Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / ii / Paper 3 / 24J / Solution

Letbe the homogeneous coordinate ring. Its Hilbert function agrees for all sufficiently large $m$ with a polynomial $P_V(m)$. Since $V$ is a curve,The degree of a projective curve is the positive integer $d$. This is well-defined because the graded ring $A_V$, and hence its eventual Hilbert polynomial, depends only on the embedded projective variety, while a polynomial agreeing with the Hilbert function for all large integers is unique.

This definition also has the geometric interpretation expected of degree. For a sufficiently general hyperplane $H=Z(\ell )$ that does not contain $V$, multiplication by $\ell$ gives an exact sequenceConsequently, for large $m$,The left side is the length of the zero-dimensional scheme $V\cap H$. Thus a generic hyperplane meets $V$ in $d$ points counted with intersection multiplicity, independently of the chosen generic hyperplane.

For the stated linear embedding, the homogeneous coordinate ring of $\phi (V)$ isThe graded rings have the same Hilbert polynomial, so degree under a linear projective embedding gives

Degree is nevertheless not an invariant of an abstract curve. In ${\mathbb{P}}^2$, a line has degree one and the smooth conichas degree two, but the mapidentifies the conic with ${\mathbb{P}}^1$, as is any projective line.

For the specified set $S$, the equations are the $2\times 2$ minors ofOn the affine chart $x_0=1$, they forceso this chart is an affine line. When $x_0=0$, the equations force $x_1=x_2=0$, leaving the single point $[0:0:0:1]$. Hence $V$ is the twisted cubic, parametrized byIt is therefore an irreducible projective curve. A generic hyperplane pulls back to a binary cubicwhich has three zeros on ${\mathbb{P}}^1$ counted with multiplicity. Thus

No nonzero linear form vanishes on $V$, since substituting its parametrization would make the four coefficients of the displayed binary cubic vanish. Therefore every hypersurface containing $V$ has degree at least two. Ifthen $r=1$ is impossible because a nonzero hypersurface in ${\mathbb{P}}^3$ has dimension two. Hence at least two nonconstant $F_i$ are needed, andThis is the degree obstruction to the twisted cubic being a complete intersection.

Finally compare the twisted cubic with a smooth plane cubic, such asviewed in ${\mathbb{P}}^3$ by the given linear embedding. Both curves are irreducible and have degree three. The twisted cubic is isomorphic to ${\mathbb{P}}^1$ and has genus zero, whereas the supplied plane-curve genus formula givesSince genus is an isomorphism invariant, these equal-degree curves are not isomorphic.

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.