Related papers: Finite sets of points in $\mathbb{P}^4$ with speci…
An ordinary hypersphere of a set of points in real $d$-space, where no $d+1$ points lie on a $(d-2)$-sphere or a $(d-2)$-flat, is a hypersphere (including the degenerate case of a hyperplane) that contains exactly $d+1$ points of the set.…
Let $f:\mathbb{K}^n\rightarrow\mathbb{K}^m$ be a generically finite polynomial map of degree $d$ between affine spaces. In arXiv:1411.5011 we proved that if $\mathbb{K}$ is the field of complex or real numbers, then the set $S_f$ of points…
We study linear systems of surfaces in $\mathbb{P}^3$ singular along general lines. Our purpose is to identify and classify special systems of such surfaces, i.e., those nonempty systems where the conditions imposed by the multiple lines…
We describe smooth rational projective algebraic surfaces X, over an algebraically closed field of characteristic different from 2, having an even set of four disjoint (-2)-curves N_1,...,N_4, i.e. such that N_1+...+N_4 is divisible by 2 in…
The program of understanding Shape Theory layer by layer topologically and geometrically -- proposed in Part I -- is now addressed for 4 points in 1-$d$. Topological shape space graphs are far more complex here, whereas metric shape spaces…
Let $\mathcal{Q}_1$ and $\mathcal{Q}_2$ be two arbitrary quadrics with no common hyperplane in ${\mathbb{P}}^n(\mathbb{F}_q)$. We give the best upper bound for the number of points in the intersection of these two quadrics. Our result…
We show that large subsets of vector spaces over finite fields determine certain point configurations with prescribed distance structure. More specifically, we consider the complete graph with vertices as the points of $A \subseteq…
Given a finite set $A \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$, points $a_1,a_2,\dotsc,a_{\ell} \in A$ form an $\ell$-hole in $A$ if they are the vertices of a convex polytope which contains no points of $A$ in its interior. We construct arbitrarily large…
We report on the problem of the existence of complex and real algebraic curves in the plane with prescribed singularities up to analytic and topological equivalence. The question is whether, for a given positive integer $d$ and a finite…
We study the set of $D$ such that a given irreducible hypersurface $C$ of degree $d$ has infinitely many points of degree $D$ over $\mathbb{Q}$. We give a new explicit proof that this set contains all (positive) multiples of the index of…
A result of Beauville states that with a few positive characterstic exceptions, the smooth hyperplane sections of hypersurfaces of degree $d>2$ in projective space are not all isomorphic. We address the question of whether these sections…
The notion of an unexpected curve in the plane was introduced in 2018, and was quickly generalized in several directions in a flurry of mathematical activity by many authors. In this expository paper we first describe some of the main…
We show that, for any set of n points in d dimensions, there exists a hyperplane with regression depth at least ceiling(n/(d+1)). as had been conjectured by Rousseeuw and Hubert. Dually, for any arrangement of n hyperplanes in d dimensions…
For $d=4, 5, 6$, we exhibit the first examples of complete finite volume hyperbolic $d$-manifolds $M$ with cusps such that infinitely many $d$-orbifolds $M_{m}$ obtained from $M$ by generalized Dehn filling admit properly convex real…
We show that for any degree $d$ hypersurface $Y \subset X$ in a possibly singular projective variety $X \subset \mathbf{P}^N$, the total Betti number of $Y$ is bounded by $3\text{deg}(X)\cdot d^n + C\cdot d^{n-1}$ for some explicit constant…
We prove that there is no d such that all finite projective planes can be represented by convex sets in R^d, answering a question of Alon, Kalai, Matousek, and Meshulam. Here, if P is a projective plane with lines l_1,...,l_n, a…
We generalize Siegel's theorem on integral points on affine curves to integral points of bounded degree, giving a complete characterization of affine curves with infinitely many integral points of degree d or less over some number field.…
These are lecture notes from a mini-course taught at Winterbraids XIII (Montpellier, 2024). The main character of these notes are curves in the complex projective plane, viewed from a topological perspective.
We prove that a typical compact set does not contain any similar copy of a given pattern. We also prove that a typical compact set of $[0,1]^{d} (d\geq 2)$ intersects any $(d-1)$-dimensional plane in at most $d$ points. We study the…
We introduce a new technique that is used to show that the complex projective plane blown up at 6, 7, or 8 points has infinitely many distinct smooth structures. None of these smooth structures admit smoothly embedded spheres with…