Related papers: Proportion of blocking curves in a pencil

Motivated by a question of Erd\H{o}s on blocking sets in a projective plane that intersect every line only a few times, several authors have used unions of algebraic curves to construct such sets in $\mathbb{P}^2(\mathbb{F}_q)$. In this…

A plane curve $C\subset\mathbb{P}^2$ of degree $d$ is called \emph{blocking} if every $\mathbb{F}_q$-line in the plane meets $C$ at some $\mathbb{F}_q$-point. We prove that the proportion of blocking curves among those of degree $d$ is…

In this paper, the problem of bounding the number of reducible curves in a pencil of algebraic plane curves is addressed. Unlike most of the previous related works, each reducible curve of the pencil is here counted with its appropriate…

We prove that there is a pencil of hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{P}^n$ of any given degree over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ such that every $\mathbb{F}_q$-member of the pencil is not blocking with respect to $\mathbb{F}_q$-lines.

In this paper, we study the restrictions on the number $m$ of conic-line curves in special pencils. The most general result we obtain is the relation between upper bounds on $m$ and the number $p$ of concurrent lines in these pencils. We…

It goes back to Ahlfors that a real algebraic curve $C$ admits a separating morphism $f$ to the complex projective line if and only if the real part of the curve disconnects its complex part, i.e. the curve is \textit{separating}. The…

In recent years, many useful applications of the polynomial method have emerged in finite geometry. Indeed, algebraic curves, especially those defined by R\'edei-type polynomials, are powerful in studying blocking sets. In this paper, we…

In this paper we study the problem of classifying pencils of curves of degree $d$ in $\mathbb{P}^2$ using geometric invariant theory. We consider the action of $SL(3)$ and we relate the stability of a pencil to the stability of its…

This paper studies problems related to visibility among points in the plane. A point $x$ \emph{blocks} two points $v$ and $w$ if $x$ is in the interior of the line segment $\bar{vw}$. A set of points $P$ is \emph{$k$-blocked} if each point…

We address the problem of the maximal finite number of real points of a real algebraic curve (of a given degree and, sometimes, genus) in the projective plane. We improve the known upper and lower bounds and construct close to optimal…

Let $G$ be a subgroup of the three dimensional projective group $\mathrm{PGL}(3,q)$ defined over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ of order $q$, viewed as a subgroup of $\mathrm{PGL}(3,K)$ where $K$ is an algebraic closure of $\mathbb{F}_q$.…

We show that any ruled surface $X$ with $\chi(X) < 0$ admits infinitely many inequivalent Lefschetz pencils of fixed genus and number of base points. Our proof proceeds by building infinitely many inequivalent Lefschetz fibrations on a…

The coloring problem is studied in the paper for graph classes defined by two small forbidden induced subgraphs. We prove some sufficient conditions for effective solvability of the problem in such classes. As their corollary we determine…

Let six points $1, ...6$ lie in general position in the real projective plane and consider the pencil of nodal cubics based at these points, with node at one of them, say 1. This pencil has five reducible cubics. We call combinatorial cubic…

We prove that for a generic Lefschetz pencil of plane curves of degree $d\geq 3$ there exists a curve $H$ (called the Hesse curve of the pencil) of degree $6(d-1)$ and genus $3(4d^2-13d+8)+1$, and such that: $(i)$ $H$ has $d^2$ singular…

In this paper we study combinatorial invariants of the equivalence classes of pencils of cubics on $\mathrm{PG}(1,q)$, for $q$ odd and $q$ not divisible by 3. These equivalence classes are considered as orbits of lines in…

A real algebraic plane curve $A$ is said to be dividing if its real part $\mathbb{R}A$ disconnects its complex part $\mathbb{C}A$. A pencil of curves is totally real with respect to $A$ if it has only real intersections with $\mathbb{C}A$.…

We consider the general problem of enumerating branched covers of the projective line from a fixed general curve subject to ramification conditions at possibly moving points. Our main computations are in genus 1; the theory of limit linear…

In this paper we consider an elementary, and largely unexplored, combinatorial problem in low-dimensional topology. Consider a real 2-dimensional compact surface $S$, and fix a number of points $F$ on its boundary. We ask: how many…

Let X be a smooth projective variety defined over an algebraically closed field, and let Y in X be a reduced and irreducible ample divisor in X. We give a numerical sufficient condition for a base point free pencil on $Y$ to be the…