Related papers: Most plane curves over finite fields are not block…

Nonsingular plane curves over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ of degree $q+2$ passing through all the $\mathbb{F}_q$-points of the plane admita representation by $3\times 3$ matrices over $\mathbb{F}_q$. We classify their degenerations by…

Every finite graph admits a \emph{simple (topological) drawing}, that is, a drawing where every pair of edges intersects in at most one point. However, in combination with other restrictions simple drawings do not universally exist. For…

Let $X$ be an irreducible projective variety of dimension $n$ in a projective space and let $x$ be a point of $X$. Denote by ${\rm Curves}_d(X,x)$ the space of curves of degree $d$ lying on $X$ and passing through $x$. We will show that the…

We use twisted stable maps to compute the number of rational degree d plane curves having prescribed contacts to a smooth plane cubic.

Let S, T be surfaces in P3. Suppose that S intersect T is set-theoretically a smooth curve C of degree d and genus g. Suppose that S and T have no common singular points. Then if C is not a complete intersection, then deg(S), deg(T) < 2d^4.…

Let $\mathcal{H}_q$ denote the Hermitian curve in $\mathbb{P}^2$ over $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$ and $\mathcal{C}_d$ be an irreducible plane projective curve in $\mathbb{P}^2$ also defined over $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$ of degree $d$. Can $\mathcal{H}_q$…

Given $n$ points in the plane, a \emph{covering path} is a polygonal path that visits all the points. If no three points are collinear, every covering path requires at least $n/2$ segments, and $n-1$ straight line segments obviously suffice…

We define a geometrically meaningful compactification of the moduli space of smooth plane curves, which can be calculated explicitly. The basic idea is to regard a plane curve D in P^2 as a pair (P^2,D) of a surface together with a divisor,…

We prove that a set $\mathcal X\subset \mathbb{C}^2,\ \#{\mathcal X}=mn,\ m\le n, $ is the set of intersection points of some two plane algebraic curves of degrees $m$ and $n,$ respectively, if and only if the following conditions are…

A closed subscheme of codimension two $T \subset P^2$ is a quasi complete intersection (q.c.i.) of type $(a,b,c)$ if there exists a surjective morphism $\mathcal{O} (-a) \oplus \mathcal{O} (-b) \oplus \mathcal{O} (-c) \to \mathcal{I} _T$.…

The blocking number of a manifold is the minimal number of points needed to block out lights between any two given points in the manifold. It has been conjectured that if the blocking number of a manifold is finite, then the manifold must…

In this paper, we investigate the problem of separating a set $X$ of points in $\mathbb{R}^{2}$ with an arrangement of $K$ lines such that each cell contains an asymptotically equal number of points (up to a constant ratio). We consider a…

Let $P$ be a set of $n\geq 3$ points in general position in the plane. The edge disjointness graph $D(P)$ of $P$ is the graph whose vertices are all the closed straight line segments with endpoints in $P$, two of which are adjacent in…

In this paper we consider smooth affine elliptic plane curves having one place at infinity. We identify them with elliptic projective plane curves having only one cusp as their singular points and meeting with the line at infinity only at…

The \emph{canonical degree} of a curve $C$ on a surface $X$ is $K_X\cdot C$. Our main result, is that on a surface of general type there are only finitely many curves with negative self--intersection and sufficiently large canonical degree.…

An $n$-tuple $D=(d(1),\dots,d(n))$ is a \emph{feasible degree sequence} if there is a graph on $\{1,\dots,n\}$ such that $i$ has degree $d(i)$. Any such graph will have $m=\sum_{i=1}^n d(i)/2$ edges. Letting $G(D)$ be a graph chosen…

Let $E/\mathbb Q$ be an elliptic curve, let $P\in E(\mathbb Q)$ be non-torsion, and let $(D_n)$ be the associated elliptic divisibility sequence. We study when a product \[ \prod_{i=1}^k D_{n_i} \] can be a $\rho$-th power, where $\rho$ is…

We study hyperplane covering problems for finite grid-like structures in $\mathbb{R}^d$. We call a set $\mathcal{C}$ of points in $\mathbb{R}^2$ a conical grid if the line $y = a_i$ intersects $\mathcal{C}$ in exactly $i$ points, for some…

One of the general problems in algebraic geometry is to determine algorithmically whether or not a given geometric object, defined by explicit polynomial equations (e.g. a curve or a surface), satisfies a given property (e.g. has…

Given two points in the plane, a set of obstacles defined by closed curves, and an integer $k$, does there exist a path between the two designated points intersecting at most $k$ of the obstacles? This is a fundamental and well-studied…