Abstract
The aim of the paper is the study of the orbits of the action of PGL4 on the space ℙ3 of the cubic surfaces of ℙ3, i.e., the classification of cubic surfaces up to projective motions. A varietyQ⊂ℙ19 is explicitely constructed as the union of 22 disjoint irreducible components which are either points or open subsets of linear spaces. More precisely, each orbit of the above action intersects one componentX ofQ in a finite number of points and the action of PGL4 restricted on each componentX is equivalent to the action of a finite groupG X onX which can be explicitely computed. Finally the cubic surfaces of each component ofQ are studied in details by determining their stabilizers, their rational representations and whether they can be expressed as the determinant of a 3×3 matrix of linear forms.
The results are obtained with computational techniques and with the aid of some computer algebra systems like CoCoA, Macaulay and Maple.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
[B] F. Bardelli,Osservazioni sui moduli delle superfici cubiche generali, Atti Accad. Naz. Lincei64 (1978), 137–141.
[BD] F. Bardelli, A. Del Centina,Nodal Cubic Surfaces and the Rationality of the Moduli Space of Curves of Genus Two, Math. Ann.270 (1985), 599–602.
[Be1] Н. Д. Ъеклемишев,Инварианмьи кубических форм ом чемырех переменных, Вестник МГУ37:2 (1982), 42–49. English translation: N. D. Beklemishev,Invariants of cubic forms in four variables, Mosc. Univ. Math. Bull.37:2 (1982), 42–49.
[Be2] Н. Д. Беклемишев,Классификация квамернарныш кубических форм необщезо положения, Вопросы теории групп и гомологическои алгебры. Ярославль (1981), 3–17. English translation: N. D. Beklemishev,Classification of quaternary cubic forms not in general position, Sel. Math. Sov.5:3 (1986), 203–218.
[BL1] M. Brundu, A. Logar,Classification of cubic surfaces with computational methods, Available at www. dsm.univ.trieste.it/~logar, Quaderni Matematici Università di Trieste375 (1996).
[BL2] M. Brundu, A. Logar,Automorphisms of smooth cubic surfaces, in preparation.
[BS] D. Bayer, M. Stillman,Macaulay: A system for computation in algebraic geometry and commutative algebra, Available via anonymous ftp from zariski.harvard.edu.
[BW] J. Bruce, C. T. C. Wall,On the classification of cubic surfaces, J. London Math. Soc. (2)19 (1979), 245–256.
[C] F. Conforto,Le Superfici Razionali, Zanichelli, Bologna, 1939.
[Ca] A. Cayley,A Memoir on Cubic Surfaces, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc.159 (1869), 231–326.
[CNR] A. Capani, G. Niesi, L. Robbiano, CoCoA,a system for doing Computations in Commutative Algebra, Available via anonymous ftp from lancelot.dima.unige.it (1995).
[DO] I. Dolgachev, D. Ortland,Point Sets in Projective Spaces and Theta Functions, Soc. Mathématique de France, Astérisque165 (1988).
[EHV] D. Eisenbud, C. Huneke, W. Vasconcelos,Direct Methods for Primary Decomposition, Invent. Math.110 (1995), 207–235.
[G] A. Geramita,Lectures on the Nonsingular Cubic Surface in ℙ 3, Queen's Papers in Pure and Applied Mathematics83 (1989).
[GTZ] P. Gianni, B. Trager, G. Zacharias,Gröbner Bases and Primary Decomposition of Polynomial Ideals, in Computational Aspects of Commutative Algebra (L. Robbiano, ed.); Academic Press, New York, 1989, pp. 15–33.
[H] R. Hartshorne,Algebraic Geometry, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 52, Springer-Verlag, New York, Heidelberg, Berlin, 1977.
[Ha1] J. Harris,Galois group of enumerative problems, Duke Math. J.46, n. 4 (1979), 685–724.
[Ha2] J. Harris,Algebraic Geometry, a First Course, Graduate Texts in Mathematics 133, Springer-Verlag, New York, Heidelberg, Berlin, 1992.
[M] Yu. Manin,Cubic Forms: Algebra, Geometry, Arithmetic, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1974.
[PV] Э. Б. Винберг, В. Л. Попов,Теория инварианмов, Современные проблемы математики (фундаментальные направления), Алгебраическая геометрия IV,55, ВИНИТИ, Москва (1989), 137–309. English translation: V. L. Popov, E. B. Vinberg,Invariant Theory, in Algebraic Geometry IV, Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Scieces55, Springer Verlag, New York, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1994, pp. 123–278.
[R1] M. Reid,Undergraduate Algebraic Geometry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990.
[R2] M. Reid,Chapter on Algebraic Surfaces, 1996.
[S] B. Segre,The Nonsingular Cubic Surfaces, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1942.
[Sa] G. Salmon,On the triple tangent planes to a surface of the third order, Cambridge and Dublin Math. J.4 (1849), 252–260.
[Se1] J. Sekiguchi,The configuration space of 6 points in P 2,the moduli space of cubic surfaces and the Weyl group of type E 6, RIMS Kokyuroku848 (848), 74–85.
[Se2] J. Sekiguchi,The versal deformation of the E 6-singularity and a family of cubic surfaces, J. Math. Soc. Japan46 n. 2 (1994), 355–383.
[Sc1] L. Schläfli,On the distribution of surfaces of the third order into species, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc.153 (1864), 193–247.
[Sc2] L. Schläfli,An attempt to determine the 27 lines upon a surface of the third order, and to divide such surfaces into species in reference to the reality of the lines upon the surface, Quart. J. Math.2 (1858), 56–65.
[St] B. Sturmfels,Algorithms in Invariant Theory, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1993.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Partially supported by MURST
Partially supported by MURST and CNR
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brundu, M., Logar, A. Parametrization of the orbits of cubic surfaces. Transformation Groups 3, 209–239 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01236873
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01236873