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The 4-dimensional Sklyanin algebra is the homogeneous coordinate ring of a noncommutative analogue of projective 3-space. The degree-two component of the algebra contains a 2-dimensional subspace of central elements. The zero loci of those central elements, except 0, form a pencil of non-commutative quadric surfaces, We show that the behavior of this pencil is similar to that of a generic pencil of quadrics in the commutative projective 3-space. There are exactly four singular quadrics in the pencil. The singular and non-singular quadrics are characterized by whether they have one or two rulings by non-commutative lines. The Picard groups of the smooth quadrics are free abelian of rank two. The alternating sum of dimensions of Ext groups allows us to define an intersection pairing on the Picard group of the smooth noncommutative quadrics. A surprise is that a smooth noncommutative quadric can sometimes contain a "curve" having self-intersection number -2. Many of the methods used in our paper are noncommutative versions of methods developed by Buchweitz, Eisenbud and Herzog: in particular, the correspondence between the geometry of a quadric hypersurface and maximal Cohen-Macaulay modules over its homogeneous coordinate ring plays a key role. An important aspect of our work is to introduce definitions of non-commutative analogues of the familiar commutative terms used in this abstract. We expect the ideas we develop here for 2-dimensional non-commutative quadric hypersurfaces will apply to higher dimensional non-commutative quadric hypersurfaces and we develop them in sufficient generality to make such applications possible.

For Lie algebras whose Poisson semi-center is a polynomial ring we give a bound for the sum of the degrees of the generating semi-invariants. This bound was previously known in many special cases., Comment: 18 pages

The interaction of 32.5 and 6 nm ultrashort X-ray pulses with the solid materials B4C, SiC and Si is simulated with a non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) radiation transfer code. We study the ionization dynamics as function of depth in the material, modifications of the opacity during irradiation and estimate crater depth. Furthermore, we compare the estimated crater depth with experimental data, for fluences up to 2.2 J/cm2. Our results show that at 32.5 nm irradiation, the opacity changes with less than a factor of 2 for B4C and Si and a factor of 3 for SiC, for fluences up to 200 J/cm2. At a laser wavelength of 6 nm, the model predicts a dramatic decrease in opacity due to the weak inverse bremsstrahlung, increasing the crater depth for high fluences., Comment: 9 pages, 9 color figures

Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. We show that the centre of a homologically homogeneous, finitely generated k-algebra has rational singularities. In particular if a finitely generated normal commutative k-algebra has a noncommutative crepant resolution, as introduced by the second author, then it has rational singularities.

In this paper we classify graded reflexive ideals, up to isomorphism and shift, in certain three dimensional Artin-Schelter regular algebras. This classification is similar to the classification of right ideals in the first Weyl algebra, a problem that was completely settled recently. The situation we consider is substantially more complicated however., Comment: 30 pages

We determine the possible Hilbert functions of graded rank one torsion free modules over three dimensional Artin-Schelter regular algebras. It turns out that, as in the commutative case, they are related to Castelnuovo functions. From this we obtain an intrinsic proof that the space of torsion free rank one modules on a non-commutative projective plane is connected. A different proof of this fact, based on deformation theoretic methods and the known commutative case has recently been given by Nevins and Stafford. For the Weyl algebra it was proved by Wilson., Comment: 25 pages with 16 figures

The Hilbert scheme of n points in the projective plane has a natural stratification obtained from the associated Hilbert series. In general, the precise inclusion relation between the closures of the strata is still unknown. Guerimand studied this problem for strata whose Hilbert series are as close as possible. Preimposing a certain technical condition he obtained necessary and sufficient conditions for the incidence of such strata. In this paper we present a new approach, based on deformation theory, to Guerimand's result. This allows us to show that the technical condition is not necessary., Comment: 23 pages with 8 figures

This paper continues the development of the deformation theory of abelian categories introduced in a previous paper by the authors. We show first that the deformation theory of abelian categories is controlled by an obstruction theory in terms of a suitable notion of Hochschild cohomology for abelian categories. We then show that this Hochschild cohomology coincides with the one defined by Gerstenhaber, Schack and Swan in the case of module categories over diagrams and schemes and also with the Hochschild cohomology for exact categories introduced recently by Keller. In addition we show in complete generality that Hochschild cohomology satisfies a Mayer-Vietoris property and that for constantly ringed spaces it coincides with the cohomology of the structure sheaf., Comment: 38 pages

We give a proof avoiding spectral sequences of Deligne's decomposition theorem for objects in a triangulated category admitting a Lefschetz homomorphism., Comment: 2 pages

Let C be a connected noetherian hereditary abelian Ext-finite category with Serre functor over an algebraically closed field k, with finite dimensional homomorphism and extension spaces. Using the classification of such categories from math.RT/9911242, we prove that if C has some object of infinite length, then the Grothendieck group of C is finitely generated if and only if C has a tilting object.

In this survey article we describe some geometric results in the theory of noncommutative rings and, more generally, in the theory of abelian categories. Roughly speaking and by analogy with the commutative situation, the category of graded modules modulo torsion over a noncommutative graded ring of quadratic, respectively cubic growth should be thought of as the noncommutative analogue of a projective curve, respectively surface. This intuition has lead to a remarkable number of nontrivial insights and results in noncommutative algebra. Indeed, the problem of classifying noncommutative curves (and noncommutative graded rings of quadratic growth) can be regarded as settled. Despite the fact that no classification of noncommutative surfaces is in sight, a rich body of nontrivial examples and techniques, including blowing up and down, has been developed., Comment: Suggestions by many people (in particular Haynes Miller and Dennis Keeler) have been incorporated. The formulation of some results has been improved