Remarks on abelian surfaces in nonsingular toric Fano 4-folds (Q1423852)

There are 124 nonsingular toric Fano 4-folds. A few contain abelian surfaces (e.g. Horrocks-Mumford surfaces, the product of two cubics in \({\mathbb P}^2\times{\mathbb P}^2\) and some others). One can also ask about the existence of finite morphisms \(\phi\colon A \to X\) with \(A\) an abelian surface and \(X\) a 4-fold. If \(X\) is toric, such a \(\phi\) is said to be totally nondegenerate if \(\phi(A)\cap D \neq \emptyset\) for every torus-invariant divisor \(D\subset X\). The main result here is that for many of the 124 Fanos no totally nondegenerate finite morphism from an abelian surface exists, and in particular \(X\) contains no abelian surface \(A\) meeting all the invariant divisors. \textit{T. Kajiwara} [RIMS Kokyuroku 1175, 123--131 (2000; Zbl 0969.14504)] and \textit{G. K. Sankaran} [Math. Ann. 313, 409--427 (1999; Zbl 0919.14009)] have shown the latter also for some other \(X\) on the list of 124, leaving a list of 18 where that question is still open. Several of these cases have since been settled (negatively) by the reviewer. The method, here and elsewhere, is to examine the intersection form on \(A\) of the curves cut out by the invariant divisors on~\(X\).