A note on Veronese varieties (Q862006)

Let \(q=p^n\) be a prime power. We say that \({\mathbf a}=(a_1,\ldots,a_n)\in T\) if \(a_i\in{\mathbb N}\) and \(\sum a_i=q\). The Veronese variety \(V_q^n\) over an algebraically closed field \(K\) is the affine variety parametrised by \({\mathbf u}=(u_1,\ldots,u_n)\mapsto ({\mathbf u}^{\mathbf a})_{{\mathbf a}\in T}\). The main result of this paper is that \(V_q^n\subset {\mathbb A}^{|T|}_K\) is a set-theoretic complete intersection if and only if the characteristic of \(K\) is~\(p\). The proof uses, on the one hand, a criterion for a variety to be a set-theoretic complete intersection of binomials by \textit{M. Morales, A. Thoma} and the author [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 130, No. 7, 1893--1903 (2002; Zbl 1062.14062)] and a vanishing result of \textit{W. Bruns} and \textit{R. Schwänzl} [Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 22, No. 5, 439--445 (1990; Zbl 0725.14039)] for étale cohomology on the complement of a complete intersection. An interesting remark made here is that if \(k\) does not have characteristic~\(p\) then the cohomological dimension of \(I(V)\) is strictly less than the arithmetical rank, i.e. the number of equations needed to define \(V\) set-theoretically. Rather few examples of this phenomenon are known.