Questions tagged [algebraic-curves]
for questions on one dimensional algebraic varieties over any field, including questions of moduli, and questions about specific curves.
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Uniformization over finite fields?
The following is a question I've been asking people on and off for a few years, mostly out of idle curiosity, though I think it's pretty interesting. Since I've made more or less no progress, I ...
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The work of E. Artin and F. K. Schmidt on (what are now called) the Weil conjectures.
I was reading Dieudonne's "On the history of the Weil conjectures" and found two things that surprised me. Dieudonne makes some assertions about the work of Artin and Schmidt which are no doubt ...
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Curves which are not covers of P^1 with four branch points
The following interesting question came up in a discussion I was having with Alex Wright.
Suppose given a branched cover C -> P^1 with four branch points. It's not hard to see that the field of ...
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Links between Riemann surfaces and algebraic geometry
I'm taking introductory courses in both Riemann surfaces and algebraic geometry this term. I was surprised to hear that any compact Riemann surface is a projective variety. Apparently deeper links ...
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Which 'well-known' algebraic geometric results do not hold in characteristic 2?
A smooth curve $X$ in $\mathbb{P}^n$ is strange if there is a point $p$ which lies on all the tangent lines of $X$.
Examples are $\mathbb{P}^1$ is strange and so is $y=x^2$ in characteristic $2$. ...
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Polynomials with the same values set on the unit circle
Assume that $P(z)$, $Q(z)$ are complex polynomials such that $P(S)=Q(S)$, where $S=\{z\colon |z|=1\}$ (equality is understood in the sense of sets, but I do not know the answer even for multisets). ...
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Do all curves have Néron models
Let $X$ be a smooth projective geometrically connected curve over a number field $K$. Assume that $g\geq 2$.
Does there exist a Néron model $\mathcal X$ for $X$ over $O_K$?
By a Néron model, I mean ...
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Motivation for zeta function of an algebraic variety
If $p$ is a prime then the zeta function for an algebraic curve $V$ over $\mathbb{F}_p$ is defined to be
$$\zeta_{V,p}(s) := \exp\left(\sum_{m\geq 1} \frac{N_m}{m}(p^{-s})^m\right). $$
where $N_m$ is ...
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Mumford conjecture: Heuristic reasons? Generalizations? ... Algebraic geometry approaches?
The Mumford conjecture states that for each integer $n$, we have: the map $\mathbb{Q}[x_1,x_2,\dots] \to H^\ast(M_g ; \mathbb{Q})$ sending $x_i$ to the kappa class $\kappa_i$, is an isomorphism in ...
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Is every curve birational to a smooth affine plane curve?
Is every curve over $\mathbf{C}$ birational to a smooth affine plane curve?
Bonnie Huggins asked me this question back in 2003, but neither I nor the few people I passed it on to were able to answer ...
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Rigorous version of heuristic argument for genus-degree formula?
A recent MO question about non-rigorous reasoning reminded me of something I've wondered about for some time.
The genus–degree formula says that genus $g$ of a nonsingular projective plane curve of ...
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How did Riemann prove that the moduli space of compact Riemann surfaces of genus $g>1$ has dimension $3g-3$?
Consider the moduli space $M_g$ of compact Riemann surfaces (i.e., smooth complete algebraic curves over $\mathbb{C}$) of genus $g$ for some $g>1$. I'm interested in knowing how Riemann proved that ...
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History of the connection between Riemann surfaces and complex algebraic curves
As noted in the question "Links between Riemann surfaces and algebraic geometry", there are strong connections between Riemann surfaces and algebraic geometry - for example, compact Riemann surfaces ...
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A historical question: Hurwitz, Luroth, Clebsch, and the connectedness of $\mathcal{M}_g$
The connectedness of the moduli space $\mathcal{M}_g$ of complex algebraic curves of genus $g$ can be proven by showing that it is dominated by a Hurwitz space of simply branched d-fold covers of the ...
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Knots realized as algebraic curves
Two questions:
Q1. Have researchers worked out minimum-degree
real algebraic curves in $\mathbb{R}^3$ realizing specific knots?
Some work on the trefoil is reported in this MSE question.
&...
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Why not add cuspidal curves in the moduli space of stable curves?
Let $\mathcal{M}_{g,n}$ be the moduli space (stack) of stable smooth curves of genus $g$ with $n$ marked points over $\mathbb{C}. $ It's known that by adding stable nodal curves to $\mathcal{M}_{g,n}$,...
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A good example of a curve for geometric Langlands
I'm currently working through Frenkel's beautiful paper:
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/hep-th/pdf/0512/0512172v1.pdf.
I'm looking for a good example of a projective curve to get my hands dirty, and go ...
- 2,186
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Which curves can be found on Abelian varieties?
We know that each genus 2 curve is embedded into its degree 1 Jacobian.
Under which conditions on $C$, $A$, $g$ and $n$ is it possible for a genus $g$ smooth curve $C$ to be embedded in an Abelian ...
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Vector bundles on $\mathbb{P}^1\times\mathbb{P}^1$
I have a question about vector bundles on the algebraic surface $\mathbb{P}^1\times\mathbb{P}^1$. My motivation is the splitting theorem of Grothendieck, which says that every algebraic vector bundle ...
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what is the maximum number of rational points of a curve of genus 2 over the rationals
Conjecturally, there exists an integer $n$ such that the number of rational points of a genus $2$ curve over $\mathbf{Q}$ is at most $n$. (This follows from the Bombieri-Lang conjecture.)
We are ...
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When does the Torelli Theorem hold?
The Torelli theorem states that the map $\mathcal{M}_g(\mathbb{C})\to \mathcal{A}_g(\mathbb{C})$ taking a curve to its Jacobian is injective. I've seen a couple of proofs, but all seem to rely on the ...
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Does there exist a curve of degree 11 having 15 triple points?
Does there exist an irreducible curve of degree 11 in the projective plane which would have 15 triple points?
For information, such a curve would be rational, if it exists, and would be smooth at ...
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What does the Jacobian of a curve tell us about the curve?
A natural object in the study of curves is the Jacobian of a curve. What are some natural geometric properties of the curve that the Jacobian encapsulates? In other words, what can the Jacobian tell ...
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Does the moduli space of genus three curves contain a complete genus two curve
Inspired by the question
Does the moduli space of smooth curves of genus g contain an elliptic curve
and its amazing answers, I ask (pure out of curiosity) whether the moduli space $M_3$ of (smooth ...
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2
answers
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Tame morphism from a curve to $\mathbb{P}^1$
Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p\ge 0$. Let $C$ be a smooth projective curve over $k$. Is it possible to find a map $C \to \mathbb{P}^1$ that is tamely ramified at every ...
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New(?) reciprocity law
Consider three functions $f, g$ and $h$ on a smooth curve $X$ over $\mathbb{C}$.
I have found the following equality:
$$\sum (res(f\frac{dg}{g})\frac{dh}{h}-res(f\frac{dh}{h})\frac{dg}{g})=0.$$
Here ...
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Does every hyperbolic curve over a finite field have an etale cover with a real Frobenius eigenvalue?
More precisely: let X/F_q be a smooth projective algebraic curve of genus at least 2. Does there always exist a curve Y/F_{q^d} with a finite etale projection Y -> X, such that one of the Frobenius ...
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Putting algebraic curves in $\mathbb{R}^3$
Let $X \subset \mathbb{C}^2$ be a smooth algebraic curve. Thinking of $\mathbb{C}^2$ as $\mathbb{R}^4$, is there a smooth map $\phi: \mathbb{C}^2 \to \mathbb{R}^3$ so that $\phi: X \to \mathbb{R}^3$ ...
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Infinitely many curves with isogenous Jacobians
Let $g\geq 4$. Are there infinitely many compact genus $g$ Riemann surfaces with (mutually) isogenous Jacobians?
Does the situation change in positive characteristic?
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Do mapping classes have gonality?
(This question was discussed by people at the PCMI workshop on moduli spaces, without any clear resolution, so I thought I'd throw it open to MO.)
The hyperelliptic mapping class group is (by ...
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What is the Euler characteristic of a Hilbert scheme of points of a singular algebraic curve?
Let $X$ be a smooth surface of genus $g$ and $S^nX$ its n-symmetrical product (that is, the quotient of $X \times ... \times X$ by the symmetric group $S_n$). There is a well known, cool formula ...
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Are curves with `fractional points' uniquely determined by their residual gerbes?
One makes precise the vague notion of "curve with a fractional point removed" (see for instance these slides) using stacks -- one should really consider Deligne-Mumford stacks whose coarse spaces are ...
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Riemann surfaces: explicit algebraic equations
Suppose $\Gamma$ is a nice discrete subgroup of $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ such that the genus of the Riemann surface $\mathbb{H}/\Gamma$ is larger than 1. We know that this Riemann surface is also an ...
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Why is the section conjecture important?
As in the title, I want to know the reason for importance of the section conjecture. Of course, the statement of conjecture is important as itself, even I cannot fully grasp the soul of it. However, ...
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Why should the number of $\mathbb{F}_q$ points on degree $d$ curves $C\subset \mathbb{P}_{\mathbb{F}_q}^n$ decrease as $n$ increases?
This question concerns some counterintuitive results (to me at least) regarding the number of points on a projective curve over a finite field. Namely, if one fixes the degree of the curve, but ...
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D-modules over algebraic curves VS differential Galois theory
Disclaimer: I know very little about both of the fields in question.
My question is pretty simple:
What's the relation between differential Galois theory and D-modules
over algebraic curves?
...
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Is the Torelli map an immersion?
The Torelli map $\tau\colon M_g \to A_g$ sends a curve C to its Jacobian (along with the canonical principal polarization associated to C); see this question for a description which works for families....
- 10.3k
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what is the cyclic cover trick?
What do people mean by the "cyclic cover trick"? I have found this expression a couple of times with no complete explanation, both talking about curves and surfaces...
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What is an Oper?
Given a curve C, and a reductive group G, there is a moduli stack Loc_G(C), the stack of G-local systems. I keep reading that there's a substack of "opers" but am having trouble locating a definition....
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Permuting collinear points on a curve
Let $C \subset {\bf CP}^2$ be an irreducible algebraic smooth (projectively) planar curve over the complex numbers of degree $d$ (we allow finitely many points to be deleted from $C$ to make it smooth)...
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Curves with negative self intersection in the product of two curves
I wonder if the following is known: Are there two compact curves C1 and C2 of genus>1 defined over complex numbers, such that their product contains infinite number of irreducible curves of negative ...
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Why is a general curve automorphism-free?
Fix an algebraically closed field $k$. Why is the general curve over $k$ of genus $g \ge 3$ automorphism-free?
I am particularly interested in seeing an argument that does not go by induction and ...
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Modular forms from counting points on algebraic varieties over a finite field
Suppose we are given some polynomial with integer coefficients, which we regard as carving out an affine variety $E$, for example:
$$ 3x^2y - 12 x^3y^5 + 27y^9 - 2 = 0 \tag{$*$} $$
(We might ...
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Original reference for Riemann's inequality
Let $D$ be a divisor on a compact Riemann surface of genus $g$. The inequality
$$
l(D)\geq {\textrm {deg}}(D)-g+1
$$
is called Riemann's inequality.
$ \phantom{aaaaaaaa}$In which of Riemann's papers ...
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Height functions on $\mathcal{M}_g(\overline{\Bbb{Q}})$ defined via dessins d'enfants?
Belyi's theorem establishes a correspondence between smooth projective curves defined over number fields and the so called dessins d'enfants which are bipartite graphs embedded on an oriented surface ...
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Is a one-dimensional compact complex analytic space necessarily projective?
Let $X$ be a compact complex analytic space with singular locus $X^{\mathrm{sing}}$. Suppose that $X\setminus X^{\mathrm{sing}}$ is a Riemann surface. If $X^{\mathrm{sing}} = \emptyset$, then $X$ is ...
user94803
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History of Study's Lemma?
The following theorem is usually attributed to Eduard Study:
Let $f(x,y)$ and $g(x,y)$ be polynomials in two variables over a field, with $f$ irreducible. If $f\nmid g$ then the curves $C_f:f=0$ and $...
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Construction of the determinant line bundle on the degree $g-1$ Picard variety
Consider $J^{g-1}$, the variety of degree $g-1$ line bundles on a compact Riemann surface of genus $g$. Recall that $J^{g-1}$ is a torsor for the Jacobian, thus has dimension $g$. We can produce ...
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Can a curve intersect a given curve only at given points?
Clearly the question in the title has a positive answer for analytic (or smooth, or continuous ...) curves, but what about the algebraic category? More specifically, given an irreducible polynomial ...
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Do $\mathbb{A}^1-S$ and $\mathbb{A}^1-\{0,1\}$ have a finite etale cover in common?
We work over the field of complex numbers. (But remarks in characteristic $p$ are very welcome.)
Let $S$ be a finite set of points in $\mathbb{A}^1$ containing $0$ and $1$. [Edit: Assume $S$ contains ...
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