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In this note we introduce the notion of $(b,d)$-geprofi sets and study their basic properties. These are sets of $bd$ points in $\mathbb{P}^4$ whose projection from a general point to a hyperplane is a full intersection, i.e., the intersection of a curve of degree $b$ and a surface of degree $d$. We show that such nontrivial sets exist if and only if $b\geq 4$ and $d\geq 2$. Somewhat surprisingly, for infinitely many values of $b$ and $d$ there exist such sets in linear general position. The note contains open questions and problems., Comment: 29 pages

The purpose of this work is to pursue classification of geproci sets. Specifically we classify $[m,n]$-geproci sets which consist of $m=4$ points on each of $n$ skew lines, assuming the skew lines have two transversals in common. We show that in this case $n\leq 6$. Moreover we show that all geproci sets of this type are contained in the \emph{standard construction} for $m=4$ introduced in arXiv:2209.04820. Finally, we propose a conjectural representation for all geproci sets of this type, irrespective of the number $m$ of points on each skew line., Comment: 12 pages, 1 figura

Geproci sets of points in $\mathbb P^3$ are sets whose general projections to $\mathbb P^2$ are complete intersections. The first nontrivial geproci sets came from representation theory, as projectivizations of the root systems $D_4$ and $F_4$. In most currently known cases geproci sets lie on very special unions of skew lines and are known as half grids. For this important class of geproci sets we establish fundamental connections with combinatorics, which we study using methods of algebraic geometry and commutative algebra. As a motivation for studying them, we first prove Theorem A: for a nondegenerate $(a,b)$-geproci set $Z$ with $d$ being the least degree of a space curve $C$ containing $Z$, that if $d\leq b$, then $C$ is a union of skew lines and $Z$ is either a grid or a half grid. We next formulate a combinatorial version of the geproci property for half grids and prove Theorem B: combinatorial half grids are geproci in the case of sets of $a$ points on each of $b$ skew lines when $a\geq b-1\geq 3$. We then introduce a notion of combinatorics for skew lines and apply it to the classification of single orbit combinatorial half grids of $m$ points on each of 4 lines. We apply these results to prove Theorem C, showing, when $n\gg m$, that half grids of $m$ points on $n$ lines with two transversals must be very special geometrically (if they even exist). Moreover, in the case of skew lines having two transversals, our results provide an algorithm for enumerating their projective equivalence classes. We conjecture there are $(m^2-1)/12$ equivalence classes of combinatorial $[m,4]$-half grids in the two transversal case when $m>2$ is prime., Comment: 36 pages

In this short note we develop new methods toward the ultimate goal of classifying geproci sets in $\mathbb P^3$. We apply these methods to show that among sets of $16$ points distributed evenly on $4$ skew lines, up to projective equivalence there are only two distinct geproci sets. We give different geometric distinctions between these sets. The methods we develop here can be applied in a more general set-up; this is the context of the follow-up work arXiv:2308.00761., Comment: 13 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the 2022 Workshop in Cortona: "Lefschetz Properties: Current and New Directions'

The purpose of this note is to report, in narrative rather than rigorous style, about the nice geometry of $6$-division points on the Fermat cubic $F$ and various conics naturally attached to them. Most facts presented here were derived by symbolic algebra programs and the idea of the note is to propose a research direction for searching for conceptual proofs of facts stated here and their generalisations. Extensions in several directions seem possible (taking curves of higher degree and contact to $F$, studying higher degree curves passing through higher order division points on $F$, studying curves passing through intersection points of already constructed curves, taking the duals etc.) and we hope some younger colleagues might find pleasure in following proposed paths as well as finding their own., Comment: 8 pages

We call a set of points $Z\subset{\mathbb P}^{3}_{\mathbb C}$ an $(a,b)$-geproci set (for GEneral PROjection is a Complete Intersection) if its projection from a general point $P$ to a plane is a complete intersection of curves of degrees $a$ and $b$. Examples which we call grids have been known since 2011. The only nongrid nondegenerate examples previously known had $ab=12, 16, 20, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54$ or $60$. Here, for any $4 \leq a \leq b$, we construct nongrid nondegenerate $(a,b)$-geproci sets in a systematic way. We also show that the only such example with $a=3$ is a $(3,4)$-geproci set coming from the $D_4$ root system, and we describe the $D_4$ configuration in detail. We also consider the question of the equivalence (in various senses) of geproci sets, as well as which sets occur over the reals, and which cannot. We identify several additional examples of geproci sets with interesting properties. We also explore the relation between unexpected cones and geproci sets and introduce the notion of $d$-Weddle schemes arising from special projections of finite sets of points. This work initiates the exploration of new perspectives on classical areas of geometry. We formulate and discuss a range of open problems in the final chapter., Comment: 126 pages, 22 figures

Unexpected hypersurfaces are a brand name for some special linear systems. They were introduced around 2017 and are a field of intensive study since then. They attracted a lot of attention because of their close tights to various other areas of mathematics including vector bundles, arrangements of hyperplanes, geometry of projective varieties. Our research is motivated by the what is now known as the BMSS duality, which is a new way of deriving projective varieties out of already constructed. The last author coined the concept of companion surfaces in the setting of unexpected curves admitted by the $B_3$ root system. Here we extend this construction in various directions. We revisit the configurations of points associated to either root systems or to Fermat arrangements and we study the geometry of the associated varieties and their companions., Comment: Revised version following advices by the referees. Accepted for publication in JPAA

Felix Klein in course of his study of the regular icosahedron and its symmetries encountered a highly symmetric configuration of $60$ points in ${\mathbb P}^3$. This configuration has appeared in various guises, perhaps post notably as the configuration of points dual to the $60$ reflection planes in the group $G_{31}$ in the Shephard-Todd list. In the present note we show that the $60$ points exhibit interesting properties relevant from the point of view of two paths of research initiated recently. Firstly, they give rise to two completely different unexpected surfaces of degree $6$. Unexpected hypersurfaces have been introduced by Cook II, Harbourne, Migliore, Nagel in 2018. One of unexpected surfaces associated to the configuration of $60$ points is a cone with a single singularity of multiplicity $6$ and the other has three singular points of multiplicities $4,2$ and $2$. Secondly, Chiantini and Migliore observed in 2020 that there are non-trivial sets of points in ${\mathbb P}^3$ with the surprising property that their general projection to ${\mathbb P}^2$ is a complete intersection. They found a family of such sets, which they called grids. An appendix to their paper describes an exotic configuration of $24$ points in ${\mathbb P}^3$ which is not a grid but has the remarkable property that its general projection is a complete intersection. We show that the Klein configuration is also not a grid and it projects to a complete intersections. We identify also its proper subsets, which enjoy the same property. \, Comment: final version, to appear in Michigan. Math. J. Oberwolfach Preprints;2020,19 OWP-2020-19

The main goal of this note is to begin a systematic study on conic-line arrangements in the complex projective plane. We show a de Bruijn-Erd\H{o}s-type inequality and Hirzebruch-type inequality for a certain class of conic-line arrangements having ordinary singularities. We will also study, in detail, certain conic-line arrangements in the context of the geography of log-surfaces and free divisors in the sense of Saito., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures. Version 3.0, this is the version incorporating referee's remarks

The Newton--Okounkov body of a big divisor D on a smooth surface is a numerical invariant in the form of a convex polygon. We study the geometric significance of the shape of Newton--Okounkov polygons of ample divisors, showing that they share several important properties of Newton polygons on toric surfaces. In concrete terms, sides of the polygon are associated to some particular irreducible curves, and their lengths are determined by the intersection numbers of these curves with D. As a consequence of our description we determine the numbers k such that D admits some k-gon as a Newton--Okounkov body, elucidating the relationship of these numbers with the Picard number of the surface, which was first hinted at by work of K\"uronya, Lozovanu and Maclean., Comment: 14 pages. Corrected statement and proof of Lemma 5.3 (now split into Lemmas 5.3 and 5.4) and adapted proof of Theorem 5.5 accordingly. The main results remain the same. Minor corrections throughout the paper

We study negative curves on surfaces obtained by blowing up special configurations of points in the complex projective palne. Our main results concern the following configurations: very general points on a cubic, 3-torsion points on an elliptic curve and nine Fermat points. As a consequence of our analysis, we also show that the Bounded Negativity Conjecture holds for the surfaces we consider. The note contains also some problems for future attention., Comment: 11 pages, v.2 13 pages, major revision

Let $X$ be a projective surface and let $L$ be an ample line bundle on $X$. The global Seshadri constant $\varepsilon(L)$ of $L$ is defined as the infimum of Seshadri constants $\varepsilon(L,x)$ as $x\in X$ varies. It is an interesting question to ask if $\varepsilon(L)$ is a rational number for any pair $(X, L)$. We study this question when $X$ is a blow up of $\mathbb{P}^2$ at $r \ge 0$ very general points and $L$ is an ample line bundle on $X$. For each $r$ we define a $\textit{submaximality threshold}$ which governs the rationality or irrationality of $\varepsilon(L)$. We state a conjecture which strengthens the SHGH Conjecture and assuming that this conjecture is true we determine the submaximality threshold., Comment: Proof of Theorem 4.1 re-organized for more clarity; some other minor changes; to appear in J. Pure Appl. Algebra

In the present note we study configurations of codimension 2 flats in projective spaces and classify those with the smallest rate of growth of the initial sequence. Our work extends those of Bocci, Chiantini in P^2 and Janssen in P^3 to projective spaces of arbitrary dimension., Comment: 8 pages

Our research is motivated by recent work of Cook II, Harbourne, Migliore, and Nagel on configurations of points in the projective plane with properties that are unexpected from the point of view of the postulation theory. In this note, we revisit the basic configuration of nine points appearing in work of Gennaro/Ilardi/Vall\`es and Harbourne, and we exhibit some additional new properties of this configuration. We then pass to projective three-space and exhibit a surface with unexpected postulation properties there. Such higher dimensional phenomena have not been observed so far., Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure

In this note we introduce a Waldschmidt decomposition of divisors which might be viewed as a generalization of Zariski decomposition based on the effectivity rather than the nefness of divisors. As an immediate application we prove a recursive formula providing new effective lower bounds on Waldschmidt constants of very general points in projective spaces. We use these bounds in order to verify Demailly's conjecture in a number of new cases., Comment: 17 pages, initial submission, comments welcome

In this note we show that the union of $r$ general lines and one fat line in ${\mathbb P}^3$ imposes independent conditions on forms of sufficiently high degree $d$, where the bound on $d$ is independent of the number of lines. This extends former results of Hartshorne and Hirschowitz on unions of general lines, and of Aladpoosh on unions of general lines and one double line., Comment: 14 pages

In this article we describe the life and work of Wolf Barth who died on 30th December 2016. Wolf Barth's contributions to algebraic variety span a wide range of subjects. His achievements range from what is now called the Barth-Lefschetz theorems to his fundamental contributions to the theory of algebraic surfaces and moduli of vector bundles, and include his later work on algebraic surfaces with many singularities, culminating in the famous Barth sextic., Comment: accepted for publication in Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung, obituary, 17 pages, 2 figures, 1 photo

In the present note we study Waldschmidt constants of Stanley-Reisner ideals of a hypergraph and a graph with vertices forming a bipyramid over a planar n-gon. The case of the hypergraph has been studied by Bocci and Franci. We reprove their main result. The case of the graph is new. Interestingly, both cases provide series of ideals with Waldschmidt constants descending to 1. It would be interesting to known if there are bounded ascending sequences of Waldschmidt constants., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures

In the present note we prove a conjecture of Demailly for finite sets of sufficiently many very general points in projective spaces. This gives a lower bound on Waldschmidt constants of such sets. Waldschmidt constants are asymptotic invariants of subschemes receiving recently considerable amount of attention., Comment: 7 pages

The Klein and Wiman configurations are highly symmetric configurations of lines in the projective plane arising from complex reflection groups. One noteworthy property of these configurations is that all the singularities of the configuration have multiplicity at least three. In this paper we study the surface X obtained by blowing up the projective plane in the singular points of one of these line configurations. We study invariant curves on X in detail, with a particular emphasis on curves of negative self-intersection. We use the representation theory of the stabilizers of the singular points to discover several invariant curves of negative self-intersection on X, and use these curves to study Nagata-type questions for linear series on X. The homogeneous ideal I of the collection of points in the configuration is an example of an ideal where the symbolic cube of the ideal is not contained in the square of the ideal; ideals with this property are seemingly quite rare. The resurgence and asymptotic resurgence are invariants which were introduced to measure such failures of containment. We use our knowledge of negative curves on X to compute the resurgence of I exactly. We also compute the asymptotic resurgence and Waldschmidt constant exactly in the case of the Wiman configuration of lines, and provide estimates on both for the Klein configuration., Comment: 39 pages. In v2: Section 4.1 rewritten for clarity and other minor changes

For each $m\ge 1$, Roulleau and Urz\'ua give an implicit construction of a configuration of $4(3m^2-1)$ complex plane cubic curves. This construction was crucial for their work on surfaces of general type. We make this construction explicit by proving that the Roulleau-Urz\'ua configuration consists precisely of the Halphen cubics of order $m$, and we determine specific equations of the cubics for $m=1$ (which were known) and for $m=2$ (which are new)., Comment: 20 pages

Starting with the pioneering work of Ein and Lazarsfeld restrictions on values of Seshadri constants on algebraic surfaces have been studied by many authors. In the present note we show how approximation involving continued fractions combined with recent results of Kuronya and Lozovanu on Okounkov bodies of line bundles on surfaces lead to effective statements considerably restricting possible values of Seshadri constants. These results in turn provide strong aditional evidence to a conjecture governing the Seshadri constants on algebraic surfaces with Picard number 1., Comment: 12 pages, comments welcome

The Bounded Negativity Conjecture predicts that for every complex projective surface $X$ there exists a number $b(X)$ such that $C^2\geq -b(X)$ holds for all reduced curves $C\subset X$. For birational surfaces $f:Y\to X$ there have been introduced certain invariants (Harbourne constants) relating to the effect the numbers $b(X)$, $b(Y)$ and the complexity of the map $f$. These invariants have been studied previously when $f$ is the blowup of all singular points of an arrangement of lines in ${\mathbb P}^2$, of conics and of cubics. In the present note we extend these considerations to blowups of ${\mathbb P}^2$ at singular points of arrangements of curves of arbitrary degree $d$. We also considerably generalize and modify the approach witnessed so far and study transversal arrangements of sufficiently positive curves on arbitrary surfaces with the non-negative Kodaira dimension., Comment: This is the final version, incorporating the suggestions of the referee, to appear in Annales de l'Institut Fourier Grenoble

The purpose of this note is to provide an overview of the containment problem for symbolic and ordinary powers of homogeneous ideals, related conjectures and examples. We focus here on ideals with zero dimensional support. This is an area of ongoing active research. We conclude the note with a list of potential promising paths of further research., Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure

We study initial sequences of various configurations of planar points. We answer several questions asked in our previous paper (Symbolic powers of planar point configurations), and we extend our considerations to the asymptotic setting of Waldschmidt constants. We introduce the concept of Bezout Decomposition which might be of independent interest., Comment: This article is a sequel to arXiv:1205.6002. 15 pages

The big cone of every smooth projective surface $X$ admits the natural decomposition into Zariski chambers. The purpose of this note is to give a simple criterion for the interiors of all Zariski chambers on $X$ to be numerically determined Weyl chambers. Such a criterion generalizes the results of Bauer-Funke on K3 surfaces to arbitrary smooth projective surfaces. In the last section, we study the relation between decompositions of the big cone and elliptic fibrations on Enriques surfaces., Comment: 7 pages

In the present note we give a new proof of a result due to Wiseman and Wilson which establishes an analogue of the Sylvester-Gallai theorem valid for curves of degree two. The main ingredients of the proof come from algebraic geometry. Specifically, we use Cremona transformation of the projective plane and Hirzebruch inequality., Comment: 10 pages, notes after a Lanckorona workshop, October 2014

The Bounded Negativity Conjecture predicts that for any smooth complex surface $X$ there exists a lower bound for the selfintersection of reduced divisors on $X$. This conjecture is open. It is also not known if the existence of such a lower bound is invariant in the birational equivalence class of $X$. In the present note we introduce certain constants $H(X)$ which measure in effect the variance of the lower bounds in the birational equivalence class of $X$. We focus on rational surfaces and relate the value of $H({\mathbb P}^2)$ to certain line arrangements. Our main result is Theorem 3.3 and the main open challenge is Problem 3.10., Comment: v2, rewritten, extra material on arrangements of real lines, to appear in International Mathematics Research Notices

The purpose of this note is to study configurations of lines in projective planes over arbitrary fields having the maximal number of intersection points where three lines meet. We give precise conditions on ground fields F over which such extremal configurations exist. We show that there does not exist a field admitting a configuration of 11 lines with 17 triple points, even though such a configuration is allowed combinatorially. Finally, we present an infinite series of configurations which have a high number of triple intersection points., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures

The aim of this note is to shed some light on the relationships among some notions of positivity for vector bundles that arose in recent decades. Our purpose is to study several of the positivity notions studied for vector bundles with some notions of asymptotic base loci that can be defined on the variety itself, rather than on the projectivization of the given vector bundle. We relate some of the different notions conjectured to be equivalent with the help of these base loci, and we show that these can help simplify the various relationships between the positivity properties present in the literature. In particular, we define augmented and restricted base loci $\mathbb{B}_+ (E)$ and $\mathbb{B}_- (E)$ of a vector bundle $E$ on the variety $X$, as generalizations of the corresponding notions studied extensively for line bundles. As it turns out, the asymptotic base loci defined here behave well with respect to the natural map induced by the projectivization of the vector bundle $E$.

Symbolic powers of ideals have attracted interest in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry for many years, with a notable recent focus on containment relations between symbolic powers and ordinary powers. Several invariants have been introduced and studied in the latter context, including the resurgence and asymptotic resurgence. There have been exciting new developments in this area recently. It had been expected for several years that $I^{Nr-N+1}\subseteq I^r$ should hold for the ideal $I$ of any finite set of points in ${\bf P}^N$ for all $r>0$, but in the last year various counterexamples have now been constructed, all involving point sets coming from hyperplane arrangements. In the present work, we compute their resurgences and obtain in particular the first examples where the resurgence and the asymptotic resurgence are not equal., Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure

The purpose of this note is to describe limiting shapes (as introduced by Mayes) of symbolic generic initial systems of star configurations in projective spaces over a field of characteristic 0., Comment: 8 pages

The purpose of this note is to study the number of elements in Minkowski bases on algebraic surfaces with rational polyhedral pseudo-effective cone., Comment: 6 pages, v.2 a gap in the previous version fixed, thanks to David Schmitz

It is well known that multi-point Seshadri constants for a small number $s$ of points in the projective plane are submaximal. It is predicted by the Nagata conjecture that their values are maximal for $s\geq 9$ points. Tackling the problem in the language of valuations one can make sense of $s$ points for any positive real $s\geq 1$. We show somewhat surprisingly that a Nagata-type conjecture should be valid for $s\geq 8+1/36$ points and we compute explicitly all Seshadri constants (expressed here as the asymptotic maximal vanishing element) for $s\leq 7+1/9$., Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures. Updated version of the Oberwolfach Preprint OWP 2013-22, with some new material. Comments welcome

The purpose of this note is to study initial sequences of zero-dimensional subschemes of Hirzebruch surfaces and classify subschemes whose initial sequence has the minimal possible growth., Comment: 9 pages

There has been increased recent interest in understanding the relationship between the symbolic powers of an ideal and the geometric properties of the corresponding variety. While a number of results are available for the two-dimensional case, the higher-dimensional case is largely unexplored. In the present paper we study a natural conjecture arising from a result by Bocci and Chiantini. As a first step towards understanding the higher-dimensional picture, we show that this conjecture is true in dimension three. Also, we provide examples showing that the hypotheses of the conjecture may not be weakened.

We define and study the vanishing sequence along a real valuation of sections of a line bundle on a projective variety. Building on previous work of the first author with Huayi Chen, we prove an equidistribution result for vanishing sequences of large powers of a big line bundle, and study the limit measure. In particular, the latter is described in terms of restricted volumes for divisorial valuations. We also show on an example that the associated concave function on the Okounkov body can be discontinuous at boundary points., Comment: 17 pages, supercedes the preprint arXiv:1210.3523. v2: 21 pages, expanded Section 2. Final version, to appear in Math. Ann

We study symbolic powers of bi-homogeneous ideals of points in the Cartesian product of two projective lines and extend to this setting results on the effect of points fattening obtained by Bocci, Chiantini and Dumnicki, Szemberg, Tutaj-Gasi\'nska. We prove a Chudnovsky-type theorem for bi-homogeneous ideals and apply it to classification of configurations of points with minimal or no fattening effect. We hope that the ideas developed in this project will find further algebraic and geometric applications e.g. to study similar problems on arbitrary surfaces., Comment: 12 pages, notes from a workshop on linear series held in Lanckorona

In this note we relate the SHGH Conjecture to the rationality of one-point Seshadri constants on blow ups of the projective plane, and explain how rationality of Seshadri constants can be tested with the help of functions on Newton--Okounkov bodies., Comment: 13 pages

The purpose of this note is twofold. We present first a vanishing theorem for families of linear series with base ideal being a fat points ideal. We apply then this result in order to give a partial proof of a conjecture raised by Bocci, Harbourne and Huneke concerning containment relations between ordinary and symbolic powers of planar point ideals., Comment: 17 pages

We show that in general the third symbolic power of a radical ideal of points in the complex projective plane is not contained in the second usual power of that ideal. This answers in negative a question asked by Huneke and generalized by Harbourne., Comment: Change of the title matches the printed version