English

Kummer quartic surfaces, strict self-duality, and more

Algebraic Geometry 2021-05-25 v2 Complex Variables

Abstract

In this paper we first show that each Kummer quartic surface (a quartic surface XX with 16 singular points) is, in canonical coordinates, equal to its dual surface, and that the Gauss map induces a fixpoint free involution γ\gamma on the minimal resolution SS of XX. Then we study the corresponding Enriques surfaces S/γS/ \gamma. We also describe in detail the remarkable properties of the most symmetric Kummer quartic, which we call the Cefal\'u quartic. We also investigate the Kummer quartic surfaces whose associated Abelian surface is isogenous to a product of elliptic curves through an isogeny with kernel (Z/2)2(\mathbb{Z}/2)^2, and show the existence of polarized nodal K3 surfaces XX of any degree d=2kd=2k with the maximal number of nodes, such that XX and its nodes are defined over R\mathbb{R}. We take then as parameter space for Kummer quartics an open set in P3\mathbb{P}^3, parametrizing nondegenerate (166,166)(16_6, 16_6)-configurations, and compare with other parameter spaces. We also extend to positive characteristic some results which were previously known over C\mathbb{C}. We end with a section devoted to remarks on normal cubic surfaces, and providing some other examples of strictly selfdual hypersurfaces.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2101.10501,
  title  = {Kummer quartic surfaces, strict self-duality, and more},
  author = {Fabrizio Catanese},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.10501},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

38 pages, dedicated to Ciro Ciliberto on the occasion of his 70th birthday, to appear in a dedicated volume edited by Springer. In the revised version some questions are answered, which were left open in the first version. We also give a proof in all char $\neq 2$ that each Kummer quartic has infinite automorphism group

R2 v1 2026-06-23T22:31:35.978Z