Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 159 2 Solution 2026-09-28
A minimal algebraic surface is a smooth projective surface containing no exceptional curve of the first kind, namely no smooth rational curve of self-intersection . An abelian surface contains no rational curve because every morphism from to an abelian variety is constant. It therefore has no -curve and is minimal.
For every , the Minimal Hirzebruch surface is a rational minimal surface. These surfaces are pairwise nonisomorphic: the negative section is the unique irreducible curve of negative self-intersection and has square , so an isomorphism would recover . Thus there are infinitely many nonisomorphic minimal rational surfaces.
A K3 surface is a smooth projective surface with and . For a smooth curve of geometric genus , the Adjunction formula givesand hence
An elliptic surface is a smooth projective surface with a morphism to a smooth curve whose generic fiber is a smooth genus-one curve. If is an elliptic curve, projectionis an elliptic fibration. Its canonical bundle is pulled back from , so every positive pluricanonical space vanishes and the Kodaira dimension is . This supplies the requested negative-Kodaira-dimension example.
For an elliptically fibered K3 surface, choose a smooth quartic containing a line . The canonical bundle of a smooth projective hypersurface formula makes trivial, and the standard cohomology sequence gives , so is K3. The pencil of planes through cuts into plus a residual plane cubic. The residual linear system is basepoint-free, has square zero and defines a morphism whose generic fiber is a smooth plane cubic. This is the Elliptic K3 surface from a quartic containing a line.
A surface of general type is a smooth projective surface of Kodaira dimension two. Let be a smooth plane curve of degree eight and letbe the degree-two cover branched along . The branch-cover canonical-bundle formula givesThis divisor is ample, so is a double plane of general type and is the required finite morphism of degree two.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 118 2 Solution 2026-09-28
An irreducible complex analytic hypersurface in a complex manifold is a closed irreducible analytic subset of pure complex codimension one. A local defining function of a complex analytic hypersurface at is a holomorphic function on a neighbourhood such thatThe necessary local algebra is that the stalk is a regular local ring, hence a unique factorization domain, and that the local branches of a hypersurface germ determine finitely many height-one prime ideals. Each is principal; the product of their generators gives , and removing repeated factors makes it reduced. This also covers a globally irreducible hypersurface that has several local branches at a singular point.
A divisor on a complex manifold is a locally finite formal sum of irreducible analytic hypersurfaces with integer coefficients. On a sufficiently small , local defining functions give a meromorphic equation for . The quotients are nowhere-zero holomorphic functions. Gluing frames byproduces the holomorphic line bundle associated to a divisor , and gives its canonical meromorphic section with divisor .
The Euler sequence on complex projective spaceimplies . Taking the dual determinant yields the canonical bundle of complex projective spacewhere is a hyperplane divisor.
The hypotheses on the homogeneous polynomial say thatis a smooth projective hypersurface of degree , so its divisor line bundle is . The Adjunction formula givesThis is the canonical bundle of a smooth projective hypersurface.
Now fix an isomorphism and regard and as holomorphic sections of the same holomorphic line bundle. They have no common zero because . Their homogeneous coordinates therefore define a well-defined holomorphic mapIn a local frame, the quotientis a meromorphic function with divisor . Thus and , both with multiplicity one. The degree of a holomorphic map is therefore one. A nonconstant degree-one holomorphic map between compact connected Riemann surfaces is a biholomorphism, so the displayed map is biholomorphic.