Topics in Combinatorial Algebraic Geometry

Sammanfattning: This thesis consists of six papers in algebraic geometry –all of which have close connections to combinatorics. In Paper A we consider complete smooth toric embeddings X ↪ P^N such that for a fixed positive integer k the t-th osculating space at every point has maximal dimension if and only if t ≤ k. Our main result is that this assumption is equivalent to that X ↪ P^N is associated to a Cayley polytope of order k having every edge of length at least k. This result generalizes an earlier characterisation by David Perkinson. In addition we prove that the above assumptions are equivalent to requiring that the Seshadri constant is exactly k at every point of X, generalizing a result of Atsushi Ito. In Paper B we introduce H-constants that measure the negativity of curves on blow-ups of surfaces. We relate these constants to the bounded negativity conjecture. Moreover we provide bounds on H-constants when restricting to curves which are a union of lines in the real or complex projective plane. In Paper C we study Gauss maps of order k for k > 1, which maps a point on a variety to its k-th osculating space at that point. Our main result is that as in the case k = 1, the higher order Gauss maps are finite on smooth varieties whose k-th osculating space is full-dimensional everywhere. Furthermore we provide convex geometric descriptions of these maps in the toric setting. In Paper D we classify fat point schemes on Hirzebruch surfaces whose initial sequence are of maximal or close to maximal length. The initial degree and initial sequence of such schemes are closely related to the famous Nagata conjecture. In Paper E we introduce the package LatticePolytopes for Macaulay2. The package extends the functionality of Macaulay2 for compuations in toric geometry and convex geometry. In Paper F we compute the Seshadri constant at a general point on smooth toric surfaces satisfying certain convex geometric assumptions on the associated polygons. Our computations relate the Seshadri constant at the general point with the jet seperation and unnormalised spectral values of the surfaces at hand.