Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 113 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For a product in a category of prevarieties, the projections must induce a bijectionfor every prevariety . If and both have this property, their projection pairs determine morphisms and . Each composite has the same projections as the identity, so uniqueness in the universal property makes both composites identities. This gives the unique isomorphism respecting the projections.
Here the classical convention is that a prevariety is locally an affine variety, with a finite affine cover, and is irreducible; an algebraic variety is a separated prevariety, meaning that its diagonal morphism has closed image. The same separation argument works in the convention that also permits reducible varieties. For separated , under the rearrangement , the diagonal isIt is closed, proving separation. For completeness, irreducibility in the classical convention follows from the affine calculation below: the products of affine charts are irreducible, and their pairwise intersections are nonempty since nonempty open subsets of each irreducible factor meet. An open cover by irreducible open sets with pairwise nonempty intersections has irreducible union. Thus the product is an algebraic variety.
To establish the coordinate ring of a product of affine varieties, write and . The algebrahas zero set . To see directly that is prime when are irreducible, take nonzero . Express with the linearly independent over . The set of for which is nonzero is a nonempty open set: it is the union of the nonvanishing loci of the , and at least one is nonzero. The Hilbert Nullstellensatz guarantees that such a function cannot vanish at every point. The analogous set for is also nonempty; their intersection contains a point by irreducibility. Since is an integral domain, , whence . Thus is an integral domain, and the Hilbert Nullstellensatz identifies with the defining ideal of its zero set. The resulting affine variety has the universal property: algebra maps from to correspond to pairs of algebra maps from , and these correspond to morphisms into . This dictionary holds for arbitrary , since coordinate functions give the morphisms on affine charts and agree on overlaps. Uniqueness of the product now proves
For the final part put and . Restriction to the diagonal morphism is , so . Write . The elements generate : quotienting by them identifies the two copies of and gives precisely the multiplication quotient . The map is -linear, vanishes on , and takes values in . Sinceit obeys for the stated first-factor action. Hence it is a derivation of an algebra. The universal property of the Module of Kähler differentials supplies an -linear map with .
Define the -linear map by . It is -linear for the first-factor action and, by the Leibniz rule, satisfiesTherefore and restriction induces . We have , so is the identity because the generate the Module of Kähler differentials. Conversely, if , then andThus the conormal module of the diagonal gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 1 25H Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
For an irreducible algebraic variety and , the local ring consists of germs of rational functions regular on a neighbourhood of . If has ideal , its Zariski tangent space is
The given variety is the blowup of the affine plane at the origin. On the chart , put ; then , so are free affine coordinates. On the chart , put ; then , so are free affine coordinates. These two smooth affine-plane charts cover , hence every point of is smooth.
If , the equation forcesConsequently restricts to an isomorphism away from the origin, and is therefore birational. Above the origin, however,so is not injective and cannot be an isomorphism of algebraic varieties. Birationality gives
For any morphism with affine, its restriction to the exceptional curve is constant: every regular function on a projective line is constant, and the affine coordinate functions of therefore have constant pullbacks. Since has more than one point, is not injective. If itself were affine, its identity morphism would contradict this conclusion, so is not affine.
Over , is not compact in the Euclidean topology: the sequence has no convergent subsequence. Every complex projective variety is Euclidean compact. Since compactness is preserved by homeomorphisms, cannot be homeomorphic to a projective variety.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 3 24G Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
For an algebraically closed field , the strong Hilbert Nullstellensatz says that every ideal satisfiesIts weak form says that exactly when . Now let and let be a homogeneous ideal. The affine zero set of is the affine cone over together with the origin. Hence, when the projective zero set is empty, eitheror the affine zero set is exactly the origin. In the latter case the Hilbert Nullstellensatz givesthe irrelevant ideal of projective space. Equivalently, some power is contained in . These are precisely the alternatives in the Projective Nullstellensatz.
Let be a smooth quadric surface. After a projective linear transformation, the Segre embedding identifiesChoose distinct points . The two fibresare the promised disjoint curves on a smooth quadric surface: each is a smooth projective line, and . By the Bézout theorem, any two nonempty curves in the projective plane intersect. An isomorphism of algebraic varieties preserves intersections and takes projective curves to projective curves, so these disjoint curves prove
Next let be a smooth projective curve and let be a rational map to a projective variety. At a point outside its initial domain, writeusing elements of the function field . The local ring of a smooth algebraic curve at is a discrete valuation ring. If , multiplying every coordinate by a function of valuation makes all coordinates regular at and at least one a unit there. They therefore define a morphism near . Repeating this at the finitely many missing points proves the extension of a rational map from a smooth projective curve.
Smoothness is essential. Let be the normalization of a nodal curve for a rational nodal cubic . The inverse is a rational map on the smooth locus. If it extended to a morphism , then would agree with the identity on a dense Zariski-open subset of and hence everywhere. But the two distinct points above the node would satisfya contradiction. This is the failure of rational-map extension on a singular curve.
Finally take the Fermat cubic curveand define the projective hypersurfaceBecause and have no common irreducible factor, the bihomogeneous polynomial is irreducible, so is an algebraic variety. Letbe the second coordinate projection. Every homogeneous cubic in three variables has a projective zero over , so every fibre is nonempty and is a surjective morphism. Over the fibre is the Fermat cubic curve, which is smooth and has genusOver the fibre isthe union of exactly three distinct projective lines, hence exactly three irreducible components. This is the cubic pencil with a triangular member required by the question.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 4 24G Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Two irreducible varieties and are birational if they contain nonempty Zariski-open subsets and that are isomorphic. Equivalently, their function fields are isomorphic:For an irreducible variety,An isomorphism of function fields preserves transcendence degree, so . This is the dimension from the function field.
Now let be a finitely generated field extension. Choose field generators and setThen is a finitely generated integral -algebra and . The affine irreducible varietyhas function field . Embed as a closed affine subvariety of some affine space , identify that affine space with the standard open chart of projective space , and take the projective closure of . The closure of an irreducible topological space is irreducible, and is dense and open in . Thus is a projective variety andThis constructs the projective model of a finitely generated field.
For the curveputIn its function field, the defining equation givesHence , so is rational. Equivalently, this is the normalization of y squared equals x times x minus one squared, whose smooth projective normalization is and has geometric genus zero.
A smooth projective curve in the projective plane of degree has, by the genus of a smooth plane curve formula,Its genus can be zero only for or . Conversely, a projective line and every smooth conic over are rational, so each is birational to . Therefore the required degrees are exactly
Finally, in takeThe polynomial is irreducible: as a quadratic in , it could factor only if were a square polynomial, which it is not. Thus is an irreducible affine hypersurface of dimension two. Its function field isso is birational to .
The partial derivatives areSolving gives , , with arbitrary. By the Jacobian criterion,This is an irreducible subvariety of dimension one, giving the requested singular cylinder over a nodal curve.
Prevariety 2026-10-05
In the classical convention over an algebraically closed field , a prevariety is an irreducible topological space with a sheaf of rings which has a finite open cover by affine varieties, with compatible local identifications. A prevariety need not be separated. A classical algebraic variety is a separated prevariety: its diagonal morphism has closed image. Some authors allow reducible prevarieties and varieties; the separation criterion and product construction remain the same under that convention.
Projective bundle 2026-10-05
The projective bundle of a real or complex vector bundle has fiber the space of one-dimensional subspaces of . It carries a tautological bundle ; in the real case this is the projectivization of a real vector bundle.
Rational point Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
For an algebraic variety defined over a field , a K-rational point is a morphism over . In affine coordinates it is a solution of the defining equations with every coordinate in ; in projective coordinates it is a nonzero coordinate vector over , considered up to common nonzero scaling. The set is denoted . Over a number field, having points over every completion need not imply having a rational point; for genus-one coverings this failure is recorded by the Tate–Shafarevich group.
Separated variety 2026-10-06
An algebraic variety that is separated over its ground field. Two affine open charts have an affine intersection: their intersection is the inverse image of the closed diagonal inside the product of the two affine charts. This ensures a finite affine cover is acyclic for quasi-coherent sheaves.
For an irreducible algebraic variety with function field , this sheaf of abelian groups assigns to every nonempty open set, with identity restriction maps, and assigns the trivial group to the empty set. Irreducibility ensures that any two nonempty open subsets meet, so these sections satisfy the sheaf gluing axiom. It is a flasque sheaf and has zero higher sheaf cohomology.
Singular locus 2026-10-07
The closed subset of points where an algebraic variety is not smooth. Over a perfect field it is equivalently the locus whose local rings are not regular local rings. A normal variety has no singular points in codimension zero or one.
Smooth algebraic curve Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
A smooth algebraic curve is a one-dimensional algebraic variety whose local ring at every point is regular.
Smoothness of an algebraic variety 2026-10-07
Over a perfect field, a point of an algebraic variety is smooth exactly when its local ring is a regular local ring. The smooth locus of a variety is open; its closed complement is the singular locus.