Tropical images of intersection points

Abstract: A key issue in tropical geometry is the lifting of intersection points to a non-Archimedean field. Here, we ask: Where can classical intersection points of planar curves tropicalize to? An answer should have two parts: first, identifying constraints on the images of classical intersections, and, second, showing that all tropical configurations satisfying these constraints can be achieved. This paper provides the first part: images of intersection points must be linearly equivalent to the stable tropical intersection by a suitable rational function. Several examples provide evidence for the conjecture that our constraints may suffice for part two.

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Let \(K\) be an algebraically closed non-Archimedean field with a nontrivial valuation \(K^*\to\mathbb R\). The main example is the field of Puiseux series with complex coefficients. Consider two algebraic curves \(X\) and \(Y\) in the algebraic torus \((K^*)^2\). Assume that \(X\) and \(Y\) intersect in only finitely many points. The coordinatewise valuation map applied to the intersection points (with multiplicity) yields a divisor \(D\) inside the intersection \(\mathrm{Trop}(X)\cap \mathrm{Trop}(Y)\) of the tropicalizations of the two curves. The main result of the paper under review is that \(D\) is linearly equivalent on \(\mathrm{Trop}(X)\) to the stable intersection divisor \(E\) of \(\mathrm{Trop}(X)\) and \(\mathrm{Trop}(Y)\). I.e., \(D-E\) is the divisor associated to a suitable tropical rational function on \(\mathrm{Trop}(X)\). Two proofs are given, one based on tropical modifications and one on Berkovich analytic spaces, although the latter proof requires an additional assumption on \(X\). The author conjectures that his result is the only restriction on \(D\) (in a suitable sense). Detailed examples are given as evidence supporting this conjecture.

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