Related papers: Arithmetic aspects of the Burkhardt quartic threef…

Motivated by the question of rationality of cubic fourfolds, we show that a cubic X has an associated K3 surface in the sense of Hassett if and only if the variety F of lines on X is birational to a moduli space of sheaves on a K3 surface,…

The "defect" of a curve over a finite field is the difference between the number of rational points on the curve and the Weil-Serre bound for the curve. We present a construction for producing genus-4 double covers of genus-2 curves over…

We find explicit equations for two-coverings of Jacobians of genus two curves over an arbitrary ground field of characteristic different from two.

Working on Berkovich analytic curves, we propose a geometric approach to the study of the Hasse principle over function fields of curves defined over a complete discretely valued field. Using it, we show the Hasse principle to be verified…

We study the rationality of some geometrically rational three-dimensional conic and quadric surface bundles, defined over the reals and more general real closed fields, for which the real locus is connected and the intermediate Jacobian…

For a binary quadratic form $Q$, we consider the action of $\mathrm{SO}_Q$ on a two-dimensional vector space. This representation yields perhaps the simplest nontrivial example of a prehomogeneous vector space that is not irreducible, and…

This article is a survey of P. Katsylo's proof that the moduli space of smooth projective complex curves of genus 3 is rational. We hope to make the argument more comprehensible and transparent by emphasizing the underlying geometry in the…

We give a detailed analysis of the semisimple elements, in the sense of Vinberg, of the third exterior power of a 9-dimensional vector space over an algebraically closed field of characteristic different from 2 and 3. To a general such…

For a prime $p$ congruent to three modulo four, we prove that there exists a smooth curve of genus five in characteristic $p$ that is supersingular. We produce this curve as an unramified double cover of a curve of genus three. We…

It is a classical fact going back to F. Klein that an elliptic curve $E$ over $\bar{\mathbb{Q}}$ is defined by a homogeneous polynomial in $3$ variables with coefficients in $\mathbb{Q}(j_{E})$, where $j_{E}$ is the $j$-invariant of $E$,…

A superelliptic curve $\X$ of genus $g\geq 2$ is not necessarily defined over its field of moduli but it can be defined over a quadratic extension of it. While a lot of work has been done by many authors to determine which hyperelliptic…

We consider relatively minimal fibrations of curves of genus two on rational surfaces whose Picard numbers are not maximal. By birational morphisms, such fibred surfaces are interpreted as pencils of plane curves. We show that only four are…

Let $A$ be a simple abelian surface over an algebraically closed field $k$. Let $S\subset A(k)$ be the set of torsion points $x$ of $A$ such that there exists a genus $2$ curve $C$ and a map $f: C\to A$ such that $x$ is in the image of $f$,…

Refereed version to appear in Michigan Mathematical Journal. A mistake in the last section of the previous version has been corrected. The new title exactly describes the main result obtained. Building on the geometry of cubic surfaces and…

We give an upper bound for the norm of the determinant of additively indecomposable, totally positive definite quadratic forms defined over the ring of integers of totally real number fields. We apply these results to find lower and upper…

We prove or conjecture several relations between the multizeta values for positive genus function fields of class number one, focusing on the zeta-like values, namely those whose ratio with the zeta value of the same weight is rational (or…

We prove some lower bounds on certain nonegative twists of the canonical bundle of a subvariety of a generic hypersurface in projective space. In particular we prove that the generic sextic threefold contains no rational or elliptic curves…

Let C be a curve of genus g, and let SU(r) be the moduli space of vector bundles of rank r on C, with trivial determinant. A general E in SU(r) defines a theta divisor in the linear system |r Theta|, where Theta is the canonical theta…

Let $K$ be a set of $q^2+2q+1$ points in $PG(4,q)$. We show that if every 3-space meets $K$ in either one, two or three lines, a line and a non-degenerate conic, or a twisted cubic, then $K$ is a ruled cubic surface. Moreover, $K$…

We study universal families of stable genus two curves with level structure. Among other things, it is shown that the (1,1) part is spanned by divisor classes, and that there are no cycles of type (2,2) in the third cohomology of the first…