Seshadri constants and periods of polarized abelian varieties (Q1298109)

Consider a polarized abelian variety \((A,L)\) over the field of complex numbers. Following J.-P. Demailly, one can associate to \((A,L)\) a real number \(\varepsilon(A,L)\), its Seshadri constant, which in effect measures how much of the positivity of \(L\) can be concentrated at any given point of \(A\). There has been recent interest in finding bounds on the Seshadri constants of abelian varieties and on smooth projective varieties in general. First, we generalize an approach of \textit{P. Buser} and \textit{P. Sarnak} [Invent. Math. 117, No. 1, 27-56 (1994; Zbl 0814.14033)] and give a lower bound on the minimal period length of \((A,L)\) in terms of the type of the polarization. Combined with a recent result of \textit{R. Lazarsfeld} [Math. Res. Lett. 3, No. 4, 439-447 (1996; Zbl 0890.14025)] this leads to a new lower bound on the Seshadri constant of \((A,L)\). Secondly, we show that Prym varieties have small Seshadri constants and therefore unusually small periods -- a result that parallels a result of \textit{P. Lazarsfeld} (loc. cit.) on Jacobians. Finally, we obtain refined results for the case of abelian surfaces, which imply in particular the surprising fact that Seshadri constants are rational in this case.