Related papers: The diagonal of quartic fivefolds

Cais, Ellenberg and Zureick-Brown recently observed that over finite fields of characteristic two, all sufficiently general smooth plane projective curves of a given odd degree admit a non-trivial rational 2-torsion point on their Jacobian.…

We study how the geometry of a projective variety $X$ is reflected in the positivity properties of the diagonal $\Delta_X$ considered as a cycle on $X \times X$. We analyze when the diagonal is big, when it is nef, and when it is rigid. In…

We study the moduli spaces of rational curves on cubic hypersurfaces in characteristic $\neq2,3$. As a result, we prove that for every integer $d\geq1$ the Kontsevich moduli space of stable maps on a smooth cubic hypersurface $X$ of degree…

We prove that the set of singular configurations of a general Gough Stewart platform has a rational parametrization. We introduce a reciprocal twist mapping which, for a general orientation of the platform, realizes the cubic surface of…

We show that the Hilbert scheme which parameterises bitangent lines to a general quartic surface is a counterexample to the infinitesimal Torelli claim and is a smooth regular surface with no rational curves and very ample canonical…

We give upper bounds for the number of rational points of bounded anti-canonical height on del Pezzo surfaces of degree at most five over any global field whose characteristic is not equal to two or three. For number fields these results…

Let $X \subset \mathbb{P}(w_0, w_1, w_2, w_3)$ be a quasismooth well-formed weighted projective hypersurface and let $L = lcm(w_0,w_1,w_2,w_3)$. We characterize when $X$ is rational under the assumption that $L$ divides $deg(X)$ by…

We classify rational, irreducible quartic symmetroids in projective 3-space. They are either singular along a line or a smooth conic section, or they have a triple point or a tacnode.

Yanchevski\u{i} had asked whether conic bundle surfaces over $\mathbf{P}^1_k$ are unirational when $k$ is a finite field. We give a partial answer to his question by showing that for quasi-finite fields $k$ (e.g. finite fields) a regular…

We prove rationality criteria over algebraically non-closed fields of characteristic $0$ for five out of six types of geometrically rational Fano threefolds of Picard number $1$ and geometric Picard number bigger than $1$. For the last type…

In this paper we investigate the divisor $\mathcal C_{14}$ inside the moduli space of smooth cubic hypersurfaces in $\mathbb P^5$, whose generic element is a smooth cubic containing a smooth quartic scroll. Using the fact that all…

We prove that a smooth complete intersection of two quadrics of dimension at least $2$ over a number field has index dividing $2$, i.e., that it possesses a rational $0$-cycle of degree $2$.

In this short note we try to generalize the Clemens-Griffiths criterion of non-rationality for smooth cubic threefolds to the case of smooth cubic fourfolds.

We study deformations of rational curves and their singularities in positive characteristic. We use this to prove that if a smooth and proper surface in positive characteristic $p$ is dominated by a family of rational curves such that one…

We show that any rational cubic hypersurface of dimension at least 33 defined over a number field $K$ vanishes on a $K$-rational projective line, reducing the previous lower bound of Wooley by two. For $K=\mathbb Q$ we can reduce the bound…

We survey recent developments on rationality problems for algebraic varieties, with a particular emphasis on cycle-theoretic and combinatorial methods and their applications to hypersurfaces.

Here is a square problem: in a unit square, is there a point with four rational distances to the vertices? A probability argument suggests a negative answer. This paper proves several special cases of the square problem: if the point sits…

This paper is a contribution to the study of tetrahedra with rational side lengths and rational volume. The problem can be formulated as a study of a hyperelliptic variety attached to the Cayley-Menger determinant. The problem posed by…

Let $Y$ be a smooth complete intersection of a quadric and a cubic in $\mathbb{P}^n$, with $n$ even. We show that $Y$ has a multiplicative Chow-K\"unneth decomposition, in the sense of Shen-Vial. As a consequence, the Chow ring of (powers…

We show that the intersection of the irreducible components of a hypersurface defined by a polynomial with square-free support has F-rational singularities in characteristic $p>0$. As a consequence, we obtain that hypersurfaces defined by…