Scribd
Upload
35 views3 pages

MATH 2810 Algebraic Geometry Homework 1 and Some Practice Problems

This document contains 18 practice problems for an algebraic geometry homework assignment. The problems cover various topics in algebraic geometry including: showing that the zero set of a polynomial does not have interior points; properties of the Zariski topology; proving that the dimension of an affine algebraic variety is finite; finding irreducible components of algebraic sets; and showing correspondences between points on a variety and maximal ideals. Students are asked to complete problems 1-10 and are provided additional optional problems 11-18.

Uploaded by

Amar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
35 views3 pages

MATH 2810 Algebraic Geometry Homework 1 and Some Practice Problems

This document contains 18 practice problems for an algebraic geometry homework assignment. The problems cover various topics in algebraic geometry including: showing that the zero set of a polynomial does not have interior points; properties of the Zariski topology; proving that the dimension of an affine algebraic variety is finite; finding irreducible components of algebraic sets; and showing correspondences between points on a variety and maximal ideals. Students are asked to complete problems 1-10 and are provided additional optional problems 11-18.

Uploaded by

Amar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

MATH 2810 Algebraic Geometry Homework 1 and

some practice problems


Kiumars Kaveh

Due: February 16, 2015

Do problems 1–10.

Throughout k denotes an algebraically closed field. In some of the questions


the base field is C. You can use material proved in class or in Karen Smith’s
book.

Problem 1: Show that the zero set of a non-zero polynomial in C[x, y] does
not have interior points (with respect to the usual Euclidean topology on
C2 ). (The same statement holds with similar proof in all dimensions.)

Problem 2:
(a) Show that the Zariski topology on A2 is not the product topology on
A1 × A1 . (Hint: Consider the diagonal.)
(b) Show that every non-empty Zariski open set is dense in An (in Zariski
topology).

Problem 3: Show that the dimension of an affine algebraic variety is finite.

Problem 4: Show that a radical ideal I in the ring k[x1 , . . . , xn ] is the


intersection of all the maximal ideals containing I.

Problem 5: Find the Zariski closure of the graph of the function y = ex in


the affine space C2 .

Problem 6: Consider the twisted cubic curve C = {(t3 , t4 , t5 ) | t ∈ k}.


Prove that C is an irreducible algebraic set in A3 of dimension 1.

1
Problem 7: Let k be a field of characteristic 6= 2. Decompose the algebraic
set X ⊂ A3 defined by the equations x2 +y 2 +z 2 = 0 and x2 −y 2 −z 2 +1 = 0,
into irreducible components.

Problem 8: (Related to Gröbner bases P and monomial orders) Fix a term


a1
order < on Z . Let f (x1 , . . . , xn ) = α=(a1 ,...,an ) cα x1 · · · xann be a non-zero
n

polynomial. Let v(f ) denote the highest exponent of f with respect to <,
that is:
v(f ) = max{α | cα 6= 0} ∈ Zn≥0 .
Let L be a finite dimensional vector subspace of polynomials. Show that
dimk (L) is equal to the number of elements in the set v(L \ {0}) ⊂ Zn≥0 ,
that is the number of highest exponents appearing in any f ∈ L.

Problem 9: Let X = {(t2 , t3 ) | t ∈ k} be a twisted cubic curve. Show that


X is an irreducible algebraic variety which is not isomorphic to the affine
line A1 . On the other hand, let k(X) be the quotient field of the coordinate
ring k[X] (this is called the field of rational functions on X). Show that the
field k(X) is isomorphic (as a k-algebra) to the field of rational polynomials
k(t) (in one variable t).

Problem 10: Let X ⊂ An be an algebraic variety. Show that for any


p = (a1 , . . . , an ) the ideal mp = hx1 − a1 , . . . , xn − an i is a maximal ideal and
consists of all the functions in k[X] which vanish at p. Show that p 7→ mp
gives a one-to-one correspondence between the points in X and the maximal
ideals in k[X].

Some more problems:

Problem 11: Consider the algebraic set V = V(xy + zw) ⊂ A4 .


(a) Show that xy + zw is an irreducible polynomial, and conclude that V
is an irreducible variety.
(b) Prove that the coordinate ring k(V ) of V is not a UFD.
Problem 12: Show that in a ring R, a point in SpecR is closed if and only
if it corresponds to a maximal ideal. Moreover, show that if R is an integral
domain then the prime ideal {0} is dense in SpecR.

Problem 13: Suppose φ : An → An is a morphism. Let Jφ(x) = det(∂φi /∂xj )


denote the Jacobian of φ at x = (x1 , . . . , xn ), that is, the determinant of

2
the matrix of partial derivatives. Show that if φ is an automorphism, i.e.,
φ is a bijection and φ−1 is also a morphism, then Jφ(x) is a nonzero con-
stant function. (The famous Jacobian conjecture claims that the opposite
is also true.) Give an example of an automorphism of An which is not linear.

Problem 14: Show that in Zariski topology the affine space An is compact
(i.e. every open cover has a finite subcover).

Problem 15: Consider the curve C = {(t, t2 , . . . , tn )|t ∈ k}.

(a) Prove that C is an irreducible algebraic set in An of dimension 1. It


is usually known as the rational normal curve.

(b) Find generators for the ideal I of C. Show that it can be generated
by n − 1 elements (i.e. C is a local complete intersection).

(c) Prove that k[C] ∼


= k[t], the polynomial ring in one variable t.

Problem 16: Show that a variety V in Cn is bounded (in the usual metric
on Cn ) if and only if it is a finite set. Use this to show that the set U (n)
2
of n × n unitary matrices is not an algebraic variety of Cn = M (n, C), the
affine space of all n × n complex matrices. On the other hand, show that
2
U (n) is an algebraic subvariety of R2n = M (2n, R), the affine space of all
2n × 2n real matrices.

Problem: 17 Let the group S3 of permutations of three letters act on the


polynomial ring k[x1 , x2 , x3 ] by permutation of the variables. Find the ring
of invariant polynomials.

Problem 18: Show that if X → Y is a surjective morphism of affine alge-


braic varieties, then the dimension of X is at least as large as the dimension
of Y .

You might also like