Math 145 Solution 5

Problem 1. (Products of affine varieties.) Let X ⊂ An and Y ⊂ Am be affine algebraic sets.

(i) Show that X × Y ⊂ An+m is also an affine algebraic set.
Answer: (i) Let X ⊂ An and Y ⊂ Am be affine algebraic sets such that
X = Z(f1 , . . . , fr ), Y = Z(g1 , . . . , gs )
where
fi ∈ k[X1 , X2 , . . . , Xn ] and gj ∈ k[Y1 , Y2 , . . . , Ym ] .
We regard fi and gj as polynomials in the variables X1 , . . . , Xn , Y1 , . . . , Ym . We claim
that
X × Y = Z(f1 , . . . , fr , g1 , . . . , gs ) ⊂ An+m .
This will show that X × Y is an affine algebraic set.
To prove the claim, observe that
(x1 , . . . , xn , y1 , . . . , ym ) ∈ Z(f1 , . . . , fr , g1 , . . . , gs )
⇔ fi (x1 , . . . , xn ) = 0 and gj (y1 , . . . , ym ) = 0 for all i, j
⇔ (x1 , . . . , xn ) ∈ X and (y1 , . . . , ym ) ∈ Y ⇔ (x1 , . . . , xn , y1 , . . . , ym ) ∈ X × Y.

Problem 2. (Intersections with hypersurfaces.)
(i) Let H ⊂ Pn be a linear hyperplane in Pn (e.g. H is cut out by one linear homogeneous equation
in Pn ). Show that the quasiprojective algebraic set Pn \H is isomorphic to An .
(ii) Show that if X is a degree d hypersurface in Pn then Pn \X admits a nonconstant morphism
to an affine space. (In fact, its not much harder to show that Pn \X is isomorphic to an affine
variety).
(ii) Conclude that if X is a hypersurface in Pn and Y ⊂ Pn is a projective variety which is not a
point, then the intersection of X and Y is non-emtpy.
(iv) If X is a degree d hypersurface in Pn and L is a line in Pn not contained in X, show that L and X
intersect in at most d points. In fact, they intersect in exactly d points counted with multiplicity.
Answer: (i) Write temporarily X00 , . . . , Xn0 for the coordinates on Pn . Assume that the hy-
perplane H is cut out by the linear equation
( n )
X
H= ai Xi0 = 0 .
i=0

Without loss of generality, we may assume an 6= 0. Define

n
X
Xn = ai Xi0 , Xi = Xi0 for 0 ≤ i ≤ n − 1.
i=0

Then it’s easy to see that Xi are new coordinates on Pn . Indeed, the change of coordi-
nates matrix  
1 0 ... 0 0
 0 1 ... 0 0
C=  0 0 ...

1 0
a0 a1 . . . an−1 an
is invertible having determinant equal to an 6= 0.
In the new coordinates, H is defined by
Xn = 0 .
1
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The map
 
n n X0 Xn−1
π : P \H → A , [X0 : . . . : Xn ] → ,...,
Xn Xn
is well-defined because Xn 6= 0 on Pn \H. Let

φ : An → Pn \H, (Y1 , . . . , Yn ) → [Y1 : . . . : Yn : 1]

Clearly π and φ are inverses, and therefore π is an isomorphism.
(ii) Suppose X = Z(f ) where
X
f= ai0 i1 ...in X0i0 · · · Xnin = 0 .
i0 +···+in =d

Let v be the d-fold Veronese embedding

v : Pn → PN .
It is easy to check that v is injective (this follows from the definitions, we need to consider
quotients of the monomials od degree d.)
Let Y0 , . . . , YN be the coordinates on PN . For points in the image of the Veronese
embedding,
Y0 , . . . , YN
is a list of all degree d monomials
X0i0 · · · Xnin ,
in some order. To fix notation, we write Yi0 ...in for the coordinate corresponding to the
monomial X0i0 · · · Xnin .
Let H 0 be the hyperplane in PN defined by the linear equation with coefficients ai0 ...in
e.g.
X
ai0 ...in Yi0 ...in = 0.
Clearly,
v(X) ⊂ H 0 .
Then
v : Pn \ X → PN \ H 0 ∼
= AN ,
where in the last equation we used (ii). Therefore, we obtained a non-constant (in fact
injective) morphism from Pn \ X and AN .
(iii) Suppose the intersection of X and Y is empty, then
Y ⊂ Pn \X.
Let
v : Pn \X → AN
be the morphism described in (ii) and πi be the projection map from
π i : AN → A1
to the i-th coordinate. Then
πi ◦ v : Pn \X → A1 .
Hence πi ◦ v restricts to a morphism from Y → A1 . Because Y is a projective variety,
πi ◦ φ must be a constant. This is true for every i, therefore v is a constant morphism on
Y . But since v is injective, it follows that Y is a point.
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(iv) After a change of coordinates, we can assume that L is cut out by the equations
X2 = . . . = Xn = 0 .
Indeed, pick any two points p and q on L, change coordinates such that p and q become
[1 : 0 : . . . : 0] and [0 : 1 : . . . : 0]. It is clear that the line L that p and q determine is given
by X2 = . . . = Xn = 0.
Recall that X
f= ai0 i1 ...in X0i0 · · · Xnin .
i0 +···+in =d
Let X
F (X0 , X1 ) = f (X0 , X1 , 0, . . . , 0) = ai0 i1 0...0 X0i0 X1i1 .
i0 +i1 =d
Assuming
x = [x0 : x1 : · · · : xn ] ∈ L ∩ X
then x2 = . . . = xn = 0 and f (x) = 0. Therefore
X
F (x) = ai0 i1 0...0 xi00 xi11 = 0 .
i0 +i1 =d

Note that if F ∼
= 0 it follows that
L ⊂ X,
which is impossible. Therefore F is a non-zero homogenous polynomial of degree at
most d.
If ad0...0 = 0, then F = x0 G where G has degree d − 1. It follows by induction that
G has at most d − 1 roots and thus F has at most d roots, namely the zeros of F and
[0 : 1 : . . . : 0]).
Assume now ad0...0 6= 0. If x1 = 0, this implies x0 = 0, which is not in Pn . Therefore
we can assume x1 = 1 and x0 is a solution of
X
ai0 i1 0...0 X0i0 = 0
i0 +i1 =d

This is a nonzero degree d polynomial, with at most d solutions. Therefore there are at
most d points in the intersection L ∩ X.

Problem 3. (Rational varieties.) Two projective varieties X and Y are birational if there are rational
maps
f :X /Y , g:Y / X.
which are rational inverses to each other. We say that X is rational if X is birational to Pn for some n.
(i) Show that a birational isomorphism f : X / Y induces an isomorphism of the fields of
rational functions f ? : K(Y ) → K(X). The converse is also true but you don’t have to prove it.
(ii) Show that Pn × Pm is rational, by constructing an explicit birational isomorphism with Pn+m .
Show that if X and Y are rational, then X × Y is rational.

Answer: (i) For h ∈ K(Y ), define

f ? (h) = h ◦ f.
This is a rational function on X. This fact is explained for instance in the text, section
4.10. In the terminology used there, f is a dominant map. In short, the idea is as follows.
We have seen that h is defined on an open set Dom(h) ⊂ Y . By assumption, f establishes
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an isomorphism between nonempty open sets U and V in X and Y . Then f ? h is defined

on the intersection
f −1 (V ∩ Dom(h)).
To show this intersection is non-empty, we need to argue that the nonempty open sets V
and Dom(h) intersect. But if they do not, the proper closed sets Y \ V and Y \ Dom(h)
cover Y contradicting the fact that Y is irreducible.
Therefore f ? : K(Y ) → K(X) is a well defined field homomorphism.
Similarly, the birational inverse morphism g : Y / X induces a field homomor-
? ? ?
phism g : K(X) → K(Y ). We claim that f and g are inverses. Indeed, for h1 ∈ K(Y ),
h2 ∈ K(X),
f ∗ g ∗ (h2 ) = f ∗ (h2 ◦ g) = h2 ◦ g ◦ f = h2 ◦ id = h2 ,
g ∗ f ∗ (h1 ) = g ∗ (h1 ◦ f ) = h1 ◦ f ◦ g = h1 ◦ id = h1 .
Therefore K(X) = ∼ K(Y ).
(ii) Let U ⊂ Pn be the open set where the coordinate x0 6= 0. Similarly, let V ⊂ Pm be the
open set where the coordinate y0 6= 0, and let W be the open set in Pn+m where the first
coordinate is non-zero Define φ : U × V → Pn+m as
 
x1 x2 xn y1 y2 yn
[x0 : x1 : . . . : xn ] × [y0 : y1 : . . . : ym ] → 1 : : : ... : : : ,... : .
x0 x0 x0 y0 y0 y0
It is easy to check that φ establishes an isomorphism between U ×V and W , with inverse
ψ : W → U × V, [1 : z1 : . . . : zn+m ] → [1 : z1 : . . . : zn ] × [1 : zn+1 : . . . : zn+m ].
Therefore φ and ψ define birational isomorphisms between Pn × Pm and Pn+m .
Finally, if X and Y are birational to Pn andPm , then X × Y is birational to Pn × Pm
which in turn is birational to Pn+m . Therefore, X × Y is rational.


Problem 4. (Quadrics are rational.)

(i) Show that a non-singular irreducible quadric Q in P3 can be written in the form
xy = zw
after a suitable change of homogeneous coordinates. Combining this result with the Segre em-
bedding, conclude that any quadric in P3 is isomorphic to P1 × P1 , hence it is rational.
(ii) In general, show that any non-singular irreducible quadric Q ⊂ Pn+1 is birational to Pn .

Answer: (i) A homogeneous quadratic polynomial f (x, y, z, w) can be written as

 
x
y 
f = [x y z w] A 
z 


w
where A is a symmetric 4 × 4 matrix. Because A is symmetric, it can be diagonalized.
Thus we can find one set of coordinates x1 , y1 , z1 , w1 such that
  
λ1 0 0 0 x1
 0 λ2 0 0   y1 
f = [x1 y1 z1 w1 ]     = λ1 x21 + λ2 y12 + λ3 z12 + λ3 w12 .
0 0 λ3 0   z1 
0 0 0 λ4 w1
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We claim that λi 6= 0, for all 1 ≤ i ≤ 4. Indeed, if for instance λ1 = 0, then [1 : 0 : 0 : 0]

is a singular point of the quadric which is impossible.
We can change coordinates again, setting
p p p p
x2 = λ1 x1 + i λ2 y1 , y2 = λ1 x1 − i λ2 y1 ,
p p p p
z2 = i( λ3 z1 + i λ4 w1 ), w2 = i( λ3 z1 − i λ4 w1 ).
This is a change of coordinates since the matrix of coefficients
√ √ 
√λ1 i √λ2 0 0
 λ1 −i λ2
 √0 0 
√ 
 0 0 i√λ3 −√ λ4 
0 0 i λ3 λ4
is invertible. Indeed, the determinant equals 4λ1 λ2 λ3 λ4 6= 0.
Then
f = x2 y2 − z2 w2 .
(ii) Similar to (i), we can assume that the quadric Q is defined by
x0 x1 − x22 − x23 − . . . x2n = 0.
Pick the point p = [1 : 0 : . . . : 0] ∈ Q, and let H be the hyperplane X0 = 0.
The line passing through p = [1 : 0 : . . . : 0] and q = [x0 : . . . : xn ] is
[r + sx0 : sx1 : . . . : sxn ].
This line intersets the hyperplane H when r + sx0 = 0. Therefore the line intersects H
at [0 : sx1 : . . . : sxn ] = [0 : x1 : . . . : xn ]. This may be undefined when x1 = x2 = · · · =
xn = 0, i.e. when q = p. We obtain a morphism
f : Q \ {p} → H, [x0 : x1 : . . . : xn ] → [0 : x1 : . . . : xn ].
The rational inverse of f is given by
 2 2

g:H / Q , [x1 : x2 : . . . : xn ] = x2 + · · · xn : x1 : x2 : . . . : xn .
x1
This may be undefined at the points where x1 = 0.
Since f has a rational inverse, Q is birational to H.


Problem 5. (Quadrics and curves.)

(i) Show that two quadrics in P3 intersect in an elliptic curve. More precisely, consider the following
two quadrics in P3 :
Q1 = Z(xw − yz), Q2 = (yw − (x − z)(x − λz)).
Show that the intersection of the two quadrics is in bijective correspondence to the elliptic curve
Eλ.
(ii) Show that the twisted cubic in P3 is the intersections of the three quadrics
Q1 = Z(xz − y 2 ), Q2 = Z(xt − yz), Q3 = Z(yt − z 2 ).
Show that any two of these quadrics will not intersect in the twisted cubic.
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Answer: (i) Suppose p = [x : y : z : w] ∈ Q1 ∩ Q2 , then

xw = yz,
yw = (x − z)(x − λz).
Multiplying the first equation by y and the second by x and substracting, we have
y 2 z = x(x − z)(x − λz).
We define
f : Q1 ∩ Q2 → E λ , [x : y : z : w] → [x : y : z] .
Note that f is not well-defined at [0 : 0 : 0 : 1] ∈ Q1 ∩ Q2 . In this case, we set
f ([0 : 0 : 0 : 1]) = [0 : 0 : 1].
We claim that f is bijective and its inverse is given by
yz
g : E λ → Q1 ∩ Q2 , [x : y : z] → [x : y : z : ].
x
Note that g is undefined at [0 : 0 : 1] and [0 : 1 : 0]. Since [0 : 1 : 0] = f ([0 : 1 : 0 : 0]), and
[0 : 0 : 1] = f ([0 : 0 : 0 : 1]), we set
g([0 : 1 : 0]) = [0 : 1 : 0 : 0], g([0 : 0 : 1]) = [0 : 0 : 0 : 1].
It is straightforward to check that f and g are inverses.
It is more delicate to check that f and g are actually morphisms, and we will not
pursue this here in detail. If you wish to prove this fact, then you need to define
(
[x : y : z] if (x, y, z) 6= (0, 0, 0)
f ([x : y : z : w]) = .
[w(x − z)(x − λz) : z(y − w)(y − λw) : w3 ] if w 6= 0
You will need to make sure that the function is defined everywhere on Q1 ∩ Q2 , and
well-defined on overlaps. This last statement is equivalent to the equalities of rational
functions
w(x − z)(x − λz) z(y − w)(y − λw) w3
= =
x y z
which can be derived from manipulating the equations of the quadric. The argument
for the inverse is similar. We define
(
[x2 : xy : xz : yz] when [x : y : z] 6= [0 : 0 : 1] or [0 : 1 : 0],
g([x : y : z]) = .
[xy : y 2 : yz : (x − z)(x − λz)] when [x : y : z] 6= [1 : 0 : 1] or [1 : 0 : λ]
Since on E λ :
y 2 z = x(x − z)(x − λz),
it follows that
[x2 : xy : xz : yz] = [xy : y 2 : yz : (x − z)(x − λz)]
on overlaps (indeed, the coordinates are proportional to each other with the proportion-
ality factor y/x). Therefore, g is a well-defined morphism.
(ii) The twisted cubic is given by
[x : y : z : t] = [a3 : a2 b : ab2 : b3 ]
for some [a : b] ∈ P1 . Clearly, points of these type satisfy the equations
xz = y 2 , xt = yz, yt = z 2 ,
so the twisted cubic is contained in the intersection Q1 ∩ Q2 ∩ Q3 .
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Conversely, given a point p = [x : y : z : t] in the intersection of the three quadrics

Q1 , Q2 , Q3 , set
[a : b] = [x : y]
if x 6= 0. Otherwise, if x = 0, then y = z = 0 and set [a : b] = [0 : 1]. We claim
[x : y : z : t] = [a3 : a2 b : ab2 : b3 ]
e.g. p lies on the twisted cubic. This is clear for the case x = 0. If x 6= 0, then a 6= 0, and
from the first and third equations we have
b
y =x· .
a
Using the first and second equations, we solve
b2 b3
z =x· , t = x · .
a2 a3
Then,
b2 b3
 
b
[x : y : z : t] = x : x : x 2 : x 3 = [a3 : a2 b : ab2 : b3 ].
a a a
Finally, note that [0 : 0 : 1 : 0] ∈ Q1 ∩ Q2 but not in Q3 ; [0 : 1 : 0 : 0] ∈ Q2 ∩ Q3 but not
in Q1 ; [1 : 0 : 0 : 1] ∈ Q3 ∩ Q2 but not in Q1 . So any of the two quadrics can’t generate
the twisted cubic.

Problem 6. (Introduction to moduli theory.) Show that for any 3 lines L1 , L2 , L3 in P3 , there is a
quadric Q ⊂ P3 containing all three of them.
(i) First, observe that any homogeneous degree 2 polynomial in 4 variables has 10 coefficients. These
coefficients can be regarded as a point in the projective space P9 . Show that this point only
depends on the quadric Q and not on the polynomial defining it. Let us denote this point by pQ .
Show that any point p ∈ P9 determines a quadric in P3 .
(ii) Consider a line L ⊂ P3 . Show that there is a codimension 3 projective linear subpace
HL ⊂ P9
such that
L ⊂ Q iff and only if pQ ∈ HL .
(iii) Show that any three codimension 3 projective linear subspaces of P9 intersect. In particular,
show that
HL1 ∩ HL2 ∩ HL3 6= ∅,
and conclude that L1 , L2 , L3 are contained in a quadric Q.
(iv) Explain (briefly) that if L1 , L2 , L3 are disjoint lines, then Q can be assumed to be irreducible.
Answer: (i) Consider a homogeneous degree 3 polynomial
F (X0 , X1 , X2 , X3 ) = a0 X02 + a1 X0 X1 + · · · + a10 X32 .
This has 4 square terms and 42 = 6 mixed terms, i.e. 10 terms in total. We associate the

quadric Q := Z(F ) the point point

pQ = [a0 : a1 : . . . : a10 ] ∈ P9 .
Note that this association is independent of the defining equation of the quadric. Indeed,
if F and G define the same quadric, then by the Nullstellensatz it follows that G = cF
for some constant c 6= 0. But then the point pQ does not change, since the coefficients
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ai are considered projectively. Finally, this association is clearly bijective, since for any
pQ ∈ P9 we can recover the equation of the quadric Q (up to scalars).
(ii) Assume that the line L is given by X0 = X1 = 0. Then
L⊂Q∼ = F (0, 0, X2 , X3 ) = 0.
Since
F (0, 0, X2 , X3 ) = a8 X22 + a9 X2 X3 + a10 X32 ,
we obtain
a8 = a9 = a10 = 0.
These equations define a codimension 3 projective space HL ⊂ P9 such that
L ⊂ Q if and only if pQ ∈ HL .
If L is any line and Q is a quadric, we can change coordinates linearly so that L0 be-
0 0

comes the line L: X0 = X1 = 0. After the coordinate change, Q0 is mapped to another

quadric Q and the coefficients of Q are linear combinations of coefficients of Q0 . From
above
L ⊂ Q if and only if pQ ∈ HL .
Note that
L0 ⊂ Q0 if and only if L ⊂ Q.
Therefore there exists a codimension 3 projective space HL0 ⊂ P9 , the transformation of
HL via the change of coordinates, such that
L0 ⊂ Q0 if and only if pQ0 ∈ HL0 .
(iii) The codimension 3 subspaces HL correspond to 7 dimensional linear subspaces AL ⊂
A10 cut out by the same 3 linear equations. Now,
AL1 ∩ AL2 ∩ AL3
is described by 9 linear equations in A10 . Such a system of equations must have a non-
trivial solution p. This solution p considered projectively satisfies
p ∈ HL1 ∩ HL2 ∩ HL3 .
Now, p determines a quadric Q with p = pQ . It follows by (iii) that
L1 ∩ L2 ∩ L3 ⊂ Q.
(iv) If the quardric Q is reducible, then Q is the union of two hyperplanes H1 and H2 . If L1 ,
L2 and L3 are 3 disjoint lines and
L1 ∪ L2 ∪ L3 ⊂ Q,
there should be two lines in the same hyperplane H1 ∼
= P2 or H2 ∼
= P2 . But we have seen
2
on the midterm that two lines on P always intersect in 1 point. This is a contradiction.
Therefore we can assume Q is irreducible.