We study various measures of irrationality for hypersurfaces of large degree in projective space and other varieties. These include the least degree of a rational covering of projective space, and the minimal gonality of a covering family of curves. The theme is that positivity properties of canonical bundles lead to lower bounds on these invariants. In particular, we prove that if $X\subseteq \mathbf{P}^{n+1}$ is a very general smooth hypersurface of dimension $n$ and degree $d\geqslant 2n+1$ , then any dominant rational mapping $f:X{\dashrightarrow}\mathbf{P}^{n}$ must have degree at least $d-1$ . We also propose a number of open problems, and we show how our methods lead to simple new proofs of results of Ran and Beheshti–Eisenbud concerning varieties of multi-secant lines.

We prove a version of Clifford’s theorem for metrized complexes. Namely, a metrized complex that carries a divisor of degree $2r$ and rank $r$ (for $0<r<g-1$ ) also carries a divisor of degree 2 and rank 1. We provide a structure theorem for hyperelliptic metrized complexes, and use it to classify divisors of degree bounded by the genus. We discuss a tropical version of Martens’ theorem for metric graphs.

Deninger et Werner ont développé un analogue pour les courbes $p$ -adiques de la correspondance classique de Narasimhan et Seshadri entre les fibrés vectoriels stables de degré $0$ et les représentations unitaires du groupe fondamental topologique pour une courbe complexe propre et lisse. Par transport parallèle, ils ont associé fonctoriellement à chaque fibré vectoriel sur une courbe $p$ -adique, dont la réduction est fortement semi-stable de degré $0$ , une représentation $p$ -adique du groupe fondamental de la courbe. Ils se sont posé quelques questions : leur foncteur est-il pleinement fidèle ? La cohomologie des systèmes locaux fournis par celui-ci admet-elle une filtration de Hodge-Tate ? Leur construction est-elle compatible avec la correspondance de Simpson $p$ -adique développée par Faltings ? Nous répondons à ces questions dans cet article.

Using the geometry of an almost del Pezzo threefold, we show that the moduli space ${\mathcal{S}}_{g,1}^{0,\text{hyp}}$ of genus $g$ one-pointed ineffective spin hyperelliptic curves is rational for every $g\geqslant 2$.

For each discriminant $D>1$, McMullen constructed the Prym–Teichmüller curves $W_{D}(4)$ and $W_{D}(6)$ in ${\mathcal{M}}_{3}$ and ${\mathcal{M}}_{4}$, which constitute one of the few known infinite families of geometrically primitive Teichmüller curves. In the present paper, we determine for each $D$ the number and type of orbifold points on $W_{D}(6)$. These results, together with a previous result of the two authors in the genus $3$ case and with results of Lanneau–Nguyen and Möller, complete the topological characterisation of all Prym–Teichmüller curves and determine their genus. The study of orbifold points relies on the analysis of intersections of $W_{D}(6)$ with certain families of genus $4$ curves with extra automorphisms. As a side product of this study, we give an explicit construction of such families and describe their Prym–Torelli images, which turn out to be isomorphic to certain products of elliptic curves. We also give a geometric description of the flat surfaces associated to these families and describe the asymptotics of the genus of $W_{D}(6)$ for large $D$.

This is the first of three papers in which we give a moduli interpretation of the second flip in the log minimal model program for $\overline{M}_{g}$ , replacing the locus of curves with a genus  $2$ Weierstrass tail by a locus of curves with a ramphoid cusp. In this paper, for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}\in (2/3-\unicode[STIX]{x1D716},2/3+\unicode[STIX]{x1D716})$ , we introduce new $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ -stability conditions for curves and prove that they are deformation open. This yields algebraic stacks $\overline{{\mathcal{M}}}_{g}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC})$ related by open immersions $\overline{{\mathcal{M}}}_{g}(2/3+\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}){\hookrightarrow}\overline{{\mathcal{M}}}_{g}(2/3){\hookleftarrow}\overline{{\mathcal{M}}}_{g}(2/3-\unicode[STIX]{x1D716})$ . We prove that around a curve $C$ corresponding to a closed point in $\overline{{\mathcal{M}}}_{g}(2/3)$ , these open immersions are locally modeled by variation of geometric invariant theory for the action of $\text{Aut}(C)$ on the first-order deformation space of $C$ .

We prove a general criterion for an algebraic stack to admit a good moduli space. This result may be considered as a generalization of the Keel–Mori theorem, which guarantees the existence of a coarse moduli space for a separated Deligne–Mumford stack. We apply this result to prove that the moduli stacks $\overline{{\mathcal{M}}}_{g,n}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC})$ parameterizing $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ -stable curves introduced in [J. Alper et al., Second flip in the Hassett–Keel program: a local description, Compositio Math. 153 (2017), 1547–1583] admit good moduli spaces.

Making use of Gruson–Raynaud’s technique of ‘platification par éclatement’, Kerz and Strunk proved that the negative homotopy $K$-theory groups of a Noetherian scheme $X$ of Krull dimension $d$ vanish below $-d$. In this article, making use of noncommutative algebraic geometry, we improve this result in the case of quotient singularities by proving that the negative homotopy $K$-theory groups vanish below $-1$. Furthermore, in the case of cyclic quotient singularities, we provide an explicit ‘upper bound’ for the first negative homotopy $K$-theory group.

We prove that the direct image complex for the $D$ -twisted $\text{SL}_{n}$ Hitchin fibration is determined by its restriction to the elliptic locus, where the spectral curves are integral. The analogous result for $\text{GL}_{n}$ is due to Chaudouard and Laumon. Along the way, we prove that the Tate module of the relative Prym group scheme is polarizable, and we also prove $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}$ -regularity results for some auxiliary weak abelian fibrations.

Inspired by methods of N. P. Smart, we describe an algorithm to determine all Picard curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ with good reduction away from 3, up to $\mathbb{Q}$ -isomorphism. A correspondence between the isomorphism classes of such curves and certain quintic binary forms possessing a rational linear factor is established. An exhaustive list of integral models is determined and an application to a question of Ihara is discussed.

We prove the Green–Lazarsfeld secant conjecture [Green and Lazarsfeld, On the projective normality of complete linear series on an algebraic curve, Invent. Math. 83 (1986), 73–90; Conjecture (3.4)] for extremal line bundles on curves of arbitrary gonality, subject to explicit genericity assumptions.

For every integer $k\geqslant 3$ we construct a $k$ -gonal curve $C$ along with a very ample divisor of degree $2g+k-1$ (where $g$ is the genus of $C$ ) to which the vanishing statement from the Green–Lazarsfeld gonality conjecture does not apply.

We prove that the generalized Hilbert–Kunz function of a graded module $M$ over a two-dimensional standard graded normal $K$ -domain over an algebraically closed field $K$ of prime characteristic $p$ has the form $gHK(M,q)=e_{gHK}(M)q^{2}+\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(q)$ , with rational generalized Hilbert–Kunz multiplicity $e_{gHK}(M)$ and a bounded function $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(q)$ . Moreover, we prove that if $R$ is a $\mathbb{Z}$ -algebra, the limit for $p\rightarrow +\infty$ of the generalized Hilbert–Kunz multiplicity $e_{gHK}^{R_{p}}(M_{p})$ over the fibers $R_{p}$ exists, and it is a rational number.

In this paper we discuss a relationship between the spectral asymmetry and the surface symmetry. More precisely, we show that for every automorphism of a Hurwitz surface with the automorphism group $\text{PSL}(2,\mathbb{F}_{q})$ , the $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$ -invariant of the corresponding mapping torus vanishes if $q$ is sufficiently large.

The paper studies a relation between fundamental group of the complement to a plane singular curve and the orbifold pencils containing it. The main tool is the use of Albanese varieties of cyclic covers ramified along such curves. Our results give sufficient conditions for a plane singular curve to belong to an orbifold pencil, that is, a pencil of plane curves with multiple fibers inducing a map onto an orbifold curve whose orbifold fundamental group is nontrivial. We construct an example of a cyclic cover of the projective plane which is an abelian surface isomorphic to the Jacobian of a curve of genus 2 illustrating the extent to which these conditions are necessary.

Consider two ordinary elliptic curves $E,E^{\prime }$ defined over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ , and suppose that there exists an isogeny $\unicode[STIX]{x1D713}$ between $E$ and $E^{\prime }$ . We propose an algorithm that determines $\unicode[STIX]{x1D713}$ from the knowledge of $E$ , $E^{\prime }$ and of its degree $r$ , by using the structure of the $\ell$ -torsion of the curves (where  $\ell$  is a prime different from the characteristic  $p$ of the base field). Our approach is inspired by a previous algorithm due to Couveignes, which involved computations using the $p$ -torsion on the curves. The most refined version of that algorithm, due to De Feo, has a complexity of  $\tilde{O} (r^{2})p^{O(1)}$ base field operations. On the other hand, the cost of our algorithm is $\tilde{O} (r^{2})\log (q)^{O(1)}$ , for a large class of inputs; this makes it an interesting alternative for the medium- and large-characteristic cases.

We describe the construction of a database of genus- $2$ curves of small discriminant that includes geometric and arithmetic invariants of each curve, its Jacobian, and the associated $L$ -function. This data has been incorporated into the $L$ -Functions and Modular Forms Database (LMFDB).

We present JKL-ECM, an implementation of the elliptic curve method of integer factorization which uses certain twisted Hessian curves in a family studied by Jeon, Kim and Lee. This implementation takes advantage of torsion subgroup injection for families of elliptic curves over a quartic number field, in addition to the ‘small parameter’ speedup. We produced thousands of curves with torsion $\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}\oplus \mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}$ and small parameters in twisted Hessian form, which admit curve arithmetic that is ‘almost’ as fast as that of twisted Edwards form. This allows JKL-ECM to compete with GMP-ECM for finding large prime factors. Also, JKL-ECM, based on GMP, accepts integers of arbitrary size. We classify the torsion subgroups of Hessian curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ and further examine torsion properties of the curves described by Jeon, Kim and Lee. In addition, the high-performance curves with torsion $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\oplus \mathbb{Z}/8\mathbb{Z}$ of Bernstein et al. are completely recovered by the $\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\oplus \mathbb{Z}/8\mathbb{Z}$ family of Jeon, Kim and Lee, and hundreds more curves are produced besides, all with small parameters and base points.

We outline an algorithm to compute $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}(z,\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F})$ in genus two in quasi-linear time, borrowing ideas from the algorithm for theta constants and the one for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}(z,\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F})$ in genus one. Our implementation shows a large speed-up for precisions as low as a few thousand decimal digits. We also lay out a strategy to generalize this algorithm to genus  $g$ .