Computing intersection numbers of Chern classes (Q1930186)

This paper studies the Chern classes of a smooth variety \(X\) of dimension \(n\) in \(\mathbb P^r\). The authors use a non-standard definition of a Chern number of \(X\); namely, they refer to the degree of any monomial in the Chern classes of \(X\) as a Chern number of \(X\). Two algorithms are presented in the paper when \(X\) is connected. The first algorithm has as its input the generators of the ideal defining \(X\) and outputs the degrees of all the monomials in \(\{c_0, \ldots, c_n\}\) where \(c_i\) denotes the \(i\)th Chern class of \(X\). The second algorithm has the same input as the first algorithm and outputs \(\{\deg(c_0), \ldots, \deg(c_n)\}\). As summarized in the last section of the paper, ``This is carried out by computing the degrees of a collection of zero-dimensional schemes arising from intersections of polar classes. Each degree computation provides a linear condition on the degrees of the Chern class monomials. The order of the computations is chosen so as to yield a triangular system of linear conditions. The degree computations for the zero-dimensional schemes can be carried out either with Gröbner based symbolic methods or with homotopy continuation based numerical methods.'' The first algorithm is demonstrated with a collection of examples, including two surfaces in \(\mathbb P^4\) and a three-fold in \(\mathbb P^5\) and can be implemented with software such as \texttt{Bertini}, \texttt{Macaulay2} or \texttt{Singular}. The second algorithm is compared to that from \textit{S. Di Rocco} et al., [J. Symb. Comput. 46, No. 1, 23--33 (2011; Zbl 1200.14014)]. As motivation, the paper concludes with a collection of formulae which involve the degree of monomials in the Chern classes of a variety. The formulae include double point formulae and a connection between Chern numbers and the Hilbert polynomial along with nice examples.