Related papers: The Bolza curve and some orbifold ball quotient su…
Let X be a surface with quotient singularities which admits a smoothing to the plane. We prove that X is a deformation of a weighted projective plane P(a^2,b^2,c^2), where a,b,c is a solution of the Markov equation a^2+b^2+c^2=3abc. We also…
We study the number of distinct ways in which a smooth projective surface $X$ can be realized as a smooth toroidal compactification of a ball quotient. It follows from work of Hirzebruch that there are infinitely many distinct ball…
Let $\Gamma \subset \mathbf{PU}(2,1)$ be a lattice which is not co-compact, of finite Bergman-covolume and acting freely on the open unit ball $\mathbf{B} \subset \mathbb{C}^2$. Then the compactification $X = \bar{\Gamma \setminus…
Some ball-quotient orbifolds are related by covering maps. We exploit these coverings to find infinite towers of orbifolds uniformized by the complex 2-ball and some orbifolds over K3 surfaces uniformized by the 2-ball. Corresponding…
The Bolza surface can be seen as the quotient of the hyperbolic plane, represented by the Poincar\'e disk model, under the action of the group generated by the hyperbolic isometries identifying opposite sides of a regular octagon centered…
We study the geometry and arithmetic of so-called primary Burniat surfaces, a family of surfaces of general type arising as smooth bidouble covers of a del Pezzo surface of degree 6 and at the same time as \'etale quotients of certain…
We study the complexity of birational self-maps of a projective threefold $X$ by looking at the birational type of surfaces contracted. These surfaces are birational to the product of the projective line with a smooth projective curve. We…
Let $X$ be a compact connected Riemann surface, and let ${\mathcal Q}(r,d)$ denote the quot scheme parametrizing the torsion quotients of ${\mathcal O}^{\oplus r}_X$ of degree $d$. Given a projective structure $P$ on $X$, we show that the…
We study the geometry and arithmetic of the curves $C \colon y^3 = x^4 + ax^2 + b$ and their associated Prym abelian surfaces $P$. We prove a Torelli theorem in this context and give a geometric proof of the fact that $P$ has quaternionic…
Given a genus two curve $X: y^2 = x^5 + a x^3 + b x^2 + c x + d$, we give an explicit parametrization of all other such curves $Y$ with a specified symplectic isomorphism on three-torsion of Jacobians $\mbox{Jac}(X)[3] \cong…
We construct some non-arithmetic ball quotients as branched covers of a quotient of an Abelian surface by a finite group, and compare them with lattices that previously appear in the literature. This gives an alternative construction, which…
We construct one dimensional families of Abelian surfaces with quaternionic multiplication which also have an automorphism of order three or four. Using Barth's description of the moduli space of (2,4)-polarized Abelian surfaces, we find…
We compute equations for Coughlan's family of Godeaux surfaces with torsion $\mathbb Z/2$, which we call $\mathbb Z/2$-Godeaux surfaces, and we show that it is (at most) 7 dimensional. We classify non-rational KSBA degenerations $W$ of…
We study the set of isomorphism classes of principal polarizations on abelian varieties of GL2-type. As applications of our results, we construct examples of curves C, C'/\Q of genus two which are nonisomorphic over \bar \Q and share…
For any $g_1, g_2 \ge 0$, this paper shows that there is a cocompact lattice $\Gamma < \mathrm{PU}(2,1)$ such that the ball quotient $\Gamma \backslash \mathbb{B}^2$ is birational to a product $C_1 \times C_2$ of smooth projective curves…
This article deals with the study of the birational transformations of the projective complex plane which leave invariant an irreducible algebraic curve. We try to describe the state of art and provide some new results on this subject.
We give an explicit description of the Godeaux surfaces that admit an involution such that the quotient surface is birational to an Enriques surface; these surfaces give a 6-dimensional unirational irreducible subset of the moduli space of…
We examine \'etale covers of genus two curves that occur in the linear system of a polarizing line bundle of type $(1,d)$ on a complex abelian surface. We give results counting fixed points of involutions on such curves as well as…
In this paper we study some properties of degenerations of surfaces whose general fibre is a smooth projective surface and whose central fibre is a reduced, connected surface $X \subset IP^r$, $r \geq 3$, which is assumed to be a union of…
We consider the moduli space of genus 4 curves endowed with a $g^1_3$ (which maps with degree 2 onto the moduli space of genus 4 curves). We prove that it defines a degree $\frac{1}{2}(3^{10}-1)$ cover of the 9-dimensional Deligne-Mostow…