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Let $\mathcal{I}_{d,g,R}$ be the union of irreducible components of the Hilbert scheme whose general points parametrize smooth, irreducible, curves of degree $d$, genus $g$, which are non--degenerate in the projective space $\mathbb{P}^R$. Under some numerical assumptions on $d$, $g$ and $R$, we construct irreducible components of $\mathcal{I}_{d,g,R}$ other than the so-called {\em distinguished component}, dominating the moduli space $\mathcal{M}_g$ of smooth genus--$g$ curves, which are generically smooth and turn out to be of dimension higher than the expected one. The general point of any such a component corresponds to a curve $X \subset \mathbb{P}^R$ which is a suitable ramified $m$--cover of an irrational curve $Y \subset \mathbb{P}^{R-1}$, $m \geqslant 2$, lying in a surface cone over $Y$. The paper extends some of the results in previous papers of Y. Choi, H. Iliev, S. Kim (cf. [12,13] in Bibliography)., Comment: 18 pages, accepted for publication. Collaboration has benefitted of funding from the MIUR Excellence Department Projects awarded to the Dept. Mathematics, U. of Rome Tor Vergata (CUP: E83-C18000100006) and to Dept. Mathematics and Physics, U. Roma Tre

Given a smooth hypersurface $X\subset \mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ of degree $d\geqslant 2$, we study the cones $V^h_p\subset \mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ swept out by lines having contact order $h\geqslant 2$ at a point $p\in X$. In particular, we prove that if $X$ is general, then for any $p\in X$ and $2 \leqslant h\leqslant \min\{ n+1,d\}$, the cone $V^h_p$ has dimension exactly $n+2-h$. Moreover, when $X$ is a very general hypersurface of degree $d\geqslant 2n+2$, we describe the relation between the cones $V^h_p$ and the degree of irrationality of $k$--dimensional subvarieties of $X$ passing through a general point of $X$. As an application, we give some bounds on the least degree of irrationality of $k$--dimensional subvarieties of $X$ passing through a general point of $X$, and we prove that the connecting gonality of $X$ satisfies $d-\left\lfloor\frac{\sqrt{16n+25}-3}{2}\right\rfloor\leqslant\conngon(X)\leqslant d-\left\lfloor\frac{\sqrt{8n+1}+1}{2}\right\rfloor$., Comment: 15 pages; v2: minor changes

We consider the Fano scheme $F_k(X)$ of $k$--dimensional linear subspaces contained in a complete intersection $X \subset \mathbb{P}^n$ of multi--degree $\underline{d} = (d_1, \ldots, d_s)$. Our main result is an extension of a result of Riedl and Yang concerning Fano schemes of lines on very general hypersurfaces: we consider the case when $X$ is a very general complete intersection and $\Pi_{i=1}^s d_i > 2$ and we find conditions on $n$, $\underline{d}$ and $k$ under which $F_k(X)$ does not contain either rational or elliptic curves. At the end of the paper, we study the case $\Pi_{i=1}^s d_i = 2$., Comment: Referee's suggestions added. To appear on Archiv der Matematik

Low-frequency earthquakes are a particular class of slow earthquakes that provide a unique source of information on the mechanical properties of a subduction zone during the preparation of large earthquakes. Despite increasing detection of these events in recent years, their source mechanisms are still poorly characterised, and the relation between their magnitude and size remains controversial. Here, we present the source characterisation of more than 10,000 low-frequency earthquakes that occurred during tremor sequences in 2012-2016 along the Nankai subduction zone in western Shikoku, Japan. We show that the seismic moment versus corner frequency scaling for these events is compatible with an inverse of the cube law, as widely observed for regular earthquakes. Our result is thus consistent with shear rupture as the source mechanism for low-frequency earthquakes, and suggests that they obey to a similar physics of regular earthquakes, with self-similar rupture process and constant stress drop. Furthermore, when investigating the dependence of the stress drop value on the rupture speed, we found that low-frequency earthquakes might propagate at lower rupture velocity than regular earthquakes, releasing smaller stress drop., Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures

Consider the Fano scheme $F_k(Y)$ parameterizing $k$-dimensional linear subspaces contained in a complete intersection $Y \subset \mathbb{P}^m$ of multi-degree $\underline{d} = (d_1, \ldots, d_s)$. It is known that, if $t := \sum_{i=1}^s \binom{d_i +k}{k}-(k+1) (m-k)\leqslant 0$ and $\Pi_{i=1}^sd_i >2$, for $Y$ a general complete intersection as above, then $F_k(Y)$ has dimension $-t$. In this paper we consider the case $t> 0$. Then the locus $W_{\underline{d},k}$ of all complete intersections as above containing a $k$-dimensional linear subspace is irreducible and turns out to have codimension $t$ in the parameter space of all complete intersections with the given multi-degree. Moreover, we prove that for general $[Y]\in W_{\underline{d},k}$ the scheme $F_k(Y)$ is zero-dimensional of length one. This implies that $W_{\underline{d},k}$ is rational., Comment: 6 pages, the collaboration has benefitted of funding from the research project \emph{"Families of curves: their moduli and their related varieties"} (CUP: E81-18000100005) - Mission Sustainability - University of Rome Tor Vergata

We develop a probabilistic framework based on the conjunction of states of information between data and model, to jointly retrieve earthquake source parameters and anelastic attenuation factor from inversion of displacement amplitude spectra. The evaluation of the joint probability density functions (PDFs) enables us to take into account between-parameter correlations in the final estimates of the parameters and related uncertainties. Following this approach, we first search for the maximum of the a-posteriori PDF through the basin hopping technique that couples a global exploration built on a Markov chain with a local deterministic maximization. Then we compute statistical indicators (mean, variance and correlation coefficients) on source parameters and anelastic attenuation through integration of the PDF in the vicinity of the maximum likelihood solution. Definition of quality criteria based on the signal to noise ratio and the similarity of the marginal PDFs with a Gaussian function enable us to define the frequency domain for the inversion and to get rid of unconstrained solutions. We perform synthetic tests to assess theoretical correlations as a function of the signal to noise ratio and to define the minimum bandwidth around the corner frequency for consistent parameter resolution. As an application, we finally estimate the source parameters for the 2016-2017 Central Italy seismic sequence. We found that the classical scaling between the seismic moment and the corner frequency holds, with an average stress drop of $\Delta\sigma$ = 2.1 +- 0.3 MPa. However, the main events in the sequence exhibit a stress drop larger than the average value. Finally, the small seismic efficiency indicates a stress overshoot, possibly due to dynamic effects or large frictional efficiency., Comment: 57 pages, 16 figures

This paper concerns the existence of curves with low gonality on smooth hypersurfaces of sufficiently large degree. It has been recently proved that if $X\subset \mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ is a hypersurface of degree $d\geq n+2$, and if $C\subset X$ is an irreducible curve passing through a general point of $X$, then its gonality verifies $\mathrm{gon}(C)\geq d-n$, and equality is attained on some special hypersurfaces. We prove that if $X\subset \mathbb{P}^{n+1}$ is a very general hypersurface of degree $d\geq 2n+2$, the least gonality of an irreducible curve $C\subset X$ passing through a general point of $X$ is $\mathrm{gon}(C)=d-\left\lfloor\frac{\sqrt{16n+1}-1}{2}\right\rfloor$, apart from a series of possible exceptions, where $\mathrm{gon}(C)$ may drop by one., Comment: 24 pages. We corrected various inaccuracies pointed out by the referee

Nagata solved Hilbert's 14-th problem in 1958 in the negative. The solution naturally lead him to a tantalizing conjecture that remains widely open after more than half a century of intense efforts. Using Nagata's theorem as starting point, and the conjecture, with its multiple variations, as motivation, we explore the important questions of finite generation for invariant rings, for support semigroups of multigraded algebras, and for Mori cones of divisors on blown up surfaces, and the rationality of Waldschimdt constants. Finally we suggest a connection between the Mori cone of the Zariski-Riemann space and the continuity of the Waldschmidt constant as a function on the space of valuations., Comment: 45 pages. These notes correspond to the course of the same title given by the first author in the workshop "Asymptotic invariants attached to linear series" held in the Pedagogical University of Cracow from May 16 to 20, 2016

We consider the Grassmannian $\mathbb{G}r(k,n)$ of $(k+1)$-dimensional linear subspaces of $V_n=H^0({\P^1},\O_{\P^1}(n))$. We define $\frak{X}_{k,r,d}$ as the classifying space of the $k$-dimensional linear systems of degree $n$ on $\P^1$ whose basis realize a fixed number of polynomial relations of fixed degree, say a fixed number of syzygies of a certain degree. The first result of this paper is the computation of the dimension of $\frak{X}_{k,r,d}$. In the second part we make a link between $\frak{X}_{k,r,d}$ and the Poncelet varieties. In particular, we prove that the existence of linear syzygies implies the existence of singularities on the Poncelet varieties.