Cox rings of degree one del Pezzo surfaces (Q1047629)

Let \(k\) be an algebraically closed field. A degree \(d\) del Pezzo surface \(X\) is a smooth projective surface over \(k\) with ample anticanonical divisor \(-K_X\) and \(K_X^2=d\). Such a surface may also be thought of as the blow-up of \(\mathbb{P}^2\) centered at \(r=9-d\) points in general position. Let \(L\) be the inverse image of the line in \(\mathbb{P}^2\) and \(E_1, \dots, E_r\) the exceptional divisors corresponding to the blown-up points. The Cox ring for such a surface is given as \[ \text{Cox}(X):= \bigoplus_{(m_0, \dots, m_r)\in \mathbb{Z}^{r+1}} H^0(X, \mathcal{O}_X(m_0L+ m_1E_1+ \cdots + m_rE_r)). \] \textit{V. V. Batyrev} and \textit{O. N. Popov} [Progress in Mathematics 226, 85--103 (2004; Zbl 1075.14035)] proved that \(\text{Cox}(X)\) is a finitely generated \(k\)-algebra generated by the sections whose divisor classes have anticanonical degree 1. If we let \(\mathcal{G}\) denote a minimal set of homogeneous generators of \(\text{Cox}(X)\) and \(k[\mathcal{G}]\) denote the polynomial ring whose variables are indexed by the elements of \(\mathcal{G}\), then we can realize the Cox ring of \(X\) as a quotient: \[ \text{Cox}(X) \simeq k[\mathcal{G}] / I_X. \] Batyrev and Popov conjectured that the ideal \(I_X\) is generated by quadrics. Many partial results for this conjecture for degree 2 and larger del Pezzos are known [\textit{A. Laface} and \textit{M. Velasco}, J. Algebra 322, No. 2, 353--372 (2009; Zbl 1208.14030); \textit{V. V. Serganova} and \textit{A. N. Skorobogatov}, J. Inst. Math. Jussieu 9, No. 1, 203--223 (2010; Zbl 1193.14051)]. This paper proves the conjecture for degree one del Pezzos when the characteristic of the field is not 2, and for sweeping degree one del Pezzos when the characteristic of \(k\) is 2. The proof they give works for del Pezzo surfaces of every degree.