Related papers: The quartic threefold is symplectically irrational

We prove that a smooth rationally connected projective threefold of Picard number two is toric if and only if it admits an int-amplified endomorphism. As a corollary, we show that a totally invariant smooth curve of a non-isomorphic…

We show the cohomological monodromy for the universal family of smooth cubic threefolds does not factor through the genus five mapping class group. This gives a geometric group theory perspective on the well-known irrationality of cubic…

This article analyzes the interplay between symplectic geometry in dimension four and the invariants for smooth four-manifolds constructed using holomorphic triangles introduced in math.SG/0110169. Specifically, we establish a non-vanishing…

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…

We prove the irredcibility (and the rational connectedness) of the moduli spaces of (free) morphisms from a projective line to a successive blowing-up of a product of projective spaces if a suitable numerical condition on morphisms is…

We develop a theory of Prym varieties and cubic threefolds over fields of characteristic $2$. As an application, we prove that smooth cubic threefolds are non-rational over an arbitrary field and solve a conjecture of Deligne regarding…

Let $X$ be an oriented 4-manifold which does not have simple SW-type, for example a blow-up of a rational or ruled surface. We show that any two cohomologous and deformation equivalent symplectic forms on $X$ are isotopic. This implies that…

We prove a structure theorem for non-isomorphic endomorphisms of weak Q-Fano threefolds, or more generally for threefolds with big anti-canonical divisor. Also provided is a criterion for a fibred rationally connected threefold to be…

We prove that the rational blowdown, a surgery on smooth 4-manifolds introduced by Fintushel and Stern, can be performed in the symplectic category. As a consequence, interesting families of smooth 4-manifolds, including the exotic $K3$…

We verify that the rational blow-down schemes along certain Seifert fibered 3-manifolds found by the second author, Szabo and Wahl are, in fact, symplectic operations.

We give examples of smooth $\k$-unirational line-free quartic hypersurfaces over a non algebraically closed field $\k$. Unlike other methods of proving unirationality, our method does not rely on existence of linear spaces on quartics.

We study the rationality of some geometrically rational three-dimensional conic and quadric surface bundles, defined over the reals and more general real closed fields, for which the real locus is connected and the intermediate Jacobian…

We prove that both classical Chevalley-Warning-Ax and Tsen theorems hold for the blowing up of a quintic 3-fold along a line of multiplicity 3. Both proofs, which are of the same spirit than the original ones, involve the description of…

A well known conjecture asserts that a cubic fourfold $X$ whose transcendental cohomology $T_X$ can not be realized as the transcendental cohomology of a $K3$ surface is irrational. Since the geometry of cubic fourfolds is intricately…

Given an SO(3)-bundle with connection, the associated two-sphere bundle carries a natural closed 2-form. Asking that this be symplectic gives a curvature inequality first considered by Reznikov. We study this inequality in the case when the…

A desmic quartic surface is a birational model of the Kummer surface of the self-product of an elliptic curve. We recall the classical geometry of these surfaces and study their analogs in arbitrary characteristic. Moreover, we discuss the…

We study twists of the Burkhardt quartic threefold over non-algebraically closed base fields of characteristic different from 2,3,5. We show they all admit quartic models in projective four-space. We identify a Galois-cohomological…

In this article we extend cutting and blowing up to the nonrational symplectic toric setting. This entails the possibility of cutting and blowing up for symplectic toric manifolds and orbifolds in nonrational directions.

We prove that under certain conditions, the quantum cohomology of a positively monotone compact symplectic manifold is a deformation of the symplectic cohomology of the complement of a simple crossings symplectic divisor. We also prove…

Fintushel and Stern defined the rational blow-down construction [FS] for smooth 4-manifolds, where a linear plumbing configuration of spheres $C_n$ is replaced with a rational homology ball $B_n$, $n \geq 2$. Subsequently, Symington [Sy]…