If ${\mathcal {E}}, {\mathcal {F}}$ are vector bundles of ranks $r-1,r$ on a smooth fourfold X and $\mathop {\mathcal Hom}({\mathcal {E}},{\mathcal {F}})$ is globally generated, it is well known that the general map $\phi : {\mathcal {E}} \to {\mathcal {F}}$ is injective and drops rank along a smooth surface. Chang improved on this with a filtered Bertini theorem. We strengthen these results by proving variants in which (a) ${\mathcal {F}}$ is not a vector bundle and (b) $\mathop {\mathcal Hom}({\mathcal {E}},{\mathcal {F}})$ is not globally generated. As an application, we give examples of even linkage classes of surfaces on $\mathbb P^4$ in which all integral surfaces are smoothable, including the linkage classes associated with the Horrocks–Mumford surface.

We study the problem of the irreducibility of the Hessian variety ${\mathcal {H}}_f$ associated with a smooth cubic hypersurface $V(f)\subset {\mathbb {P}}^n$. We prove that when $n\leq 5$, ${\mathcal {H}}_f$ is normal and irreducible if and only if f is not of Thom-Sebastiani type (i.e., if one cannot separate its variables by changing coordinates). This also generalizes a result of Beniamino Segre dealing with the case of cubic surfaces. The geometric approach is based on the study of the singular locus of the Hessian variety and on infinitesimal computations arising from a particular description of these singularities.

A famous theorem of Shokurov states that a general anticanonical divisor of a smooth Fano threefold is a smooth K3 surface. This is quite surprising since there are several examples where the base locus of the anticanonical system has codimension two. In this paper, we show that for four-dimensional Fano manifolds the behaviour is completely opposite: if the base locus is a normal surface, and hence has codimension two, all the anticanonical divisors are singular.

Works by O’Grady allow to associate with a two-dimensional Gushel–Mukai (GM) variety, which is a K3 surface, a double Eisenbud–Popescu–Walter (EPW) sextic. We characterize the $K3$ surfaces whose associated double EPW sextic is smooth. As a consequence, we are able to produce symplectic actions on some families of smooth double EPW sextics which are hyper-Kähler manifolds.

We also provide bounds for the automorphism group of GM varieties in dimension 2 and higher.

We describe the Galois action on the middle $\ell $-adic cohomology of smooth, projective fourfolds $K_A(v)$ that occur as a fiber of the Albanese morphism on moduli spaces of sheaves on an abelian surface A with Mukai vector v. We show this action is determined by the action on $H^2_{\mathrm {\acute{e}t}}(A_{\bar {k}},{\mathbb Q}_{\ell }(1))$ and on a subgroup $G_A(v) \leqslant (A\times \hat {A})[3]$, which depends on v. This generalizes the analysis carried out by Hassett and Tschinkel over ${\mathbb C}$ [21]. As a consequence, over number fields, we give a condition under which $K_2(A)$ and $K_2(\hat {A})$ are not derived equivalent.

The points of $G_A(v)$ correspond to involutions of $K_A(v)$. Over ${\mathbb C}$, they are known to be symplectic and contained in the kernel of the map $\operatorname {\mathrm {Aut}}(K_A(v))\to \mathrm {O}(H^2(K_A(v),{\mathbb Z}))$. We describe this kernel for all varieties $K_A(v)$ of dimension at least $4$.

When $K_A(v)$ is a fourfold over a field of characteristic 0, the fixed-point loci of the involutions contain K3 surfaces whose cycle classes span a large portion of the middle cohomology. We examine the fixed-point locus on fourfolds $K_A(0,l,s)$ over ${\mathbb C}$ where A is $(1,3)$-polarized, finding the K3 surface to be elliptically fibered under a Lagrangian fibration of $K_A(0,l,s)$.

We construct some new deformation families of four-dimensional Fano manifolds of index one in some known classes of Gorenstein formats. These families have explicit descriptions in terms of equations, defining their image under the anticanonical embedding in some weighted projective space. They also have relatively smaller anticanonical degree than most other known families of smooth Fano 4-folds.

Let $X$ be a normal complex projective variety, $T\subseteq X$ a subvariety of dimension $m$ (possibly $T=X$) and $a:X\rightarrow A$ a morphism to an abelian variety such that $\text{Pic}^{0}(A)$ injects into $\text{Pic}^{0}(T)$; let $L$ be a line bundle on $X$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}\in \text{Pic}^{0}(A)$ a general element.

We introduce two new ingredients for the study of linear systems on $X$. First of all, we show the existence of a factorization of the map $a$, called the eventual map of $L$ on $T$, which controls the behavior of the linear systems $|L\otimes \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}|_{|T}$, asymptotically with respect to the pullbacks to the connected étale covers $X^{(d)}\rightarrow X$ induced by the $d$-th multiplication map of $A$.

Second, we define the so-called continuous rank function$x\mapsto h_{a}^{0}(X_{|T},L+xM)$, where $M$ is the pullback of an ample divisor of $A$. This function extends to a continuous function of $x\in \mathbb{R}$, which is differentiable except possibly at countably many points; when $X=T$ we compute the left derivative explicitly.

As an application, we give quick short proofs of a wide range of new Clifford–Severi inequalities, i.e., geographical bounds of the form

$$\begin{eqnarray}\displaystyle \text{vol}_{X|T}(L)\geqslant C(m)h_{a}^{0}(X_{|T},L), & & \displaystyle \nonumber\end{eqnarray}$$

$C(m)={\mathcal{O}}(m!)$

$X$

$L$

$a$

The aim of this paper is to construct Calabi–Yau 4-folds as crepant resolutions of the quotients of a hyperkähler 4-fold $X$ by a non-symplectic involution $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$. We first compute the Hodge numbers of a Calabi–Yau constructed in this way in a general setting, and then we apply the results to several specific examples of non-symplectic involutions, producing Calabi–Yau 4-folds with different Hodge diamonds. Then we restrict ourselves to the case where $X$ is the Hilbert scheme of two points on a K3 surface $S$, and the involution $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ is induced by a non-symplectic involution on the K3 surface. In this case we compare the Calabi–Yau 4-fold $Y_{S}$, which is the crepant resolution of $X/\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$, with the Calabi–Yau 4-fold $Z_{S}$, constructed from $S$ through the Borcea–Voisin construction. We give several explicit geometrical examples of both these Calabi–Yau 4-folds, describing maps related to interesting linear systems as well as a rational $2:1$ map from $Z_{S}$ to $Y_{S}$.

In this paper a new geometric characterization of the $n$ th symmetric product of a curve is given. Specifically, we assume that there exists a chain of smooth subvarieties $V_{i}$ of dimension $i$ , such that $V_{i}$ is an ample divisor in $V_{i+1}$ and its intersection product with $V_{1}$ is one; that the Albanese dimension of $V_{2}$ is $2$ and the genus of $V_{1}$ is equal to the irregularity of the variety. We prove that in this case the variety is isomorphic to the symmetric product of a curve.

We study the moduli spaces of polarised irreducible symplectic manifolds. By a comparison with locally symmetric varieties of orthogonal type of dimension 20, we show that the moduli space of polarised deformation K3[2] manifolds with polarisation of degree 2d and split type is of general type if d≥12.

According to our previous results, the conjugacy class of the involution induced by the complex conjugation in the homology of a real non-singular cubic fourfold determines the fourfold up to projective equivalence and deformation. Here, we show how to eliminate the projective equivalence and obtain a pure deformation classification, that is, how to respond to the chirality problem: which cubics are not deformation equivalent to their image under a mirror reflection. We provide an arithmetical criterion of chirality, in terms of the eigen-sublattices of the complex conjugation involution in homology, and show how this criterion can be effectively applied taking as examples M-cubics (that is, those for which the real locus has the richest topology) and (M−1)-cubics (the next case with respect to complexity of the real locus). It happens that there is one chiral class of M-cubics and three chiral classes of (M−1)-cubics, in contrast to two achiral classes of M-cubics and three achiral classes of (M−1)-cubics.

We study the birational geometry of irreducible holomorphic symplectic varieties arising as varieties of lines of general cubic fourfolds containing a cubic scroll. We compute the ample and moving cones, and exhibit a birational automorphism of infinite order explaining the chamber decomposition of the moving cone.

We make precise the structure of the first two reduction morphisms associated with codimension two non-singular subvarieties of non-singular quadrics Qn, n ≥ 5. We give a coarse classification of the same class of subvarieties when they are assumed not to be of log-general-type.