For a smooth degree- projective hypersurface , put . The cotangent Euler sequence in homogeneous coordinates gives . The Conormal exact sequence for Kähler differentials and Whitney sum formula for Chern classes therefore yield . In codimension , its coefficient is . Higher classes vanish by rank and dimension; the formal quotient is truncated in the Chow ring.
Cubic surface 2026-10-14
A cubic surface is a degree-three projective hypersurface in the projective space . Over an algebraically closed field every cubic surface contains a projective line. The smooth case has finitely many lines, although the incidence proof of existence does not require smoothness.
Ideal-sheaf sequence of a projective hypersurface Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-05
Multiplication by the defining polynomial of a degree- projective hypersurface gives the short exact sequenceThus the ideal sheaf of is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 15 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use algebraic Chern classes in the Chow ring of a nonsingular algebraic variety . For a vector bundle of rank , the classes are invariant under bundle isomorphism, have , vanish for , and commute with pullback. Their Total Chern class is . The Whitney sum formula for Chern classes applies to every short exact sequence :Normalization for a line bundle is , where is the divisor class. In particular, , , and the trivial bundle has total class one. These properties determine the classes: pull back to the iterated projective bundle where has a filtration by line bundles. The projective bundle formula for Chow groups makes this pullback injective, and Whitney multiplication expresses as the elementary symmetric polynomial of the first classes of the line factors. This also gives .
Let be the smooth degree- projective hypersurface and set . The algebraic cotangent bundle has rank . Restriction of the cotangent Euler sequence in homogeneous coordinates remains exact, because its terms and quotient are locally free. Thusand Whitney multiplication givesThe defining equation has degree , so the conormal sheaf is . Smoothness makes its differential map injective with locally free quotient, giving the Conormal exact sequence for Kähler differentialsA second application of the Whitney sum formula for Chern classes yieldsThe inverse is the finite geometric series in the graded Chow ring: terms in codimension greater than vanish. Expanding gives every requested class,For example,when the corresponding ranks and codimensions exist. The first expression agrees with the canonical bundle of a smooth projective hypersurface . For a plane curve, , matching Q4. For a quartic surface in , and , whose degree is . These checks also confirm the sign in the cotangent, rather than tangent, formula.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 21 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Suppose the map were nonconstant. Since projective space is proper, its image is a closed projective subvariety of , of positive dimension . Fix . Regard the map as surjective onto ; the fiber dimension theorem just proved givesChoose a target hyperplane not containing . It meets : the affine cone over has dimension , and the hyperplane equation vanishes at its vertex but not identically. By the principal hypersurface dimension lemma its zero set on the cone has dimension , so it contains a nonzero cone point and hence a point of .
The inverse image is therefore nonempty and proper. Locally the hyperplane equation is a single regular equation, after trivializing the pulled-back line bundle. On the irreducible smooth source it is not identically zero, so the same hypersurface dimension lemma shows that each component of has dimension . Choose one component . Its cone is a codimension-one irreducible closed subset of affine -space, whose prime ideal is principal because the polynomial ring is a unique factorization domain. Thus is a projective hypersurface defined by a homogeneous polynomial of positive degree.
Choose a positive-dimensional irreducible component of . Since , is disjoint from . On the cone over , the equation is consequently nonzero everywhere except at the vertex. This contradicts the hypersurface dimension lemma: the cone has dimension at least two, so its nonempty proper zero set for has dimension at least one and cannot consist just of the vertex. Therefore . The argument proves morphisms from projective space to smaller projective space are constant by combining the fibre bound with the forced intersection of a positive-dimensional projective variety and a hypersurface.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 25 6 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The adjunction formula on the degree- projective hypersurface gives . Since is a smooth rational curve, adjunction on gives . Its degree is , so the smooth rational-curve self-intersection on a projective hypersurface formula is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 21 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take the projective hypersurfaceAs a polynomial in over , it is primitive because and are coprime. It is linear and irreducible over the fraction field, so Gauss lemma for polynomials proves irreducibility. Thus it is an irreducible surface.
Its gradient is . The simultaneous zero set on is exactlyThe Jacobian criterion proves every other point is smooth. At that vertex the affine equation in the chart has no linear term, so the tangent space has dimension three whereas the surface has dimension two; the vertex is genuinely singular. This is a projective quadric cone with one singular vertex.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 2 22I b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The Jacobian criterion on an affine chart says that a point of the projective hypersurface is singular exactly when all derivatives of its dehomogenized equation vanish there. The Euler homogeneous function theorem identity then recovers the omitted th derivative on , without dividing by . Thus the correct statement in every characteristic isIf the printed denotes a zero locus inside , this proves it as written. If it means the ambient projective zero locus, the assertion is false when the characteristic divides . When the characteristic does not divide , the Euler homogeneous function theorem forces at every common zero of the derivatives, and the intersection with is redundant.
For a genuine counterexample to the unrestricted ambient interpretation, in characteristic takeThis is an irreducible homogeneous polynomial: it is primitive and linear in over , with coprime coefficients. At all partial derivatives vanish, including when , but . This point is outside . Hence the ambient-locus version needs the displayed intersection or a restriction on the degree.
Set in part (ii). The constants give an injection because the projective hypersurface is nonempty, while part (ii) gives surjectivity. ThusA disconnected scheme has a nontrivial idempotent global regular function, equal to zero and one on its two clopen pieces. A field has no such idempotent, so the connectedness from global regular functions criterion gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 113 4 c i Solution 2026-10-03
For the closed immersion , the ideal sheaf of a closed subscheme givesBecause the projective hypersurface is cut out by one homogeneous polynomial of degree , multiplication by identifiesThis is the ideal-sheaf sequence of a projective hypersurface.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 113 3 c Solution 2026-09-28
Let the degree- projective hypersurface be defined by the homogeneous polynomial . Multiplication by identifies its ideal sheaf with , giving the ideal-sheaf sequence of a projective hypersurfaceIn particular, the kernel in the question is .
For , additivity of the Euler characteristic in this short exact sequence and the line-bundle formulagiveHere by the preceding cohomological-dimension argument. Moreover for , so the long exact sequence gives . Consequentlywhich is the genus-degree formula for a projective plane curve.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 118 2 Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 1 25G Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Let have ideal , and let . Its Zariski tangent space isIf is irreducible, is smooth whenotherwise it is singular. Equivalently, for generators of , the Jacobian has the maximum rank at .
Now let the irreducible affine plane cubic be . Suppose distinct points were both singular. Parametrize their joining line byand put . Then . At ,so zero is a root of multiplicity at least two. The same argument at gives another root of multiplicity at least two. Therefore has at least four roots counted with multiplicity and must vanish identically. The line through is then contained in , so its linear equation divides , contradicting irreducibility. This proves singular points of an irreducible affine plane cubic are unique when they exist.
For the density statement, embed an irreducible affine variety of dimension in and choose generators of its ideal. By dimension from minimum tangent dimension, some point has tangent dimension , so the Jacobian has rank there. Some minor is consequently nonzero on . The distinguished open setis nonempty, and at each of its points the Jacobian rank is at least . Since every tangent space has dimension at least , the rank is also at most . Thus every point of is smooth. A nonempty open subset of an irreducible topological space is dense, proving density of the smooth locus.
Finally write the smooth irreducible projective hypersurface asfor an irreducible homogeneous polynomial . The closure of is its affine cone over a projective hypersurfaceAt a nonzero point , simultaneous vanishing of all partial derivatives of would make the projective point singular. Since is smooth, this cannot happen. Hence every nonzero point of is smooth, and the origin is its only possible singular point.
Both possibilities occur. If is a projective hyperplane, then is linear and is an affine linear subspace, hence smooth even at the origin. For a singular cone, take the smooth conicIts affine cone isAll first derivatives vanish at the origin, so the vertex is singular, while the preceding argument shows that it is the only singular point.
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.
Pencil of plane curves Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Given homogeneous polynomials of the same degree, their pencil is the one-parameter familyIts total space is the projective hypersurface , and projection to has these plane curves as its fibres.
Plane section 2026-10-14
The scheme-theoretic intersection of a projective hypersurface with a projective plane. If the plane is not contained in the hypersurface, restricting the defining homogeneous polynomial gives a projective plane curve of the same degree, with possible repeated components.
Projective gradient criterion in characteristic dividing the degree Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
For a reduced projective hypersurface over an algebraically closed field,The Euler homogeneous function theorem makes the intersection redundant only when the characteristic does not divide the degree. In characteristic , the irreducible polynomial has zero gradient at , which is not on .