Unexpected curves in \(\mathbb{P}^2\), line arrangements, and minimal degree of Jacobian relations (Q6170618)

In the paper under review, the author delivers results devoted to the existence of unexpected curves via the minimal degree of non-trivial of Jacobian relations. Let \(Z = \{P_{1},\dots, P_{d}\}\subset \mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{C}}\) be a finite set of \(d\) points. We say that \(Z\) admits unexpected curves of degree \(j\geq 2\) if \[ h^{0}(\mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{C}}, \mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{C}}}(j) \otimes \mathcal{I}(Z + (j-1)q)) > \max\bigg(0, h^{0}(\mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{C}},\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^{2}_{\mathbb{C}}}(j) \otimes \mathcal{I}(Z) - \binom{j}{2}\bigg), \] where \(q\) is a generic point and the fat point scheme \(kq\) is defined by the \(k\)-th power of the corresponding maximal ideal sheaf \(\mathcal{I}(q)\). Let \(\mathcal{A}_{Z} \, : \, f_{Z}=0\) be the associated line arrangement in the dual projective plane and let \((a_{Z}, b_{Z})\) be the generic splitting type of the derivation bundle \(E_{Z}\) associated to \(\mathcal{A}_{Z}\). Denote by \(m(\mathcal{A}_{Z})\) the maximal multiplicity of an intersection point in \(\mathcal{A}_{Z}\). Recall that the minimal degree of a Jacobian syzygy for the polynomial \(f\) is the integer \(\mathrm{mdr}(f)\) defined to be the smallest integer \(r\geq 0\) such that there exists a non-trivial relation \[ a\partial_{x} \, f + b\partial_{y} \, f + c\partial_{z} \, f = 0 \] among the partial derivatives with coefficients in \(a,b,c \in \mathbb{C}[x,y,z]_{r}\). The main result of this paper under review can be formulated as follows. Main Theorem. The set of points \(Z\) admits an unexpected curve if and only if \[ m(\mathcal{A}_{Z}) \leq\mathrm{mdr}(f_{Z}) + 1 < \frac{d}{2}. \] If these conditions are fulfilled, then \(Z\) admits an unexpected curve of degree \(j\) if and only if \[ \mathrm{mdr}(f_{Z}) < j \leq d - \mathrm{mdr}(f_{Z})-2. \] Using this result, the author presents some interesting applications. For example, the author shows that the irreducible unexpected quintics can only occur when the set of points \(Z\) has cardinality equal to \(11\) or \(12\).