Horrocks splitting on Segre-Veronese varieties

We prove an analogue of Horrocks' splitting theorem for Segre-Veronese varieties building upon the theory of Tate resolutions on products of projective spaces

Geometry and Algebra of prime Fano 3-folds of genus 12

The connection between these Fano 3-folds and plane quartic curves is explained.Comment: LaTex,19 page

Matrix factorizations and families of curves of genus 15

In this note, we explain how certain matrix factorizations on cubic threefolds lead to families of curves of genus 15 and degree 16 in P^4. We prove that the moduli space M={(C,L) | C a curve of genus 15, L a line bundle on C of degree 16 with 5 sections} is birational to a certain space of matrix factorizations of cubics, and that M is uniruled. Our attempt to prove the unirationality of this space failed with our methods. Instead one can interpret our findings as evidence for the conjecture that the basis of the maximal rational connected fibration of M has a three dimensional base.Comment: 26 page

Unirationality of the Hurwitz space H_{9,8}

In this paper we prove that the Hurwitz space H_{9,8}, which parameterizes 8-sheeted covers of P^1 by curves of genus 9, is unirational. Our construction leads to an explicit Macaulay2 code, which will randomly produce a nodal curve of degree 8 of geometric genus 9 with 12 double points and together with a pencil of degree 8

Sheaf Cohomolog and Free Resolutions over Exterior Algebras

In this paper we derive an explicit version of the Bernstein-Gel'fand-Gel'fand (BGG) correspondence between bounded complexes of coherent sheaves on projective space and minimal doubly infinite free resolutions over its ``Koszul dual'' exterior algebra. This leads to an efficient method for machine computation of the cohomology of sheaves. Among the facts about the BGG correspondence that we derive is that taking homology of a complex of sheaves corresponds to taking the ``linear part'' of a resolution over the exterior algebra. Using these results we give a constructive proof of the existence of a Beilinson monad for a sheaf on projective space. The explicitness of our version allows us to to prove two conjectures about the morphisms in the monad. Along the way we prove a number of results about minimal free resolutions over an exterior algebra. For example, we show that such resolutions are eventually dominated by their "linear parts" in the sense that erasing all terms of degree $>1$ in the complex yields a new complex which is eventually exact.Comment: 29 page

Betti Numbers of Graded Modules and Cohomology of Vector Bundles

Mats Boij and Jonas Soederberg (math.AC/0611081) have conjectured that the Betti table of a Cohen-Macaulay module over a polynomial ring can be decomposed in a certain way as a positive linear combination of Betti tables of modules with pure resolutions. We prove, over any field, a strengthened form of their conjecture. Applications include a proof of the Multiplicity Conjecture of Huneke and Srinivasan and a proof of the convexity of a fan naturally associated to the Young lattice. We also characterize the rational cone of all cohomology tables of vector bundles on projective spaces in terms of the cohomology tables of "supernatural" bundles. This characterization is dual, in a certain sense, to our characterization of Betti tables.Comment: This version incorporates many corrections and many expository improvements of the original. It is to appear in the Journal of the American Mathematical Societ

An explicit matrix factorization of cubic hypersurfaces of small dimension

In this paper, we compute an explicit matrix factorization of a rank 9 Ulrich sheaf on a general cubic hypersurface of dimension at most 7, whose existence was proved by Manivel. Instead of using invariant theory, we use Shamash's construction with a cone over the spinor variety. We also describe an algebro-geometric interpretation of our matrix factorization which connects the spinor tenfold and the Cartan cubic.Comment: 18 pages, with Macaulay2 scripts. Fixed some typos, and updated a few reference

Canonical projections of irregular algebraic surfaces

A good canonical projection of a surface $S$ of general type is a morphism to the 3-dimensional projective space P^3 given by 4 sections of the canonical line bundle. To such a projection one associates the direct image sheaf F of the structure sheaf of S, which is shown to admit a certain length 1 symmetrical locally free resolution. The structure theorem gives necessary and sufficient conditions for such a length 1 locally free symmetrical resolution of a sheaf F on P^3 in order that $Spec (mathcal F)$ yield a canonically projected surface of general type. The result was found in 1983 by the first author in the regular case, and the main ingredient here for the irregular (= non Cohen-Macaulay) case is to replace the use of Hilbert resolutions with the use of Beilinson's monads. Most of the paper is devoted then to the analysis of irregular canonical surfaces with p_g=4 and low degree (the analysis in the regular case had been initiated by F. Enriques). For q=1 we classify completely the (irreducible) moduli space for the minimal value K^2=12. We also study other moduli spaces, q=2, K^2=18, and q=3, K^2=12. The last family is provided by the divisors in a (1,1,2) polarization on some Abelian 3-fold. A remarkable subfamily is given by the pull backs, under a 2-isogeny, of the theta divisor of a p.p.Abelian 3-fold: for those surfaces the canonical map is a double cover of a canonical surface (i.e., such that its canonical map is birational). The canonical image is a sextic surface with a plane cubic as double curve, and moreover with an even set of 32 nodes as remaining singular locus. Our method allows to write the equations of these transcendental objects, but not yet to construct new ones by computer algebra.Comment: 35 pages. To appear in a volume in memory of Paolo Francia, De Gruyter Verla

Varieties of sums of powers

The variety of sums of powers of a homogeneous polynomial of degree d in n variables is defined and investigated in some examples, old and new. These varieties are studied via apolarity and syzygies. Classical results of Sylvester (1851), Hilbert (1888), Dixon and Stuart (1906) and some more recent results of Mukai (1992) are presented together with new results for the cases (n,d)=(3,8), (4,2), (5,3). In the last case the variety of sums of 8 powers of a general cubic form is a Fano 5-fold of index 1 and degree 660.Comment: Final published version (Crelle

Resultants and Chow forms via Exterior Syzygies

Given a sheaf on a projective space P^n we define a sequence of canonical and easily computable Chow complexes on the Grassmannians of planes in P^n, generalizing the Beilinson monad on P^n. If the sheaf has dimension k, then the Chow form of the associated k-cycle is the determinant of the Chow complex on the Grassmannian of planes of codimension k+1. Using the theory of vector bundles and the canonical nature of the complexes we are able to give explicit determinantal and Pfaffian formulas for resultants in some cases where no polynomial formulas were known. For example, the Horrocks-Mumford bundle gives rise to a polynomial formula for the resultant of five homogeneous forms of degree eight in five variables.Comment: 38 page