Bound on the projective dimension of three cubics

We show that given any polynomial ring R over a field, and any ideal J in R which is generated by three cubic forms, the projective dimension of R/J is at most 36. We also settle the question whether ideals generated by three cubic forms can have projective dimension greater than 4, by constructing one with projective dimension equal to 5.Comment: to appear in Journal of Symbolic Computatio

On the projective dimension and the unmixed part of three cubics

Let $R$ be a polynomial ring over a field in an unspecified number of variables. We prove that if $J \subset R$ is an ideal generated by three cubic forms, and the unmixed part of $J$ contains a quadric, then the projective dimension of $R/J$ is at most 4. To this end, we show that if $K \subset R$ is a three-generated ideal of height two and $L \subset R$ an ideal linked to the unmixed part of $K$, then the projective dimension of $R/K$ is bounded above by the projective dimension of $R/L$ plus one.Comment: 23 pages; to appear in Journal of Algebr

Projective varieties with many degenerate subvarieties

We study the problem of classifying the irreducible projective varieties $X$ of dimension $n\ge 2$ in $\Bbb P^N$ which contain an algebraic family \Cal F of dimension $h+1$ ($h<n$) of subvarieties $Y$ of dimension $n-h$, each one contained in a $\Bbb P^{N-h-1}$. We prove that one of the following happens: (i) there exists an integer $r$, $r<N-n$ such that $X$ is contained in a variety $V_r$ of dimension at most $N-r$ containing a family of dimension $h+1$ of subvarieties of dimension $N-h-r$, each one contained in a linear space of dimension $N-h-1$; (ii) The degree of $Y$ is bounded by a function of $h$ and $N-n$ (in this case $X$ is called of isolated type). Successively we study some special cases; in particular we give a complete classification of surfaces in $\Bbb P^5$ containing a family of dimension $2$ of curves of $\Bbb P^3$.Comment: 19 pages, AMS-TeX 2.

Hilbert's fourteenth problem over finite fields, and a conjecture on the cone of curves

We give examples over arbitrary fields of rings of invariants that are not finitely generated. The group involved can be as small as three copies of the additive group, as in Mukai's examples over the complex numbers. The failure of finite generation comes from certain elliptic fibrations or abelian surface fibrations having positive Mordell-Weil rank. Our work suggests a generalization of the Morrison-Kawamata cone conjecture from Calabi-Yau varieties to klt Calabi-Yau pairs. We prove the conjecture in dimension 2 in the case of minimal rational elliptic surfaces.Comment: 26 pages. To appear in Compositio Mathematic

On the classification of OADP varieties

The main purpose of this paper is to show that OADP varieties stand at an important crossroad of various main streets in different disciplines like projective geometry, birational geometry and algebra. This is a good reason for studying and classifying them. Main specific results are: (a) the classification of all OADP surfaces (regardless to their smoothness); (b) the classification of a relevant class of normal OADP varieties of any dimension, which includes interesting examples like lagrangian grassmannians. Following [PR], the equivalence of the classification in (b) with the one of quadro-quadric Cremona transformations and of complex, unitary, cubic Jordan algebras are explained.Comment: 13 pages. Dedicated to Fabrizio Catanese on the occasion of his 60th birthday. To appear in a special issue of Science in China Series A: Mathematic