In this paper, we prove a decomposition result for the Chow groups of projectivizations of coherent sheaves of homological dimension $\le 1$ . In this process, we establish the decomposition of Chow groups for the cases of the Cayley trick and standard flips. Moreover, we apply these results to study the Chow groups of symmetric powers of curves, nested Hilbert schemes of surfaces, and the varieties resolving Voisin maps for cubic fourfolds.

Since Faltings proved Mordell’s conjecture in [16] in 1983, we have known that the sets of rational points on curves of genus at least $2$ are finite. Determining these sets in individual cases is still an unsolved problem. Chabauty’s method (1941) [10] is to intersect, for a prime number p, in the p-adic Lie group of p-adic points of the Jacobian, the closure of the Mordell–Weil group with the p-adic points of the curve. Under the condition that the Mordell–Weil rank is less than the genus, Chabauty’s method, in combination with other methods such as the Mordell–Weil sieve, has been applied successfully to determine all rational points in many cases.

Minhyong Kim’s nonabelian Chabauty programme aims to remove the condition on the rank. The simplest case, called quadratic Chabauty, was developed by Balakrishnan, Besser, Dogra, Müller, Tuitman and Vonk, and applied in a tour de force to the so-called cursed curve (rank and genus both $3$ ).

This article aims to make the quadratic Chabauty method small and geometric again, by describing it in terms of only ‘simple algebraic geometry’ (line bundles over the Jacobian and models over the integers).

Over the moduli space of smooth curves, the double ramification cycle can be defined by pulling back the unit section of the universal jacobian along the Abel–Jacobi map. This breaks down over the boundary since the Abel–Jacobi map fails to extend. We construct a ‘universal’ resolution of the Abel–Jacobi map, and thereby extend the double ramification cycle to the whole of the moduli of stable curves. In the non-twisted case, we show that our extension coincides with the cycle constructed by Li, Graber, Vakil via a virtual fundamental class on a space of rubber maps.

The Chabauty–Kim method allows one to find rational points on curves under certain technical conditions, generalising Chabauty’s proof of the Mordell conjecture for curves with Mordell–Weil rank less than their genus. We show how the Chabauty–Kim method, when these technical conditions are satisfied in depth 2, may be applied to bound the number of rational points on a curve of higher rank. This provides a non-abelian generalisation of Coleman’s effective Chabauty theorem.

We investigate the connection between Osserman limit series (on curves of pseudocompact type) and Amini–Baker limit linear series (on metrized complexes with corresponding underlying curve) via a notion of pre-limit linear series on curves of the same type. Then, applying the smoothing theorems of Osserman limit linear series, we deduce that, fixing certain metrized complexes, or for certain types of Amini–Baker limit linear series, the smoothability is equivalent to a certain “weak glueing condition”. Also for arbitrary metrized complexes of pseudocompact type the weak glueing condition (when it applies) is necessary for smoothability. As an application we confirm the lifting property of specific divisors on the metric graph associated with a certain regular smoothing family, and give a new proof of a result of Cartright, Jensen, and Payne for vertex-avoiding divisors, and generalize it for divisors of rank one in the sense that, for the metric graph, there could be at most three edges (instead of two) between any pair of adjacent vertices.

We show that a genus $2$ curve over a number field whose jacobian has complex multiplication will usually have stable bad reduction at some prime. We prove this by computing the Faltings height of the jacobian in two different ways. First, we use a known case of the Colmez conjecture, due to Colmez and Obus, that is valid when the CM field is an abelian extension of the rationals. It links the height and the logarithmic derivatives of an $L$ -function. The second formula involves a decomposition of the height into local terms based on a hyperelliptic model. We use the reduction theory of genus $2$ curves as developed by Igusa, Liu, Saito, and Ueno to relate the contribution at the finite places with the stable bad reduction of the curve. The subconvexity bounds by Michel and Venkatesh together with an equidistribution result of Zhang are used to bound the infinite places.

We consider the total curvature of graphs of curves in high-codimension Euclidean space. We introduce the corresponding relaxed energy functional and prove an explicit representation formula. In the case of continuous Cartesian curves, i.e. of graphs cu of continuous functions u on an interval, we show that the relaxed energy is finite if and only if the curve cu has bounded variation and finite total curvature. In this case, moreover, the total curvature does not depend on the Cantor part of the derivative of u. We treat the wider class of graphs of one-dimensional functions of bounded variation, and we prove that the relaxed energy is given by the sum of the length and total curvature of the new curve obtained by closing the holes in cu generated by jumps of u with vertical segments.

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.

We study the Minkowski symmetry set of a closed smooth curve γ in the Minkowski plane. We answer the following question, which is analogous to one concerning curves in the Euclidean plane that was treated by Giblin and O’Shea (1990): given a point p on γ, does there exist a bi-tangent pseudo-circle that is tangent to γ both at p and at some other point q on γ? The answer is yes, but as pseudo-circles with non-zero radii have two branches (connected components) it is possible to refine the above question to the following one: given a point p on γ, does there exist a branch of a pseudo-circle that is tangent to γ both at p and at some other point q on γ? This question is motivated by the earlier quest of Reeve and Tari (2014) to define the Minkowski Blum medial axis, a counterpart of the Blum medial axis of curves in the Euclidean plane.

Laminations are classic sets of disjoint and non-self-crossing curves on surfaces. Lamination languages are languages of two-way infinite words which code laminations by using associated labeled embedded graphs, and which are subshifts. Here, we characterize the possible exact affine factor complexities of these languages through bouquets of circles, i.e. graphs made of one vertex, as representative coding graphs. We also show how to build families of laminations together with corresponding lamination languages covering all the possible exact affine complexities.

Phacopid trilobites are relatively widespread in Devonian deposits of north Gondwana and some have been collected from several sections of the Saoura Valley in SW Algeria. New occurrences of phacopids assigned to Trimerocephalus, Dianops and Phacops sensu lato are described from this area and comparisons are made with closely allied species from Morocco and Europe. The trilobite assemblages of the ‘Argiles de Marhouma’ Formation are considered to be Frasnian–Famennian in age. These new occurrences have been integrated into an analysis of Upper Devonian phacopid biodiversity. Diversity fluctuations reflect environmental changes, bioevents and stratigraphic turnovers throughout the Upper Devonian. Peak diversity was attained after the post-Kellwasser event.

We study the local symplectic algebra of curves. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic T7, T8 singularities. We define discrete symplectic invariants (the Lagrangian tangency orders) and compare them with the index of isotropy. We use these invariants to distinguish symplectic singularities of classical T7 singularity. We also give the geometric description of symplectic classes of the singularity.

We study the H –1-norm of the function 1 on tubular neighbourhoods of curves in ${\mathbb R}^{2}$ . We take the limit of small thickness ε, and we prove two different asymptotic results. The first is an asymptotic development for a fixed curve in the limit ε → 0, containing contributions from the length of the curve (at order ε 3), the ends (ε 4), and the curvature (ε 5). The second result is a Γ-convergence result, in which the central curve may vary along the sequence ε → 0. We prove that a rescaled version of the H –1-norm, which focuses on the ε 5 curvature term, Γ-converges to the L 2-norm of curvature. In addition, sequences along which the rescaled norm is bounded are compact in the W 1,2-topology. Our main tools are the maximum principle for elliptic equations and the use of appropriate trial functions in the variational characterisation of the H –1-norm. For the Γ-convergence result we use the theory of systems of curves without transverse crossings to handle potential intersections in the limit.

Let k be an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic p. We consider which finite groups G have the property that every faithful action of G on a connected smooth projective curve over k lifts to characteristic zero. Oort conjectured that cyclic groups have this property. We show that if a cyclic-by-p group G has this property, then G must be either cyclic or dihedral, with the exception of A4 in characteristic two. This proves one direction of a strong form of the Oort conjecture.

Let k be a number field and let X be a smooth, projective and geometrically integral k-variety. We show that, if the geometric Néron-Severi group of X is torsion-free, then the Galois cohomology group is finite. Previously this group was only known to have a finite exponent. We also obtain a vanishing theorem for this group, showing in particular that it is trivial if X belongs to a certain class of abelian varieties with complex multiplication. The interest in the above cohomology group stems from its connection to the torsion subgroup of the Chow group CH2(X) of codimension 2 cycles on X. In the last section of the paper we record certain results on curves which must be familiar to all specialists in this area but which we have not formerly seen in print.

Let $C\subset C_1\times C_2$ be a curve of type $(d_1,d_2)$ in the product of the two curves $C_1$ and $C_2$. Let $\nu$ be a positive integer. We prove that if a certain inequality involving $d_1,\ d_2,\ \nu$, and the genera of the curves $C_1,\ C_2$, and $C$ is satisfied, then the set of points $\{P\in C(\bar{k})\mid[k(P):k]\leq \nu\}$ is finite for any number field $k$. We prove a similar result for integral points of bounded degree on $C$. These results are obtained as consequences of an inequality of Vojta which generalizes the Roth–Wirsing theorem to curves.

Let K be the function field of a connected regular scheme S of dimension 1, and let $f : X\to Y$ be a finite cover of projective smooth and geometrically connected curves over K with $g(X)\ge 2$. Suppose that f can be extended to a finite cover ${\mathcal X} \to {\mathcal Y}$ of semi-stable models over S (it is known that this is always possible up to finite separable extension of K). Then there exists a unique minimal such cover. This gives a canonical way to extend $X\to Y$ to a finite cover of semi-stable models over S.