On the geometric genus of reducible surfaces and degenerations of surfaces to unions of planes

In this paper we study some properties of degenerations of surfaces whose general fibre is a smooth projective surface and whose central fibre is a reduced, connected surface $X \subset IP^r$, $r \geq 3$, which is assumed to be a union of smooth projective surfaces, in particular of planes. Our original motivation has been a series of papers of G. Zappa which appeared in the 1940-50's regarding degenerations of scrolls to unions of planes. Here, we present a first set of results on the subject; other aspects are still work in progress and will appear later. We first study the geometry and the combinatorics of a surface like $X$, considered as a reduced, connected surface on its own; then we focus on the case in which X is the central fibre of a degeneration of relative dimension two over the complex unit disk. In this case, we deduce some of the intrinsic and extrinsic invariants of the general fibre from the ones of its central fibre. In the particular case of $X$ a central fibre of a semistable degeneration, i.e. $X$ has only global normal crossing singularities and the total space of the degeneration is smooth, some of the above invariants can be also computed by topological methods (i.e., the Clemens-Schmid exact sequence). Our results are more general, not only because the computations are independent on the fact that $X$ is the central fibre of a degeneration, but also because the degeneration is not semistable in general.Comment: latex2e, 26 pages, 11 figure

Special scrolls whose base curve has general moduli

In this paper we study the Hilbert scheme of smooth, linearly normal, special scrolls under suitable assumptions on degree, genus and speciality.Comment: Latex2e, shorter versio

Collapse of Primordial Clouds

We present here studies of collapse of purely baryonic Population III objects with masses ranging from $10M_\odot$ to $10^6M_\odot$. A spherical Lagrangian hydrodynamic code has been written to study the formation and evolution of the primordial clouds, from the beginning of the recombination era ($z_{rec} \sim 1500$) until the redshift when the collapse occurs. All the relevant processes are included in the calculations, as well as, the expansion of the Universe. As initial condition we take different values for the Hubble constant and for the baryonic density parameter (considering however a purely baryonic Universe), as well as different density perturbation spectra, in order to see their influence on the behavior of the Population III objects evolution. We find, for example, that the first mass that collapses is $8.5\times10^4M_\odot$ for $h=1$, $\Omega=0.1$ and $\delta_i={\delta\rho / \rho}=(M / M_o)^{-1/3}(1+z_{rec})^{-1}$ with the mass scale $M_o=10^{15}M_\odot$. For $M_o=4\times10^{17}M_\odot$ we obtain $4.4\times10^{4}M_\odot$ for the first mass that collapses. The cooling-heating and photon drag processes have a key role in the collapse of the clouds and in their thermal history. Our results show, for example, that when we disregard the Compton cooling-heating, the collapse of the objects with masses $>8.5\times10^4M_\odot$ occurs earlier. On the other hand, disregarding the photon drag process, the collapse occurs at a higher redshift.Comment: 10 pages, MN plain TeX macros v1.6 file, 9 PS figures. Also available at http://www.iagusp.usp.br/~oswaldo (click "OPTIONS" and then "ARTICLES"). MNRAS in pres