For a line on a degree- smooth surface in , the adjunction formula gives . If , all lines are negative curves, hence there are only countably many by countability of negative curves. Their projective Fano scheme of lines cannot have a positive-dimensional complex component, since such a component has uncountably many points. A zero-dimensional projective scheme of finite type has finitely many points, proving the assertion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 25 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use countability of negative curves. A smooth projective surface over is a compact smooth manifold homotopy equivalent to a finite CW complex, so its integral cohomology group is finitely generated and therefore countable. Distinct irreducible curves with cannot have the same cohomology class: that would give , while distinct effective curves have nonnegative intersection multiplicities. Assigning a negative curve its cohomology class is thus injective, proving there are at most countably many negative curves.
For zero self-intersection, uncountable families do occur. On the product of two projective lines , every fiber has self-intersection zero, since a different fiber is disjoint and has the same numerical equivalence of divisors class. The parameter varies over an uncountable set. Thus yes, there can be uncountably many such curves.