Adjunction inequality for real algebraic curves (Q1357641)

The author formulates and proves a restriction on the mutual position of two transversal nonsingular algebraic curves in \(\mathbb{R} P^2\), which are of type I (the last condition means that the real part of a curve divides the complexification in two connected components). As a corollary, he obtains a new restriction on the topology of real plane affine curves: If an affine curve of degree \(2k + 1\) consists of an arc and \(k(2k-1)\) ovals with disjoint interiors, then each component of the complement of the arc in the affine plan contains at least \((k-1)(k-2)\) ovals. In particular, if an affine curve of degree 7 consists of an arc and 15 ovals with disjoint interiors, each component of the complement of the arc in the affine plan is nonempty, i.e., contains at least one oval. Note that the above estimate is sharp: For any positive integer \(k\) there exists an affine curve of degree \(2k + 1\) consisting of \(k(2k - 1)\) ovals with disjoint interiors and an arc separating \((k - 1) (k - 2)/2\) ovals from the other ones. The proof of the main theorem of the article makes use of the proof by \textit{P. B. Kronheimer} and \textit{T. S. Mrowka} [see Math. Res. Lett. 1, No. 6, 797-808 (1994; Zbl 0851.57023)] of the Thom conjecture in \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2\).