Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 13 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A blowup of an algebraic variety supplies a reduced special fibre with all three requested defects. Let have coordinates , let , and let . Take and the regular mapFor an explicit construction, is the closed subvariety of , with projective coordinates , defined byThese equations say that is proportional to . The three standard projective charts are affine spaces , so is a smooth variety which is an irreducible variety embedded in a quasi-projective algebraic set. Its algebraic exceptional divisor is .
If , the surface misses , and the blowup of an algebraic variety is an isomorphism over it. HenceIt is a smooth variety, an affine variety, an irreducible variety, and has algebraic dimension .
For , the fibre of a morphism has three irreducible components: the strict transform of an algebraic subvariety , the unchanged plane , and the algebraic exceptional divisor . The centre lies on but not on ; this is why all three components have multiplicity one. To verify reducedness and the crossing directly near , use the chart , puttingHere , , , and . Near , the factor is a unit, so the fibre of a morphism is , a reduced union of two crossing planes. The -chart gives , whose second factor is a unit along ; the -chart gives and the same reduced crossing. Away from , reducedness follows from in . Thus the scheme-theoretic fibre of a morphism is itself reduced.
It has singular points of an algebraic variety already along , which misses : locally its equation is , with Zariski tangent space of dimension of a vector space but local dimension of an algebraic variety . Finally, is a closed subvariety of . A closed subvariety of an affine variety is an affine variety, whereas is not: all its global regular functions are constant, which cannot be the coordinate ring of a positive-dimensional affine variety. Consequently is singular, reducible, and nonaffine, as required. Choosing the centre off the intersection of the original planes avoids introducing a nonreduced special fibre of a morphism.
Strict transform of an algebraic subvariety 2026-10-07
For a blowup of an algebraic variety with centre , the strict transform of an algebraic subvariety of a subvariety not contained in is the closure of . It excludes components supported entirely in the algebraic exceptional divisor.