On Fermat curves and maximal nodal curves (Q2571469)

A plane curve \(C\) of degree \(n\) is called a maximal nodal curve if it is an irreducible rational curve whose singularities are only nodes. The curve \(C\) is maximal in the sense that a curve of degree \(n\) having further singularities would be necessarily reducible. In the paper under review, the author shows a simple way to construct a maximal nodal curve, which is symmetric with respect to the permutation of three variables and has a particular configuration of flexes. Starting point for the construction is the Fermat curve \(x^{n+1}+y^{n+1}+1=0\) and the study of the singularities of its dual curve. This idea is then extended to the case of Brieskorn curves \(x^n+y^{n-1}+1=0\).