arXiv subjects

Eric Katz

Publications and source records attributed to Eric Katz.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

The Chabauty-Coleman bound at a prime of bad reduction and clifford bounds for geometric rank functions

Let X be a curve over a number field K with genus g>=2, $\pp$ a prime of O_K over an unramified rational prime p>2r, J the Jacobian of X, r=rank J(K), and $\scrX$ a regular proper model of X at $\pp$. Suppose r<g. We prove that #X(K)<=#\scrX(F_{\pp})+2r, extending the refined version of the Chabauty-Coleman bound to the case of bad reduction. The new technical insight is to isolate variants of the classical rank of a divisor on a curve which are better suited for singular curves and which satisfy Clifford's theorem.

math.NT↗

arXiv2012

A non-abelian analogue of Whitney's 2-isomorphism theorem

We give a non-abelian analogue of Whitney's 2-isomorphism theorem for graphs. Whitney's theorem states that the cycle space determines a graph up to 2-isomorphism. Instead of considering the cycle space of a graph which is an abelian object, we consider a mildly non-abelian object, the 2-truncation of the group algebra of the fundamental group of the graph considered as a subalgebra of the 2-truncation of the group algebra of the free group on the edges. The analogue of Whitney's theorem is that this is a complete invariant of 2-edge connected graphs: let G,G' be 2-edge connected finite graphs; if there is a bijective correspondence between the edges of G and G' that induces equality on the 2-truncations of the group algebras of the fundamental groups, then G and G' are isomorphic.

math.CO↗

arXiv2012

Tropical Realization Spaces for Polyhedral Complexes

Tropicalization is a procedure that assigns polyhedral complexes to algebraic subvarieties of a torus. If one fixes a weighted polyhedral complex, one may study the set of all subvarieties of a toric variety that have that complex as their tropicalization. This gives a "tropical realization" moduli functor. We use rigid analytic geometry and the combinatorics of Chow complexes as studied by Alex Fink to prove that when the ambient toric variety is quasiprojective, the moduli functor is represented by a rigid space. As an application, we show that if a polyhedral complex is the tropicalization of a formal family of varieties then it is the tropicalization of an algebraic family of varieties.

math.AG↗

arXiv2012

Tropical Invariants from the Secondary Fan

In this paper, we consider weighted counts of tropical plane curves of particular combinatorial type through a certain number of generic points. We give a criterion, derived from tropical intersection theory on the secondary fan, for a weighted count to give a number invariant of the position of the points. By computing a certain intersection multiplicity, we show how Mikhalkin's approach to computing Gromov-Witten invariants fits into our approach. This begins to address a question raised by Dickenstein, Feichtner, and Sturmfels. We also give a geometric interpretation of the numbers we produce involving Chow quotients, and provide a counterexample showing that the tropical Severi variety is not always supported on the secondary fan. This paper is a revision of the preprint, "The Tropical Degree of Cones in the Secondary Fan."

math.AG↗

arXiv2012

Obstructions to lifting tropical curves in surfaces in 3-space

Tropicalization is a procedure that takes subvarieties of an algebraic torus to balanced weighted rational complexes in space. In this paper, we study the tropicalizations of curves in surfaces in 3-space. These are balanced rational weighted graphs in tropical surfaces. Specifically, we study the `lifting' problem: given a graph in a tropical surface, can one find a corresponding algebraic curve in a surface? We develop specific combinatorial obstructions to lifting a graph by reducing the problem to the question of whether or not one can factor a polynomial with particular support in the characteristic 0 case. This explains why some unusual tropical curves constructed by Vigeland are not liftable.

math.AG↗

arXiv2012

Log-concavity of characteristic polynomials and the Bergman fan of matroids

In a recent paper, the first author proved the log-concavity of the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of a matroid realizable over a field of characteristic 0, answering a long-standing conjecture of Read in graph theory. We extend the proof to all realizable matroids, making progress towards a more general conjecture of Rota-Heron-Welsh. Our proof follows from an identification of the coefficients of the reduced characteristic polynomial as answers to particular intersection problems on a toric variety. The log-concavity then follows from an inequality of Hodge type.

math.CO↗

arXiv2011

Lifting Tropical Curves in Space and Linear Systems on Graphs

Tropicalization is a procedure for associating a polyhedral complex in Euclidean space to a subvariety of an algebraic torus. We study the question of which graphs arise from tropicalizing algebraic curves. By using Baker's specialization of linear systems from curves to graphs, we are able to give a necessary condition for a balanced weighted graph to be the tropicalization of a curve. Our condition reproduces a generalization of Speyer's well-spacedness condition and also gives new conditions. In addition, it suggests a new combinatorial structure on tropicalizations of algebraic curves.

math.AG↗

arXiv2011

Tropical Geometry and the Motivic Nearby Fiber

We construct motivic invariants of a subvariety of an algebraic torus from its tropicalization and initial degenerations. More specifically, we introduce an invariant of a compactification of such a variety called the "tropical motivic nearby fiber." This invariant specializes in the schon case to the Hodge-Deligne polynomial of the limit mixed Hodge structure of a corresponding degeneration. We give purely combinatorial expressions for this Hodge-Deligne polynomial in the cases of schon hypersurfaces and smooth tropical varieties. We also deduce a formula for the Euler characteristic of a general fiber of the degeneration.

math.AG↗

arXiv2011

Monodromy Filtrations and the Topology of Tropical Varieties

We find restrictions on the topology of tropical varieties that arise from a certain natural class of varieties. We develop a theory of tropical degenerations that is a nonconstant coefficient analogue of Tevelev's theory of tropical compactifications, and use it to construct normal crossings degenerations of a subvariety X of a torus, under mild hypotheses on X. These degenerations allow us to construct a natural, "multiplicity-free" parameterization of Trop(X) by a topological space Γ_X. We give a geometric interpretation of the cohomology of Γ_X in terms of the action of a monodromy operator on the cohomology of X. This gives bounds on the Betti numbers of $Γ_X$ in terms of the Betti numbers of $X$. When $X$ is a sufficiently general complete intersection, this allows us to show that the cohomology of Trop(X) vanishes in degree less than dim(X). In addition, we give a description for the top power of the monodromy operator acting on middle cohomology in terms of the volume pairing on $Γ_X$.

math.AG↗

arXiv2010

Realization spaces for tropical fans

We introduce a moduli functor for varieties whose tropicalization realizes a given weighted fan and show that this functor is an algebraic space in general, and is represented by a scheme of finite type when the associated toric variety is quasiprojective. We study the geometry of these tropical realization spaces for the matroid fans studied by Ardila and Klivans, and show that the tropical realization space of a matroid fan is a torus torsor over the realization space of the matroid. As a consequence, we deduce that these tropical realization spaces satisfy Murphy's Law.

math.AG↗

arXiv2009

Tropical Intersection Theory from Toric Varieties

We apply ideas from intersection theory on toric varieties to tropical intersection theory. We introduce mixed Minkowski weights on toric varieties which interpolate between equivariant and ordinary Chow cohomology classes on complete toric varieties. These objects fit into the framework of tropical intersection theory developed by Allermann and Rau. Standard facts about intersection theory on toric varieties are applied to show that the definitions of tropical intersection product on tropical cycles in $\R^n$ given by Allermann-Rau and Mikhalkin are equivalent. We introduce an induced tropical intersection theory on subvarieties on a toric variety. This gives a conceptional proof that the intersection of tropical $ψ$-classes on $\cmbar_{0,n}$ used by Kerber and Markwig computes classical intersection numbers.

math.AG↗

arXiv2008

Piecewise polynomials, Minkowski weights, and localization on toric varieties

We use localization to describe the restriction map from equivariant Chow cohomology to ordinary Chow cohomology for complete toric varieties in terms of piecewise polynomial functions and Minkowski weights. We compute examples showing that this map is not surjective in general, and that its kernel is not always generated in degree one. We prove a localization formula for mixed volumes of lattice polytopes and, more generally, a Bott residue formula for toric vector bundles.

math.AG↗

arXiv2008

A Tropical Toolkit

We give an introduction to Tropical Geometry and prove some results in Tropical Intersection Theory. The first part of this paper is an introduction to tropical geometry aimed at researchers in Algebraic Geometry from the point of view of degenerations of varieties using projective not-necessarily-normal toric varieties. The second part is a foundational account of tropical intersection theory with proofs of some new theorems relating it to classical intersection theory. Revised version includes many corrections, more examples, and improved exposition.

math.AG↗

arXiv2008

The tropical $j$-invariant

If (Q,A) is a marked polygon with one interior point, then a general polynomial f in K[x,y] with support A defines an elliptic curve C on the toric surface X_A. If K has a non-archimedean valuation into the real numbers we can tropicalize C to get a tropical curve Trop(C). If the Newton subdivision induced by f is a triangulation, then Trop(C) will be a graph of genus one and we show that the lattice length of the cycle of that graph is the negative of the valuation of the j-invariant of C.

math.CO↗

arXiv2007

The j-invariant of a plane tropical cubic

Several results in tropical geometry have related the j-invariant of an algebraic plane curve of genus one to the cycle length of a tropical curve of genus one. In this paper, we prove that for a plane cubic over the field of Puiseux series the negative of the generic valuation of the $j$-invariant is equal to the cycle length of the tropicalization of the curve, if there is a cycle at all.

math.AG↗

arXiv2005

Formalism for Relative Gromov-Witten Invariants

We develop a formalism for relative Gromov-Witten invariants of Li that is analogous to the Symplectic Field Theory of Eliashberg, Givental, and Hofer. This formalism allows us to express natural degeneration formulae in terms of generating functions and re-derive the formulae of Caporaso-Harris, Ran, and Vakil. In addition, our framework gives a homology theory analogous to SFT Homology.

math.AG↗

arXiv2005

Line-Bundles on Stacks of Relative Maps

This paper provides some technical results needed in "Formalism for Relative Gromov-Witten Invariants." We study line-bundles on the moduli stacks of relative stable and rubber maps that are used to define relative Gromov-Witten invariants in the sense of J. Li. Relations between these line-bundles yield degeneration formulae. In addition we prove a technical result called the Trivial Cylinders Theorem.

math.AG↗