n, the new bound implies a bound conjectured by Nagata.
In this paper we discuss some variations of Nagata's conjecture on linear systems of plane curves. The most relevant concerns non-effectivity (hence nefness) of certain rays, which we call \emph{good rays}, in the Mori cone of the blow-up $X_n$ of the plane at $n\ge 10$ general points. Nagata's original result was the existence of a good ray for $X_n$ with $n\ge 16$ a square number. Using degenerations, we give examples of good rays for $X_n$ for all $n\ge 10$. As with Nagata's original result, this implies the existence of counterexamples to Hilbert's XIV problem. Finally we show that Nagata'…
T. Szemberg proposed in 2001 a generalization to arbitrary varieties of M. Nagata's 1959 open conjecture, which claims that the Seshadri constant of r>9 very general points of the projective plane is maximal. Here we prove that Nagata's original conjecture implies Szemberg's for all smooth surfaces X with an ample divisor L generating its Neron-Severi group and such that L^2 is a square. More generally, we prove that the (n-1)-dimensional Seshadri constant of an ample divisor L on a projective variety X of dimension n at r very general points is bounded below by the product of the (n-1)-dimens…
Prompted by results of Guardo, Van Tuyl and the second author for lines in projective 3 space, we develop asymptotic upper bounds for the least degree of a homogeneous form vanishing to order at least m on a union of disjoint r dimensional planes in projective n space for n at least 2r+1. These considerations lead to new conjectures that suggest that the well known conjecture of Nagata for points in the projective plane is not sporadic, but rather a special case of a more general phenomenon.
Let $E\subseteq \mathbb{P}^2$ be a complex rational cuspidal curve contained in the projective plane and let $(X,D)\to (\mathbb{P}^2,E)$ be the minimal log resolution of singularities. Applying the log minimal model program to $(X,\frac{1}{2}D)$ we prove that if $E$ has more than two singular points or if $D$, which is a tree of rational curves, has more than six maximal twigs or if $\mathbb{P}^2\setminus E$ is not of log general type then $E$ is Cremona equivalent to a line, i.e. the Coolidge-Nagata conjecture for $E$ holds. We show also that if $E$ is not Cremona equivalent to a line then th…
In 2003, Shestakov-Umirbaev solved Nagata's conjecture on an automorphism of a polynomial ring. In the present paper, we reconstruct their theory by using the "generalized Shestakov-Umirbaev inequality", which was recently given by the author. As a consequence, we obtain a more precise tameness criterion for polynomial automorphisms. In particular, we show that no tame automorphism of a polynomial ring admits a reduction of type IV.
The Nagata Conjecture is one of the most intriguing open problems in the area of curves in the plane. It is easily stated. Namely, it predicts that the smallest degree d of a plane curve passing through r $\ge$ 10 general points in the projective plane P 2 with multiplicities at least l at every point, satisfies the inequality d > $\sqrt$ r $\times$ l. This conjecture has been proven by M. Nagata in 1959, if r is a perfect square greater than 9. Up to now, it remains open for every non-square r $\ge$ 10, after more than a half century of attention by many researchers. In this paper, we formula…
Let E be a plane rational curve defined over complex numbers which has only locally irreducible singularities. The Coolidge-Nagata conjecture states that E is rectifiable, i.e. it can be transformed into a line by a birational automorphism of the plane. We show that if it is not rectifiable then the tree of the exceptional divisor for its minimal embedded resolution of singularities has at most nine maximal twigs. This settles the conjecture in case E has more than four singular points.
Nagata solved Hilbert's 14-th problem in 1958 in the negative. The solution naturally lead him to a tantalizing conjecture that remains widely open after more than half a century of intense efforts. Using Nagata's theorem as starting point, and the conjecture, with its multiple variations, as motivation, we explore the important questions of finite generation for invariant rings, for support semigroups of multigraded algebras, and for Mori cones of divisors on blown up surfaces, and the rationality of Waldschimdt constants. Finally we suggest a connection between the Mori cone of the Zariski-R…
It is well known that multi-point Seshadri constants for a small number $s$ of points in the projective plane are submaximal. It is predicted by the Nagata conjecture that their values are maximal for $s\geq 9$ points. Tackling the problem in the language of valuations one can make sense of $s$ points for any positive real $s\geq 1$. We show somewhat surprisingly that a Nagata-type conjecture should be valid for $s\geq 8+1/36$ points and we compute explicitly all Seshadri constants (expressed here as the asymptotic maximal vanishing element) for $s\leq 7+1/9$.
Let $E\subseteq \mathbb{P}^2$ be a complex rational cuspidal curve contained in the projective plane. The Coolidge-Nagata conjecture asserts that $E$ is Cremona equivalent to a line, i.e. it is mapped onto a line by some birational transformation of $\mathbb{P}^2$. In arXiv:1405.5917 the second author analyzed the log minimal model program run for the pair $(X,\frac{1}{2}D)$, where $(X,D)\to (\mathbb{P}^2,E)$ is a minimal resolution of singularities, and as a corollary he established the conjecture in case when more than one irreducible curve in $\mathbb{P}^2\setminus E$ is contracted by the p…
In connection with his counter-example to the fourteenth problem of Hilbert, Nagata formulated a conjecture concerning the postulation of r fat points of the same multiplicity in the projective plane and proved it when r is a square. Iarrobino formulated a similar conjecture in any projective space P^d. We prove Iarrobino's conjecture when r is a d-th power. As a corollary, we obtain new counter-examples modeled on those by Nagata.
We degenerate Cox-Nagata rings to toric algebras by means of sagbi bases induced by configurations over the rational function field. For del Pezzo surfaces, this degeneration implies the Batyrev-Popov conjecture that these rings are presented by ideals of quadrics. For the blow-up of projective n-space at n+3 points, sagbi bases of Cox-Nagata rings establish a link between the Verlinde formula and phylogenetic algebraic geometry, and we use this to answer questions due to D'Cruz-Iarobbino and Buczynska-Wisniewski. Inspired by the zonotopal algebras of Holtz and Ron, our study emphasizes explic…
Suppose that there exists a hypersurface with the Newton polytope $Δ$, which passes through a given set of subvarieties. Using tropical geometry, we associate a subset of $Δ$ to each of these subvarieties. We prove that a weighted sum of the volumes of these subsets estimates the volume of $Δ$ from below. As a particular application of our method we consider a planar algebraic curve $C$ which passes through generic points $p_1,\dots,p_n$ with prescribed multiplicities $m_1,\dots,m_n$. Suppose that the minimal lattice width $ω(Δ)$ of the Newton polygon $Δ$ of the curve $C$ is at least $\max(m_i…
A conjecture, related to the Nagata conjecture and the Segre-Harbourne-Gimigliano-Hirschowitz conjecture, states that every integral curve with negative self-intersection on the blow-up of $¶^2$ at a set of points in very general position is a (-1)-curve. In this paper we verify this conjecture for all curves whose image on $¶^2$ is a curve with a singularity of multiplicity two at one of the centers of the blow-up.
We prove that a submaximal plane curve (i.e., an irreducible counterexample to Nagata's conjecture) with r singular points has sequence of multiplicities (m, n, ..., n) with m<sn for every integer with ((s-1)(s+2))^2 > 6.76(r-1).
We address the problem of determining the degree a plane curve must have in order to pass with multiplicity m through r points in general position. A conjecture of Nagata states that one must have d > m \sqrt{r}. We prove the inequalities d \geq m(r-1)\prod_{i=2}^{r-1}(1-i/(i^2+r-1)) and d > m (\sqrt{r-1} - π/8).
Let $Z$ be a finite set of $s$ points in the projective space $\mathbb{P}^n$ over an algebraically closed field $F$. For each positive integer $m$, let $α(mZ)$ denote the smallest degree of nonzero homogeneous polynomials in $F[x_0,\ldots,x_n]$ that vanish to order at least $m$ at every point of $Z$. The Waldschmidt constant $\widehatα(Z)$ of $Z$ is defined by the limit \[ \widehatα(Z)=\lim_{m \to \infty}\frac{α(mZ)}{m}. \] Demailly conjectured that \[ \widehatα(Z)\geq\frac{α(mZ)+n-1}{m+n-1}. \] Recently, Malara, Szemberg, and Szpond established Demailly's conjecture when $Z$ is very general a…
The \emph{canonical degree} of a curve $C$ on a surface $X$ is $K_X\cdot C$. Our main result, is that on a surface of general type there are only finitely many curves with negative self--intersection and sufficiently large canonical degree. Our proof strongly relies on results by Miyaoka. We extend our result both to surfaces not of general type and to non--negative curves, and give applications, e.g. to finiteness of negative curves on a general blow--up of $\mathbb P^ 2$ at $n\geq 10$ general points (a result related to \emph{Nagata's Conjecture}). We finally discuss a conjecture by Vojta co…
We give a short proof of the "prime-to-$p$ version" of the Manin-Mumford conjecture for an abelian variety over a number field, when it has supersingular reduction at a prime dividing $p$, by combining the methods of Bogomolov, Hrushovski, and Pink-Roessler. Our proof here is quite simple and short, and neither $p$-adic Hodge theory nor model theory is used. The observation is that a power of a lift of the Frobenius element at a supersingular prime acts on the prime-to-$p$ torsion points via nontrivial homothety.
We give a simpler proof as well as a generalization of the main result of an article of Shestakov and Umirbaev. This latter article being the first of two that solve a long-standing conjecture about the non-tameness, or "wildness", of Nagata's automorphism. As corollaries we get interesting informations about the leading terms of polynomials forming an automorphism in any dimension and reprove the tameness of automorphisms in dimension two.
v2: We improved a little bit according to the referee's wishes. v1: On $X$ projective smooth over a field $k$, Pink and Roessler conjecture that the dimension of the Hodge cohomology of an invertible $n$-torsion sheaf $L$ is the same as the one of its $a$-th power $L^a$ if $a$ is prime to $n$, under the assumptions that $X$ lifts to $W_2(k)$ and $dim X\le p$, if $k$ has characteristic $p>0$. They show this if $k$ has characteristic 0 and if $n$ is prime to $p$ in characteristic $p>0$. We show the conjecture in characteristic $p>0$ if $n=p$ assuming in addition that $X$ is ordinary (in the sens…