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55.7 Bounding invariants of numerical types

In our proof of semistable reduction for curves we'll use a bound on Picard groups of numerical types of genus g which we will prove in this section.

Lemma 55.7.1. Let n, m_ i, a_{ij}, w_ i, g_ i be a numerical type of genus g. Given i, j with a_{ij} > 0 we have m_ ia_{ij} \leq m_ j|a_{jj}| and m_ iw_ i \leq m_ j|a_{jj}|.

Proof. For every index j we have m_ j a_{jj} + \sum _{i \not= j} m_ ia_{ij} = 0. Thus if we have an upper bound on |a_{jj}| and m_ j, then we also get an upper bound on the nonzero (and hence positive) a_{ij} as well as m_ i. Recalling that w_ i divides a_{ij}, the reader easily sees the lemma is correct. \square

Lemma 55.7.2. Fix g \geq 2. For every minimal numerical type n, m_ i, a_{ij}, w_ i, g_ i of genus g with n > 1 we have

  1. the set J \subset \{ 1, \ldots , n\} of non-(-2)-indices has at most 2g - 2 elements,

  2. for j \in J we have g_ j < g,

  3. for j \in J we have m_ j|a_{jj}| \leq 6g - 6, and

  4. for j \in J and i \in \{ 1, \ldots , n\} we have m_ ia_{ij} \leq 6g - 6.

Proof. Recall that g = 1 + \sum m_ j(w_ j(g_ j - 1) - \frac{1}{2} a_{jj}). For j \in J the contribution m_ j(w_ j(g_ j - 1) - \frac{1}{2} a_{jj}) to the genus g is > 0 and hence \geq 1/2. This uses Lemma 55.3.7, Definition 55.3.8, Definition 55.3.12, Lemma 55.3.15, and Definition 55.3.16; we will use these results without further mention in the following. Thus J has at most 2(g - 1) elements. This proves (1).

Recall that -a_{ii} > 0 for all i by Lemma 55.3.6. Hence for j \in J the contribution m_ j(w_ j(g_ j - 1) - \frac{1}{2} a_{jj}) to the genus g is > m_ jw_ j(g_ j - 1). Thus

g - 1 > m_ jw_ j(g_ j - 1) \Rightarrow g_ j < (g - 1)/m_ jw_ j + 1

This indeed implies g_ j < g which proves (2).

For j \in J if g_ j > 0, then the contribution m_ j(w_ j(g_ j - 1) - \frac{1}{2} a_{jj}) to the genus g is \geq -\frac{1}{2}m_ ja_{jj} and we immediately conclude that m_ j|a_{jj}| \leq 2(g - 1). Otherwise a_{jj} = -kw_ j for some integer k \geq 3 (because j \in J) and we get

m_ jw_ j(-1 + \frac{k}{2}) \leq g - 1 \Rightarrow m_ jw_ j \leq \frac{2(g - 1)}{k - 2}

Plugging this back into a_{jj} = -km_ jw_ j we obtain

m_ j|a_{jj}| \leq 2(g - 1) \frac{k}{k - 2} \leq 6(g - 1)

This proves (3).

Part (4) follows from Lemma 55.7.1 and (3). \square

Lemma 55.7.3. Fix g \geq 2. For every minimal numerical type n, m_ i, a_{ij}, w_ i, g_ i of genus g we have m_ i|a_{ij}| \leq 768g.

Proof. By Lemma 55.7.1 it suffices to show m_ i|a_{ii}| \leq 768g for all i. Let J \subset \{ 1, \ldots , n\} be the set of non-(-2)-indices as in Lemma 55.7.2. Observe that J is nonempty as g \geq 2. Also m_ j|a_{jj}| \leq 6g for j \in J by the lemma.

Suppose we have j \in J and a sequence i_1, \ldots , i_7 of (-2)-indices such that a_{ji_1} and a_{i_1i_2}, a_{i_2i_3}, a_{i_3i_4}, a_{i_4i_5}, a_{i_5i_6}, and a_{i_6i_7} are nonzero. Then we see from Lemma 55.7.1 that m_{i_1}w_{i_1} \leq 6g and m_{i_1}a_{ji_1} \leq 6g. Because i_1 is a (-2)-index, we have a_{i_1i_1} = -2w_{i_1} and we conclude that m_{i_1}|a_{i_1i_1}| \leq 12g. Repeating the argument we conclude that m_{i_2}w_{i_2} \leq 12g and m_{i_2}a_{i_1i_2} \leq 12g. Then m_{i_2}|a_{i_2i_2}| \leq 24g and so on. Eventually we conclude that m_{i_ k}|a_{i_ ki_ k}| \leq 2^ k(6g) \leq 768g for k = 1, \ldots , 7.

Let I \subset \{ 1, \ldots , n\} \setminus J be a maximal connected subset. In other words, there does not exist a nonempty proper subset I' \subset I such that a_{i'i} = 0 for i' \in I' and i \in I \setminus I' and I is maximal with this property. In particular, since a numerical type is connected by definition, we see that there exists a j \in J and i \in I with a_{ij} > 0. Looking at the classification of such I in Proposition 55.5.17 and using the result of the previous paragraph, we see that w_ i|a_{ii}| \leq 768g for all i \in I unless I is as described in Lemma 55.5.8 or Lemma 55.5.9. Thus we may assume the nonvanishing of a_{ii'}, i, i' \in I has either the shape

\xymatrix{ \bullet \ar@{-}[r] & \bullet \ar@{-}[r] & \bullet \ar@{..}[r] & \bullet \ar@{-}[r] & \bullet \ar@{-}[r] & \bullet }

(which has 3 subcases as detailed in Lemma 55.5.8) or the shape

\xymatrix{ \bullet \ar@{-}[r] & \bullet \ar@{-}[r] & \bullet \ar@{..}[r] & \bullet \ar@{-}[r] & \bullet \ar@{-}[r] \ar@{-}[d] & \bullet \\ & & & & \bullet }

We will prove the bound holds for the first subcase of Lemma 55.5.8 and leave the other cases to reader (the argument is almost exactly the same in those cases).

After renumbering we may assume I = \{ 1, \ldots , t\} \subset \{ 1, \ldots , n\} and there is an integer w such that

w = w_1 = \ldots = w_ t = a_{12} = \ldots = a_{(t - 1) t} = -\frac{1}{2} a_{i_1i_2} = \ldots = -\frac{1}{2} a_{(t - 1) t}

The equalities a_{ii}m_ i + \sum _{j \not= i} a_{ij}m_ j = 0 imply that we have

2m_2 \geq m_1 + m_3, \ldots , 2m_{t - 1} \geq m_{t - 2} + m_ t

Equality holds in 2m_ i \geq m_{i - 1} + m_{i + 1} if and only if i does not “meet” any indices besides i - 1 and i + 1. And if i does meet another index, then this index is in J (by maximality of I). In particular, the map \{ 1, \ldots , t\} \to \mathbf{Z}, i \mapsto m_ i is concave.

Let m = \max (m_ i, i \in \{ 1, \ldots , t\} ). Then m_ i|a_{ii}| \leq 2mw for i \leq t and our goal is to show that 2mw \leq 768g. Let s, resp. s' in \{ 1, \ldots , t\} be the smallest, resp. biggest index with m_ s = m = m_{s'}. By concavity we see that m_ i = m for s \leq i \leq s'. If s > 1, then we do not have equality in 2m_ s \geq m_{s - 1} + m_{s + 1} and we see that s meets an index from J. In this case 2mw \leq 12g by the result of the second paragraph of the proof. Similarly, if s' < t, then s' meets an index from J and we get 2mw \leq 12g as well. But if s = 1 and s' = t, then we conclude that a_{ij} = 0 for all j \in J and i \in \{ 2, \ldots , t - 1\} . But as we've seen that there must be a pair (i, j) \in I \times J with a_{ij} > 0, we conclude that this happens either with i = 1 or with i = t and we conclude 2mw \leq 12g in the same manner as before (as m_1 = m = m_ t in this case). \square

Proposition 55.7.4. Let g \geq 2. For every numerical type T of genus g and prime number \ell > 768g we have

\dim _{\mathbf{F}_\ell } \mathop{\mathrm{Pic}}\nolimits (T)[\ell ] \leq g

where \mathop{\mathrm{Pic}}\nolimits (T) is as in Definition 55.4.1. If T is minimal, then we even have

\dim _{\mathbf{F}_\ell } \mathop{\mathrm{Pic}}\nolimits (T)[\ell ] \leq g_{top} \leq g

where g_{top} as in Definition 55.3.11.

Proof. Say T is given by n, m_ i, a_{ij}, w_ i, g_ i. If T is not minimal, then there exists a (-1)-index. After replacing T by an equivalent type we may assume n is a (-1)-index. Applying Lemma 55.4.4 we find \mathop{\mathrm{Pic}}\nolimits (T) \subset \mathop{\mathrm{Pic}}\nolimits (T') where T' is a numerical type of genus g (Lemma 55.3.9) with n - 1 indices. Thus we conclude by induction on n provided we prove the lemma for minimal numerical types.

Assume that T is a minimal numerical type of genus \geq 2. Observe that g_{top} \leq g by Lemma 55.3.14. If A = (a_{ij}) then since \mathop{\mathrm{Pic}}\nolimits (T) \subset \mathop{\mathrm{Coker}}(A) by Lemma 55.4.3. Thus it suffices to prove the lemma for \mathop{\mathrm{Coker}}(A). By Lemma 55.7.3 we see that m_ i|a_{ij}| \leq 768g for all i, j. Hence the result by Lemma 55.2.6. \square


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