Related papers: A remark on the non-rationality Problem for generi…
There are three types of involutions on a cubic fourfold; two of anti-symplectic type, and one symplectic. Here we show that cubics with involutions exhibit the full range of behaviour in relation to rationality conjectures. Namely, we show…
We exhibit new examples of rational cubic fourfolds, parametrized by a countably infinite union of codimension-two subvarieties in the moduli space. Our examples are fibered in sextic del Pezzo surfaces over the projective plane; they are…
We extend non-emtpyness and irreducibility of Hassett divisors to the moduli spaces of $M$-polarizable cubic fourfolds for higher rank lattices $M$, which in turn provides a systematic approach for describing the irreducible components of…
We prove that the moduli space A_{11}^{lev} of (1,11) polarized abelian surfaces with level structure of canonical type is birational to Klein's cubic hypersurface: a^2b+b^2c+c^2d+d^2e+e^2a=0 in P^4. Therefore, A_{11}^{lev} is unirational…
We prove that the infinitesimal variations of Hodge structure arising in a number of geometric situations are non-generic. In particular, we consider the case of generic hypersurfaces in complete smooth projective toric varieties, generic…
The Hodge conjecture is shown to hold for rationally connected fivefolds, or more generally for fivefolds for which the base of the maximal rationally connected fibration is at most 3 dimensional.
We consider the connections among algebraic cycles, abelian varieties, and stable rationality of smooth projective varieties in positive characteristic. Recently Voisin constructed two new obstructions to stable rationality for rationally…
The aim of the present paper is to prove the rationality of the universal family of polarized $ K3 $ surfaces of degree 14. This is achieved by identifying it with the moduli space of cubic fourfolds plus the data of a quartic scroll. The…
We compute the small quantum cohomology of Gushel-Mukai fourfolds. Following [13], our computations imply that the very general ones are not rational. Following [8], and thanks to a suitable deformation of the small quantum cohomology ring,…
Some classes of cubic fourfolds are birational to fibrations over $P^2$, where the fibers are rational surfaces. This is the case for cubics containing a plane (resp. an elliptic ruled surface), where the fibers are quadric surfaces (resp.…
Refereed version to appear in Michigan Mathematical Journal. A mistake in the last section of the previous version has been corrected. The new title exactly describes the main result obtained. Building on the geometry of cubic surfaces and…
This note (which makes no claim to novelty) presents a proof of the separable rational connectedness of smooth cubic hypersurfaces, in any characteristic, by showing how to explicitly construct very free curves (of degree 3) on them. -----…
We discuss the space of sections and certain bisections on a quadric surfaces bundle $X$ over a smooth curve. The Abel-Jacobi from these spaces to the intermediate Jacobian will be shown to be dominant with rationally connected fibers. As…
We show that a standard conic bundle over a minimal rational surface is rational and its Jacobian splits as the direct sum of Jacobians of curves if and only if its derived category admits a semiorthogonal decomposition by exceptional…
We show that a very general quartic hypersurface in $\mathbb P^6 $ over a field of characteristic different from 2 does not admit a decomposition of the diagonal, hence is not retract rational. This generalizes a result of Nicaise--Ottem,…
It is a classical result that there are $12$ (irreducible) rational cubic curves through $8$ generic points in $\mathbb{P}_{\mathbb{C}}^2$, but little is known about the non-generic cases. The space of $8$-point configurations is…
We compute the dynamical degrees of certain compositions of reflections in points on a smooth cubic fourfold. Our interest in these computations stems from the irrationality problem for cubic fourfolds. Namely, we hope that they will…
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…
In the first part of this paper we will prove the Voevodsky's nilpotence conjecture for smooth cubic fourfolds and ordinary generic Gushel-Mukai fourfolds. Then, making use of noncommutative motives, we will prove the Voevodsky's nilpotence…
The periodic tiling conjecture asserts that if a region $\Sigma\subset \mathbb R^d$ tiles $\mathbb R^d$ by translations then it admits at least one fully periodic tiling. This conjecture is known to hold in $\mathbb R$, and recently it was…