Plane quartics with at least 8 hyperinflection points

A recent result shows that a general smooth plane quartic can be recovered from its 24 inflection lines and a single inflection point. Nevertheless, the question whether or not a smooth plane curve of degree at least 4 is determined by its inflection lines is still open. Over a field of characteristic 0, we show that it is possible to reconstruct any smooth plane quartic with at least 8 hyperinflection points by its inflection lines. Our methods apply also in positive characteristic, where we show a similar result, with two exceptions in characteristic 13

Recovering plane curves of low degree from their inflection lines and inflection points

In this paper we consider the following problem: is it possible to recover a smooth plane curve of degree at least three from its inflection lines? We answer positively to the posed question for a general smooth plane quartic curve, making the additional assumption that also one inflection point is given, and for any smooth plane cubic curve.Comment: 24 page

Reconstructing general plane quartics from their inflection lines

Let $C$ be a general plane quartic and let ${\rm Fl}(C)$ denote the configuration of inflection lines of $C$. We show that if $D$ is any plane quartic with the same configuration of inflection lines ${\rm Fl}(C)$, then the quartics $C$ and $D$ coincide.Comment: 21 pages, to appear in Transactions of the American Mathematical Societ

The infinite random simplicial complex

We study the Fraisse limit of the class of all finite simplicial complexes. Whilst the natural model-theoretic setting for this class uses an infinite language, a range of results associated with Fraisse limits of structures for finite languages carry across to this important example. We introduce the notion of a local class, with the class of finite simplicial complexes as an archetypal example, and in this general context prove the existence of a 0-1 law and other basic model-theoretic results. Constraining to the case where all relations are symmetric, we show that every direct limit of finite groups, and every metrizable profinite group, appears as a subgroup of the automorphism group of the Fraisse limit. Finally, for the specific case of simplicial complexes, we show that the geometric realisation is topologically surprisingly simple: despite the combinatorial complexity of the Fraisse limit, its geometric realisation is homeomorphic to the infinite simplex.Comment: 33 page