Theta surfaces (Q2042251): Difference between revisions

The aim of this paper is to offer a new view on a classical topic : theta surface, through the lens of computation. A theta surface in affine 3-space is the zero set of a Riemann theta function in genus 3. This includes surfaces arising from special plane quartics that are singular or reducible. Lie and Poincaré showed that any analytic surface that is the Minkowski sum of two space curves in two different ways is a theta surface. The four space curves that generate such a double translation structure are parametrized by abelian integrals, so they are usually not algebraic. The authors present practical tools for passing between quartic curves and their theta surfaces, and they develop the numerical algebraic geometry of degenerations of theta functions. This paper is organized as follows: Section 1 is an introduction to the subject and summarizes the main results. Section 2 derives the parametrization of theta surfaces by abelian integrals. The authors review Abel's theorem, Riemann's theorem and Lie's theorem, all from the perspective developed by Lie's successors in [\textit{J. Eiesland}, Am. J. Math. 29, 363--386 (1907; JFM 38.0642.04); \textit{R. Kummer}, Die Flächen mit unendlichvielen Erzeugungen durch Translation von Kurven. (Dissertation) Leipzig: Universität Leipzig (1894); \textit{G. Scheffers}, Acta Math. 28, 65--92 (1904; JFM 35.0426.01); \textit{G. Wiegner}, Über eine besondere Klasse von Translationsflächen. (dissertation) Leipzig: Universität Leipzig (1893)]. In Section 3 the authors present a symbolic algorithm for computing theta surfaces. Here the input is a reducible quartic curve whose abelian integrals can be evaluated in closed form in a computer algebra system. In Section 4 they discuss degenerations of curves and their Jacobians via tropical geometry. In Section 5 the authors revisit Eiesland's [loc. cit.] census of quartics with algebraic theta surfaces and present derivations and connections to sigma functions. In Section 6 they study theta surfaces via numerical computation. Building on state-ofthe-art methods for evaluating abelian integrals and theta functions, the authors develop a numerical algorithm whose input is a smooth quartic curve in \(\mathbb{P}^2\) and whose output is its theta surface. Section 7 deals with historical sources, by offering a retrospective on the remarkable work done in Leipzig in the late 19th century by Lie's circle. This final section connects the 19th century with the 21st century, and differential geometry with algebraic geometry.