Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 17 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the consecutive primitive toric ray vectors around the compact invariant curve . Smoothness gives oriented determinants , hence for an integer . Choose an algebraic torus character with and . The principal divisor on a toric variety has coefficient one at , coefficient at , and zero at . The other invariant curves do not meet , while each adjacent one meets it transversely once. Intersecting this principal divisor with the proper curve gives . This proves the self-intersection formula for a toric surface divisor even when the ambient surface is not complete.
If , then and . The vectors form a lattice basis since , and their toric cone is the union of the two toric cones adjacent to . Deleting is consequently a smooth toric fan coarsening. Its inverse is precisely the toric blowup at a torus-fixed point, obtained by inserting the sum of the two primitive basis vectors. Conversely, that insertion gives , and hence algebraic self-intersection . Thus the toric contraction of a minus-one curve satisfiesFor the cyclic quotient description, first take a strongly convex toric cone of dimension two. Write its primitive boundary vectors as and put , . Since is primitive, extend it to a basis of and write with . Thus is cyclic of order . In the lattice , the toric cone is smooth and its toric variety is . Passing to the larger lattice takes the finite quotient whose invariant monomials are precisely those in the smaller dual lattice . Relative to the two boundary coordinates, , so a generator acts with weights modulo . Replacing that generator by a suitable power makes the first weight one and the second some with and . Therefore, for the singular case,The cyclic quotient surface singularity can equivalently be described by the first-quadrant toric cone inIndeed its coordinate ring is . Characteristic zero ensures the stated ordinary finite-group quotient interpretation.
The restriction to singular toric cones of dimension two is necessary for . A smooth toric cone has and gives with the trivial quotient. A toric cone of dimension one gives , and the zero toric cone gives . These latter surfaces cannot be a quotient of the displayed kind, since they have nonconstant invertible regular functions, whereas has only constant units. Thus the blanket affine-surface wording requires these separate cases.
For the singular case, compute the negative continued fraction by the ceiling form of the Euclidean algorithm. Start with , , and, while , setThen , so the process terminates at . The gcd is unchanged at each step, hence . Since , every . Rearranging the recurrence givesNow define lattice vectorsTo verify this Hirzebruch–Jung resolution algorithm, write with , and . Induction gives , so . It also gives . Thus every adjacent pair has absolute determinant , the covolume of , and is a basis of . The increase strictly, while the decrease to zero, so these toric rays occur in order inside the first quadrant. At termination, and the determinant identity gives , hence . All boundary and inserted vectors are primitive because they occur in lattice bases.
Subdivide the quadrant by . Every resulting toric cone is smooth by the smoothness criterion for a toric variety, and the fan subdivision gives a proper birational toric morphism, hence a resolution. Each interior toric ray has a complete one-dimensional star, so its exceptional curve of a surface resolution is . The recurrence yieldsThis proves minimality: no exceptional curve of a surface resolution can be contracted to a smooth point by the Castelnuovo contraction criterion. There is also a direct toric fan check. For fixed , the determinants of with , measured in units of the lattice covolume, satisfy the same recurrence with coefficients at least two and initial values zero and one. They are at least . Omitting any intervening toric ray therefore leaves a toric cone of determinant at least two, so no nontrivial coarsening is smooth. Thus this is the minimal resolution of a cyclic quotient surface singularity.
If all exceptional algebraic self-intersections are , all and induction gives . Since are coprime, this forces , . Conversely has exactly coefficients equal to two. ThereforeFor the final toric fan, the minimal smooth fan subdivision of the toric cone from to inserts the toric rays for . Adjacent determinants have absolute value one, and , so its inserted curves have algebraic self-intersection and it is the minimal fan subdivision just described. The second original toric cone, from to , is already smooth.
Write and . In the resolved toric fan, the rightmost interior toric ray obeys , so its curve has algebraic self-intersection and can be blown down to a smooth point. After deleting it, the same relation applies to the new rightmost interior toric ray. Continue deleting in that order. Each deletion is the inverse of a toric blowup at a torus-fixed point. The last toric fan has only the quadrant toric cone and defines . ConsequentlyAll maps induce the identity on the dense algebraic torus, so this composite is the same morphism as . The intermediate smooth toric fans need not include the singular toric fan .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 17 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The dense algebraic torus has coordinate ring , a Laurent polynomial ring and hence a unique factorization domain. Its divisor class group is therefore zero. Restrict an arbitrary Weil divisor to the algebraic torus and choose a rational function on an algebraic variety whose divisor there is . Then is supported on the algebraic torus boundary. The prime divisors in that boundary are precisely the corresponding to the toric rays, by the torus orbit-cone correspondence. ConsequentlySince the variety is smooth, every Weil divisor is Cartier. This gives invariant representatives for all divisor classes, without assuming that the original divisor was invariant.
Now use such a representative. The associated vector space isThe principal divisor on a toric variety formula gives . Define the lattice polytope of a toric divisorFor a maximal toric cone , its basic toric ray vectors are a basis of , so there is a unique integral with on its toric rays. The algebraic torus character is a local frame for on . Every global section restricts on the algebraic torus to a finite Laurent polynomial . Relative to this frame, regularity on means . Since distinct algebraic torus characters are independent, this holds exactly when each exponent with nonzero coefficient satisfies the inequalities for the toric rays of . Taking all charts provesCompleteness makes bounded when nonempty: a nonzero recession vector would be nonnegative on every toric ray of a complete toric fan, and therefore on all of , which is impossible. The displayed space is consequently finite-dimensional.
At the torus-fixed point in the smooth chart , a section has local monomial . Its value is nonzero exactly when this monomial is constant, namely when . Thus if the complete linear system of a divisor has no base point, some section is nonzero at , forcing . Conversely, if for every maximal toric cone, its algebraic torus character is a global section whose local expression on is one. It therefore vanishes nowhere on that whole chart, and these charts cover . This proves the toric basepoint-free criterion:The analogous toric ampleness criterion, stated without proof, replaces the inequalities off by strict ones:Equivalently, the normal fan of a polytope is exactly .
For the final fan subdivision, take so that is a new toric ray, as the construction requires. The vectors are a lattice basis, so their sum is primitive. Replacing any one basis vector by this sum gives another basis. Thus the star subdivision gives a smooth toric blowup at a torus-fixed point , with algebraic exceptional divisor . On the old chart, a local equation of is , whose order on the new toric ray is . All old toric ray coefficients are unchanged. ThereforeWe prove ampleness of directly by inequalities, giving the ample divisor after blowing up a torus-fixed point result.
Let be the basis of dual to . On the new maximal toric cone , which omits , the required local algebraic torus character isIndeed its pairings on , , are , while its pairing on is , exactly the negative of the new coefficient . Its inequality on the omitted old toric ray has strict gap one:For any toric ray outside the original toric cone, put . The original ampleness gives positive integers , and the new strict gaps arefor all sufficiently large .
For any unchanged maximal toric cone , the local algebraic torus character is . All strict inequalities on old toric rays follow from those for . Its inequality on the new toric ray has gapEach summand is nonnegative, and at least one is positive because cannot contain all its toric rays. Hence is a positive integer, making this gap positive for . There are only finitely many remaining inequalities. For example, any integer satisfyingworks, with the inner maximum omitted when its index set is empty. The toric ampleness criterion now givesThe new-ray assumption is essential to the printed construction. In dimension one, and the fan subdivision is unchanged, so the two purported distinct divisors coincide. If the displayed definition of is applied literally on with coefficients , , then has degree one but has degree , contradicting the conclusion. The argument above applies to the intended blowup in dimension at least two.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 152 2 a i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The product fan for has rays generated byand maximal cones and . The given fan is obtained by the star subdivision of the first maximal cone throughBy the toric blowup at a torus-fixed point, this subdivision blows up the torus-fixed point corresponding to . Hencefor that torus-fixed point .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 152 2 b iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Letand let be the star subdivision of through the ray . Its maximal cones areSince , their images lie respectively inThus is a morphism of fans from to .
The toric blowup at a torus-fixed point identifiesMore explicitly, the blowup of affine space at the origin is the total space of . The induced toric morphismis its bundle projection: it sends a nonzero vector to its direction and restricts to the identity on the exceptional divisor . Therefore resolves the indeterminacy locus of .
Toric blowup along an orbit closure 2026-10-14
On a smooth toric variety, the blowup along the orbit closure in a toric variety of a cone generated by part of a lattice basis is the star subdivision at their sum. Locally the center has ideal ; its blowup charts adjoin , producing precisely these subdivided cones. This extends the toric blowup at a torus-fixed point to invariant centers of any codimension.
Toric contraction of a minus-one curve 2026-10-14
A compact invariant curve with consecutive rays on a smooth toric surface contracts torically to a smooth point exactly when , equivalently when its self-intersection is . Deleting then reverses a toric blowup at a torus-fixed point.
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