No Arabic abstract
We present a direct and fairly simple proof of the following incidence bound: Let $P$ be a set of $m$ points and $L$ a set of $n$ lines in ${mathbb R}^d$, for $dge 3$, which lie in a common algebraic two-dimensional surface of degree $D$ that does not contain any 2-flat, so that no 2-flat contains more than $s le D$ lines of $L$. Then the number of incidences between $P$ and $L$ is $$ I(P,L)=Oleft(m^{1/2}n^{1/2}D^{1/2} + m^{2/3}min{n,D^{2}}^{1/3}s^{1/3} + m + nright). $$ When $d=3$, this improves the bound of Guth and Katz~cite{GK2} for this special case, when $D$ is not too large. A supplementary feature of this work is a review, with detailed proofs, of several basic (and folklore) properties of ruled surfaces in three dimensions.
We study incidences between points and algebraic curves in three dimensions, taken from a family $C$ of curves that have almost two degrees of freedom, meaning that every pair of curves intersect in $O(1)$ points, for any pair of points $p$, $q$, there are only $O(1)$ curves of $C$ that pass through both points, and a pair $p$, $q$ of points admit a curve of $C$ that passes through both of them iff $F(p,q)=0$ for some polynomial $F$. We study two specific instances, one involving unit circles in $R^3$ that pass through some fixed point (so called anchored unit circles), and the other involving tangencies between directed points (points and directions) and circles in the plane; a directed point is tangent to a circle if the point lies on the circle and the direction is the tangent direction. A lifting transformation of Ellenberg et al. maps these tangencies to incidences between points and curves in three dimensions. In both instances the curves in $R^3$ have almost two degrees of freedom. We show that the number of incidences between $m$ points and $n$ anchored unit circles in $R^3$, as well as the number of tangencies between $m$ directed points and $n$ arbitrary circles in the plane, is $O(m^{3/5}n^{3/5}+m+n)$. We derive a similar incidence bound, with a few additional terms, for more general families of curves in $R^3$ with almost two degrees of freedom. The proofs follow standard techniques, based on polynomial partitioning, but face a novel issue involving surfaces that are infinitely ruled by the respective family of curves, as well as surfaces in a dual 3D space that are infinitely ruled by the respective family of suitably defined dual curves. The general bound that we obtain is $O(m^{3/5}n^{3/5}+m+n)$ plus additional terms that depend on how many curves or dual curves can lie on an infinitely-ruled surface.
We give a fairly elementary and simple proof that shows that the number of incidences between $m$ points and $n$ lines in ${mathbb R}^3$, so that no plane contains more than $s$ lines, is $$ Oleft(m^{1/2}n^{3/4}+ m^{2/3}n^{1/3}s^{1/3} + m + nright) $$ (in the precise statement, the constant of proportionality of the first and third terms depends, in a rather weak manner, on the relation between $m$ and $n$). This bound, originally obtained by Guth and Katz~cite{GK2} as a major step in their solution of Erd{H o}ss distinct distances problem, is also a major new result in incidence geometry, an area that has picked up considerable momentum in the past six years. Its original proof uses fairly involved machinery from algebraic and differential geometry, so it is highly desirable to simplify the proof, in the interest of better understanding the geometric structure of the problem, and providing new tools for tackling similar problems. This has recently been undertaken by Guth~cite{Gu14}. The present paper presents a different and simpler derivation, with better bounds than those in cite{Gu14}, and without the restrictive assumptions made there. Our result has a potential for applications to other incidence problems in higher dimensions.
We introduce the notion of r-th Terracini locus of a variety and we compute it for at most three points on a Segre variety.
Let $L$ be a set of $n$ lines in $R^3$ that is contained, when represented as points in the four-dimensional Plucker space of lines in $R^3$, in an irreducible variety $T$ of constant degree which is emph{non-degenerate} with respect to $L$ (see below). We show: medskip oindent{bf (1)} If $T$ is two-dimensional, the number of $r$-rich points (points incident to at least $r$ lines of $L$) is $O(n^{4/3+epsilon}/r^2)$, for $r ge 3$ and for any $epsilon>0$, and, if at most $n^{1/3}$ lines of $L$ lie on any common regulus, there are at most $O(n^{4/3+epsilon})$ $2$-rich points. For $r$ larger than some sufficiently large constant, the number of $r$-rich points is also $O(n/r)$. As an application, we deduce (with an $epsilon$-loss in the exponent) the bound obtained by Pach and de Zeeuw (2107) on the number of distinct distances determined by $n$ points on an irreducible algebraic curve of constant degree in the plane that is not a line nor a circle. medskip oindent{bf (2)} If $T$ is two-dimensional, the number of incidences between $L$ and a set of $m$ points in $R^3$ is $O(m+n)$. medskip oindent{bf (3)} If $T$ is three-dimensional and nonlinear, the number of incidences between $L$ and a set of $m$ points in $R^3$ is $Oleft(m^{3/5}n^{3/5} + (m^{11/15}n^{2/5} + m^{1/3}n^{2/3})s^{1/3} + m + n right)$, provided that no plane contains more than $s$ of the points. When $s = O(min{n^{3/5}/m^{2/5}, m^{1/2}})$, the bound becomes $O(m^{3/5}n^{3/5}+m+n)$. As an application, we prove that the number of incidences between $m$ points and $n$ lines in $R^4$ contained in a quadratic hypersurface (which does not contain a hyperplane) is $O(m^{3/5}n^{3/5} + m + n)$. The proofs use, in addition to various tools from algebraic geometry, recent bounds on the number of incidences between points and algebraic curves in the plane.
The aim of this paper is to make a connection between design theory and algebraic geometry/commutative algebra. In particular, given any Steiner System $S(t,n,v)$ we associate two ideals, in a suitable polynomial ring, defining a Steiner configuration of points and its Complement. We focus on the latter, studying its homological invariants, such as Hilbert Function and Betti numbers. We also study symbolic and regular powers associated to the ideal defining a Complement of a Steiner configuration of points, finding its Waldschmidt constant, regularity, bounds on its resurgence and asymptotic resurgence. We also compute the parameters of linear codes associated to any Steiner configuration of points and its Complement.