A boundedness result for toric log del Pezzo surfaces (Q999113)

Let \(X\) be a toric log del Pezzo surface of index \(\ell\), i.e. \(X\) is toric, the anticanonical divisor \(-K_X\) of \(X\) is an ample \(\mathbb{Q}\)-Cartier divisor, and \(\ell\) is the smallest positive integer such that \(\ell K_X\) is Cartier. The authors prove that if we let \(\widetilde{X} \rightarrow X\) be the minimal desingularization of \(X\), then the Picard number of \(\widetilde{X}\) is bounded from above by 7 when \(\ell=1\) and \(8\ell^2 -6\ell +3\) otherwise. This is a toric improvement of \textit{V. V. Nikulin}'s bound for the Picard numbers of minimal desingularizations of log del Pezzo surfaces [Math. USSR, Izv. 33, No. 2, 355--372 (1989; Zbl 0677.14008)]. The proof of the theorem relies on the fact that toric log del Pezzo surfaces correspond to convex lattice polygons containing the origin in their interior and having only primitive vertices. They use these LDP-polygons to describe the minimal desingularization \(\widetilde{X}\) of \(X\) and to compute an upper bound for the Picard number of \(\widetilde{X}\).