Related papers: Vari\'et\'es r\'eelles connexes non stablement rat…

Let X be a projective smooth irreducible polarized variety over the field of complex numbers. Typical examples of wide extensions are vector bundles E that have a subsheaf F whose slope is much bigger than the slope of E/F, and such that F…

Let $S$ be a smooth projective surface on a smooth threefold $X$ such that $X$ has Picard rank 1 and NS$(S)$ is generated by the restriction of divisors from X. We show that if $X$ satisfies the Bogomolov-Gieseker type inequality for tilt…

Let $(X,L)$ be an $n$-dimensional polarized variety. Fujita's conjecture says that if $L^n>1$ then the adjoint bundle $K_X+nL$ is spanned and $K_X+(n+1)L$ is very ample. There are some examples such that $K_X+nL$ is not spanned or…

Under suitable hypotheses, we prove that a form of a projective homogeneous variety $G/P$ defined over the function field of a surface over an algebraically closed field has a rational point. The method uses an algebro-geometric analogue of…

In this note we construct an example of a smooth projective threefold that is irrational over $\mathbb Q$ but is rational at all places. Our example is a complete intersection of two quadrics in $\mathbb P^5$, and we show it has the desired…

Working over a field ${\mathbb{k}}$ of characteristic $\ne 2$, we study what we call bisector fields, which are arrangements of paired lines in the plane that have the property that each line in the arrangement crosses the paired lines in…

A venerable problem in combinatorics and geometry asks whether a given incidence relation may be realized by a configuration of points and lines. The classic version of this would ask for algebraic lines over some field or possibly real…

Various methods have been used to construct rational points and rational curves on rationally connected algebraic varieties. We survey recent advances in two of them, the descent and the fibration method, in a number-theoretical context…

Let X be a complex, rationally connected, projective manifold. We show that X admits a modification X' that contains a quasi-line, ie a smooth rational curve whose normal bundle is a direct sum of copies of O_{P^1}(1). For manifolds…

We consider the existence and stability of static configurations of a scalar field in a five dimensional spacetime in which the extra spatial dimension is compactified on an $S^1/Z_2$ orbifold. For a wide class of potentials with multiple…

This survey, which contains very few proofs, addresses the general question: Over a given type of field, is there a natural class of varieties which automatically have a rational point? Fields under consideration here include: finite…

We study the stable rationality problem for quadric and cubic surface bundles over surfaces from the point of view of the degeneration method for the Chow group of 0-cycles. Our main result is that a very general hypersurface X of bidegree…

We construct smooth rational real algebraic varieties of every dimension $\ge$ 4 which admit infinitely many pairwise non-isomorphic real forms.

A famous configuration of 27 lines on a non-singular cubic surface in $\mathbb P^3$ contains remarkable subconfigurations, and in particular the ones formed by six pairwise disjoint lines. We study such six-line configurations in the case…

Let $X$ be an $(8k+i)$-dimensional pathwise connected $CW$-complex with $i=1$ or $2$ and $k\ge0$, $\xi$ be a real vector bundle over $X$. Suppose that $\xi$ admits a stable complex structure over the $8k$-skeleton of $X$. Then we get that…

For a quadratic form $\varphi$ over a field of characteristic different from $2$, we study whether its group of proper projective similitudes ${\bf PSim}^+(\varphi)$ is rationally connected (i.e. $R$-trivial). We obtain new sufficient…

We study supersolvable line arrangements in ${\mathbb P}^2$ over the reals and over the complex numbers, as the first step toward a combinatorial classification. Our main results show that a nontrivial (i.e., not a pencil or near pencil)…

We give necessary and sufficient topological conditions for a simple closed curve on a real rational surface to be approximable by smooth rational curves. We also study approximation by smooth rational curves with given complex…

For each odd $n \geq 3$, we construct a closed convex hypersurface of $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ that contains a non-degenerate closed geodesic with Morse index zero. A classical theorem of J. L. Synge would forbid such constructions for even $n$,…

There exist homogeneous polynomials $f$ with $\mathbb Q$-coefficients that are sums of squares over $\mathbb R$ but not over $\mathbb Q$. The only systematic construction of such polynomials that is known so far uses as its key ingredient…