The generic isogeny decomposition of the Prym Variety of a cyclic branched covering

Let $$f:S'\longrightarrow S$$ f : S ′ ⟶ S be a cyclic branched covering of smooth projective surfaces over $${\mathbb {C}}$$ C whose branch locus $$\Delta \subset S$$ Δ ⊂ S is a smooth ample divisor. Pick a very ample complete linear system $$|{\mathcal {H}}|$$ | H | on S, such that the polarized surface $$(S, |{\mathcal {H}}|)$$ ( S , | H | ) is not a scroll nor has rational hyperplane sections. For the general member $$[C]\in |{\mathcal {H}}|$$ [ C ] ∈ | H | consider the $$\mu _{n}$$ μ n -equivariant isogeny decomposition of the Prym variety $${{\,\mathrm{Prym}\,}}(C'/C)$$ Prym ( C ′ / C ) of the induced covering $$f:C'{:}{=}f^{-1}(C)\longrightarrow C$$ f : C ′ : = f - 1 ( C ) ⟶ C : $$\begin{aligned} {{\,\mathrm{Prym}\,}}(C'/C)\sim \prod _{d|n,\ d\ne 1}{\mathcal {P}}_{d}(C'/C). \end{aligned}$$ Prym ( C ′ / C ) ∼ ∏ d | n , d ≠ 1 P d ( C ′ / C ) . We show that for the very general member $$[C]\in |{\mathcal {H}}|$$ [ C ] ∈ | H | the isogeny component $${\mathcal {P}}_{d}(C'/C)$$ P d ( C ′ / C ) is $$\mu _{d}$$ μ d -simple with $${{\,\mathrm{End}\,}}_{\mu _{d}}({\mathcal {P}}_{d}(C'/C))\cong {\mathbb {Z}}[\zeta _{d}]$$ End μ d ( P d ( C ′ / C ) ) ≅ Z [ ζ d ] . In addition, for the non-ample case we reformulate the result by considering the identity component of the kernel of the map $${\mathcal {P}}_{d}(C'/C)\subset {{\,\mathrm{Jac}\,}}(C')\longrightarrow {{\,\mathrm{Alb}\,}}(S')$$ P d ( C ′ / C ) ⊂ Jac ( C ′ ) ⟶ Alb ( S ′ ) .

The extra-nice dimensions

We define the extra-nice dimensions and prove that the subset of locally stable 1-parameter families in $$C^{\infty }(N\times [0,1],P)$$ C ∞ ( N × [ 0 , 1 ] , P ) is dense if and only if the pair of dimensions $$(\dim N, \dim P)$$ ( dim N , dim P ) is in the extra-nice dimensions. This result is parallel to Mather’s characterization of the nice dimensions as the pairs (n, p) for which stable maps are dense. The extra-nice dimensions are characterized by the property that discriminants of stable germs in one dimension higher have $${\mathscr {A}}_e$$ A e -codimension 1 hyperplane sections. They are also related to the simplicity of $${\mathscr {A}}_e$$ A e -codimension 2 germs. We give a sufficient condition for any $${\mathscr {A}}_e$$ A e -codimension 2 germ to be simple and give an example of a corank 2 codimension 2 germ in the nice dimensions which is not simple. Then we establish the boundary of the extra-nice dimensions. Finally we answer a question posed by Wall about the codimension of non-simple maps.

Central Diagonal Sections of the n-Cube

We prove that the volume of central hyperplane sections of a unit cube in $\mathbb{R}^n$ orthogonal to a main diagonal of the cube is a strictly monotonically increasing function of the dimension for $n\geq 3$. Our argument uses an integral formula that goes back to Pólya [ 20] (see also [ 14] and [ 3]) for the volume of central sections of the cube and Laplace’s method to estimate the asymptotic behavior of the integral. First, we show that monotonicity holds starting from some specific $n_0$. Then, using interval arithmetic and automatic differentiation, we compute an explicit bound for $n_0$ and check the remaining cases between $3$ and $n_0$ by direct computation.

The Funk–Radon transform for hyperplane sections through a common point

The Funk–Radon transform, also known as the spherical Radon transform, assigns to a function on the sphere its mean values along all great circles. Since its invention by Paul Funk in 1911, the Funk–Radon transform has been generalized to other families of circles as well as to higher dimensions. We are particularly interested in the following generalization: we consider the intersections of the sphere with hyperplanes containing a common point inside the sphere. If this point is the origin, this is the same as the aforementioned Funk–Radon transform. We give an injectivity result and a range characterization of this generalized Radon transform by finding a relation with the classical Funk–Radon transform.

The Exceptional Locus in the Bertini Irreducibility Theorem for a Morphism

We introduce a novel approach to Bertini irreducibility theorems over an arbitrary field, based on random hyperplane slicing over a finite field. Extending a result of Benoist, we prove that for a morphism $\phi \colon X \to{\mathbb{P}}^n$ such that $X$ is geometrically irreducible and the nonempty fibers of $\phi $ all have the same dimension, the locus of hyperplanes $H$ such that $\phi ^{-1} H$ is not geometrically irreducible has dimension at most ${\operatorname{codim}}\ \phi (X)+1$. We give an application to monodromy groups above hyperplane sections.