Dual projective space 2026-10-07
Hyperplanes in are kernels of nonzero linear functionals modulo scalar multiplication. Their parameter space is therefore , of the same dimension. In particular lines in a projective plane are parametrized by another projective plane.
Fano plane 2026-10-06
The Fano plane is the projective plane over the finite field . It has seven points and seven lines, each line contains three points, and two distinct lines meet in one point. A line-point incidence matrix therefore satisfies , making it invertible over the real numbers and useful for the transplantation theorem.
Write the projective plane as for a three-dimensional complex vector space . A projective line is the zero set of a nonzero linear functional . Two such functionals give the same line exactly when they differ by a nonzero scalar. Hence the parameter space of lines is the dual projective space . A choice of basis identifies with , giving . The description as is intrinsic; the identification with the original requires a choice.
The even-degree subring is the second Veronese subring
where have degree one in the regraded ring. The canonical invariance of the Proj construction under passage to a Veronese subring gives
On homogeneous points this is the degree-two Veronese embedding
It is an isomorphism onto the closed subscheme
Thus the quotient homomorphism supplies the requested closed immersion of into the projective plane.
For an algebraically closed field , the strong Hilbert Nullstellensatz says that every ideal satisfies
Its 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, either
or the affine zero set is exactly the origin. In the latter case the Hilbert Nullstellensatz gives
the 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 identifies
Choose distinct points . The two fibres
are 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, write
using 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 satisfy
a contradiction. This is the failure of rational-map extension on a singular curve.
Finally take the Fermat cubic curve
and define the projective hypersurface
Because and have no common irreducible factor, the bihomogeneous polynomial is irreducible, so is an algebraic variety. Let
be 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 genus
Over the fibre is
the 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.
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 set
Then is a finitely generated integral -algebra and . The affine irreducible variety
has 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 and
This constructs the projective model of a finitely generated field.
For the curve
put
In its function field, the defining equation gives
Hence , 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 take
The 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 is
so is birational to .
The partial derivatives are
Solving gives , , with arbitrary. By the Jacobian criterion,
This is an irreducible subvariety of dimension one, giving the requested singular cylinder over a nodal curve.
Point-line duality 2026-10-06
A point of the projective plane corresponds to the dual line . A line given by those coefficients corresponds back to the point . Incidence is reversed: if and only if . Thus collinear point triples become concurrent line triples, preserving the essential combinatorics of incidence geometry.
Projective plane curve Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
A projective plane curve is a projective curve embedded in the projective plane, usually given by one homogeneous equation.