AN INTRODUCTION ON STABILITY OF PROJECTIVE

VARIETIES
JULIE TZU-YUEH WANG
Lecture Note for 2008 CTS Summer School
1. Stability and examples
The geometric invariant theory is a useful method to construct a moduli space
or a compactied moduli space of algebraic varieties if one can describe criteria for
stability and semi-stability.
Denition. Let V be a nite dimensional C vector space and suppose that the
special linear group G = SL(n, C) operates on V (equivalently, V is a representation
of G). Let x V .
(1) x is unstable if there exists a one parameter subgroup of G such that the
weights of x with respect to are all positive.
(2) x is semi-stable if every one parameter subgroup of G such that the
weights of x with respect to are not all positive.
(3) x is stable if for all non-trivial one parameter subgroup of G, x has both
positive and negative weights with respect to .
Remark. Recall that a one parameter subgroup of G is just a homomorphism
: G
m
G. Such can always be diagonalized in a suitable basis:
(t) =
_

_
t
r0
. . . 0
.
.
.
0 t
rn
_

_
If in this basis x = (x
0
, ..., x
n
), the set of weights of x with respect to is the set
of r
i
for which x
i
= 0.
Example (0-CYCLES). Let W be a 2-dimensional C-vector space, G = SL(2, C),
and V
n
:= Sym
n
(

W) which can be identied as a vector space of homogeneous
polynomials of degree n on V . Let P(V
n
) be the space of 0-cycles of n unordered
points on the projective line P(W), the zeros of f V
n
determining the cycle.
If f =

n
i=0
a
i
x
ni
y
i
and is the one parameter subgroup given by
t
_
t 0
0 t
1
_
in these coordinates x, y, then
(t)f =
n

i=0
a
i
(tx)
ni
(t
1
y)
i
=
n

i=0
a
i
t
n2i
x
ni
y
i
.
Date: July 19, 2008.
The main referneces of this note are [1] and [2] .
1
2 JULIE TZU-YUEH WANG
The set of weights of f with respect to this is {n 2i|a
i
= 0}. For f to be
stable, this set of weights has both positive and negative values which holds only
if there exist k < n/2 and > n/2 such that a
k
= 0 and a

= 0, i.e. the non-zero

coecients of f must lie on both side of 0.
a
n
a
n1
a
1
a
0
n n + 2
0 n 2 n weight
coecient
This condition is equivalent to that if j n/2, neither x
j
nor y
j
divide f. One
can check directly that the stability of f is equivalent to the same condition with
respect to all linear forms l: l
j
|f if j n/2. This condition is equivalent to that
f has no zero of multiplicity greater or equal to n/2.
Let P(V
n
)
s
(resp. P(V
n
)
ss
) be the set of stable (resp. semi-stable) 0-cycles in
P(V
n
). Then
P(V
n
)
s
= {0 cycles with no points of multiplicity n/2}
P(V
n
)
ss
= {0 cycles with no points of multiplicity > n/2}.
Example (CURVES). Let W be a 3-dimensional C-vector space, G = SL(3, C),
and V
n
:= Sym
n
(

W) = as before. Then a point f =

ix+iy+iz=n

ixiyiz
x
ix
y
iy
z
iz

V
n
denes a plane curve of degree n. Let be the one parameter subgroup given
by
t
_
_
t
a
0
t
b
0 t
c
_
_
in these coordinates x, y, z where a +b +c = 0.
Then (t)f =

ix+iy+iz=n

ixiyiz
t
aix+biy+ciz
x
ix
y
iy
z
iz
, and the cooresponding
weights are
{ai
x
+bi
y
+ci
z
|
ixiyiz
= 0, a +b +c = 0, i
x
+i
y
+i
z
= n}.
STABILITY 3
Let L be the line dened by ai
x
+bi
y
+ci
z
= 0, (a, b, c) = 0, which should pass
(1, 1, 1) since a +b +c = 0. Consider the following triangle representing f
L
(xyz)
n/3
x
n
x
n2
y
2
x
n2
z
2
x
n1
z
x
n2
yz
x
n1
y
y
n
y
n1
z yz
n1
z
n

We can conclude:
f is unstable in some coordinates, all non-zero coecients of f lie to
one side of some L.
f is semi-stable for all choices of coordinates, f has non-zero coecients
on both sides of L or on L
f is stable for all choices of coordinates, f has non-zero coecients
on both sides of L .
4 JULIE TZU-YUEH WANG
n = 2: For a nonsingular quadric f, we may choose coordinates so that (1, 0, 0) f
and z = 0 is the tangent line at (1, 0, 0). Therefore, the coecient of x
2
in f is zero,
and the coecient of xz is not zero. Changing coordinates again, we may assume
that the coecient of xy is zero. Therefore we have the following diagram:
*
* *
0
0
*
L
This shows that f is semi-stable, but not stable.
For a singular quadric, we may assume (1, 0, 0) f and it is a singular point.
Then it is easy to see that the coecients of x
2
, xy, and xz are all zero. Therefore,
we have the following diagram:
* * *
0
0
0
L
This shows that f is unstable.
STABILITY 5
n = 3: Let f be degree 3 homogeneous polynomial in three variables x, y, z.
We may choose coordinates so that f(1, 0, 0) = 0. (Note, for elliptic curves E
we usually choose (0, 0, 1) E. Therefore, one needs to adjust denitions of all
invariants. For example, under our context, an elliptic curve may be represented
by f = xy
2
z
3
+ Ax
2
z + Bx
3
with = 27A
3
+ B
2
= 0.) In general, one can
dene A and B in terms of coecients of f with degree 4 and 6 respectively, we
refee to [4] for denition. Then up to a constant the j-invariant is A
3
/. We have
the following table to include all possibilities
SINGULARITIES
OF f
WORST TRIANGLE STABILITY AND
INVARIANTS
f has a triple point
*
* *
0
0
0
L
*
0
0 0
Unstable
A = B = 0
j undened
f has a cusp or two
components tangent
at a point
*
* *
0
0
0
L
*
*
0
0
unstable
A = B = 0
j undened
f has ordinary double
points(including the
reducible cases: f is a
conic and a transversal
line, or f is a triangle)
*
* *
0
0
0
L
* *
*
0
semi-stable and not
stable
= 0, but A, B = 0
j =
f is smooth
*
* *
0
0
0
*
* *
*
stable
= 0
j nite
6 JULIE TZU-YUEH WANG
Let H be the upper half-plane of C, H

= H Q {}, the extended upper

half-plane, (1) = SL(2, Z)/{1}, Y (1) = (1) \ H and X(1) := (1) \ H

be the
modular curve. Recall that each H associated a lattice

= Z + Z and an
elliptic curve C/

. The j-innvariant function gives a bijection

Y (1) C, j(C/

).
Indeed, it gives a complex analytic isomorphism j : X(1)

P
1
(C). Y (1) is corre-
spond to the set of stable points, and X(1) is correspond to the set of semi-stable
points.
2. General varieties
In general, a projective variety may not be dened by a single equation. There-
fore, we need to introduce Chow forms to dene stability.
Chow Forms. Let V be a closed subvariety of dimension n in P
N
. Let

P
N
denote
the projective space dual to P
N
and identify points of

P
N
with hyperplanes in P
N
.
On can show that the set
Y
V
= {(H
0
, ..., H
n
) (

P
N
)
n+1
|V H
0
H
n
= }.
is a hypersurface in (

P
N
)
n+1
. The multihomogeneous form F
V
that denes Y
V
is
unique up to a scalar and is called the Chow form of V . Furthermore. if V

is
another subvariety of the same dimension, then F
V
is a scalar multiple of F
V
if
and only if V = V

.
Chow Stability. A projective variety V P
N
is Chow stable or simply stable if
its Chow form is stable for the natural SL(N + 1)-action.
Notation. If p(a) is an integer-valued function which is represented by polynomial
over Q of degree at most n in m for large m, we will denote by n.l.c.(p)(the
normalized leading coecient of p) the integer e for which
p(m) = e
m
n
n!
+ lower order terms.
Proposition 1 (Hilbert-Samnuel Polynomial). Suppose that X
n
is a k-variety, L is
an invertible sheaf on X and I O
X
is an ideal sheaf such that Z = SuppO
X
/I
is proper over k. Then there is a polynomial P(r, m) of total degree n such that
for large m
(L
r
/I
m
L
r
) = P(r, m).
Denition. We denote by e
L
(I) (the multiplicity of I measured via L) the integer
n.l.c.((L
r
/I
m
L
r
)).
Example. (i) If I = 0 and X is complete, P is the Hilbert polynomial of L.
(ii) If Z is set theoretically a point x, then P is the Hilbert-Samuel polynomial
of I as an ideal of O
x,X
and e(I) is its multiplicity there. In particulr, it is
independent of L.
STABILITY 7
2.1. Classical Geometric Interpretation. Let X
n
P
N
be a projective variety.
L = O
X
(1), and be a subspace of (P
N
, O
X
(1)). Dene L

to be the linear
subspace of P
n
given by s = 0, s . Dene I

to be the ideal sheaf generated

by sections s , i.e. I

L is the subsheaf of L generated by those sections and

Z = SuppO
X
/I

= X L

is the set of their base points.

Example. Let X
1
P
2
be a curve of degree d, and = CX
0
+CX
1
(P
2
, O(1)).
Then L

= {X
0
= X
1
= 0} P
2
, I

is the ideal sheaf generated by the sections

s and Z = SuppO
X
/I

= {y = (0, 0, 1)}. Let p

(x
0
, x
1
, x
2
) = (x
0
, x
1
). The
picture is:
x
y
P
1
p

(x)
Then p

(X) = (aP
1
) where a is the degree of the covering p

; a generic line meets

X in d points and as this line specializes to a non-tangent line through y meets X
at y with mutiplicity equal to e
L
(I

) and meets X away from y in de

L
(I

) = a
points.
Back to the general situation. If p

: P
N
L

P() = P
m
is the canonical
projection and is the blow-up of X along I

then there is a unique map q making

the following diagram commute:
X Z
res p
//
i

P
m
X B = B
I
(X).

oo
q
OO
Moreover, because sections of O
P
m(1) pull back to sections of I

L on X and are
blown-up to sections of L twisted by minus the exceptional divisor E,
q

(O
P
m(1)) = (

L)(E). (1)
8 JULIE TZU-YUEH WANG
Dene p

(X), the image of X by the projection p

, to be q

(B), i.e. q(B) with

multiplicity equal to the degree of B over q(B) if these have the same dimension
and 0 otherwise.
The following is the geometic interpretation of e
L
(I

).
Proposition 2. e
L
(I

) = deg X deg p

(X).
Proof. Let H be the divisor class of a hyperplane section of X, then
deg X = H
n
= n.l.c.((O
X
(m))).
By (1), q is dened by the linear system of divisors of the form
1
(H) E,
hence
deg p

(x) = (
1
(H) E)
n
= n.l.c.((

O
X
(m)(mE))) = n.l.c.(I
m
O
X
(m))).
From its denition
e
L
(I

) = n.l.c.((O
X
(m)/I
m
O
X
(m)))
= n.l.c.((O
X
(m))) n.l.c.((I
m
O
X
(m)))
= deg X deg p

(X).

2.2. Stability Criteria Involving Degree of Contact with Weights. Fix a

projective variety X
n
P
N
, coordinates X
0
, ..., X
N
on P
n
and a 1-parameter sub-
group of SL(N + 1) which in these coordinates is given by
(t) =
_

_
t
r0
. . . 0
.
.
.
0 t
r
N
_

_t
k
()
where r
0
r
1
r
N
= 0 and k =

N
i=0
ri
N+1
. Consider the following ltration:
H
0
(X, O
X
(1)) = V
0
V
1
V
N
,
with V
i
= span{X
i
, ..., X
N
} in H
0
(X, O
X
(1)). We call the choice of such a ltration
with weights a weighted ag in H
0
(X, O
X
(1)).
Let

X = X A
1
, O

X
(1) = O
X
(1) O
A
1, and t be the coordinate on A
1
. To a
weighted ag F, we associate the C[t] submodule I
F
of (

X, O

X
(1)) generated by
{t
r0
X
0
, t
r1
X
1
, , t
r
N
X
N
} and the ideal sheaf I
F
O

X
which is dened by
I
F
O

X
(1) = sheaf generated by I
F
in O

X
(1).
Remark. I
F
is supported only over 0 A
1
, and over the hyperplane section
x
N
= 0.
Notation. We denote by e
F
the multiplicity e
O
X
(1)
(I
F
).
We say that (X, O
X
(1)) is stable (resp. semistable, unstable) with respect to
if its Chow form is stable (resp. semistable, unstable) with respect to .
Let F
X
(u
0
, ..., u
n
) be the Chow form of X with respect to the embedding given
by X
0
, ..., X
N
. It is a multihomogeneous polynomial of degree deg(X) in each set
of the variables u
i
= (u
i0
, ..., u
iN
), i = 0, ..., n. Let t be an auxiliary variable, and
STABILITY 9
c = (c
0
, ..., c
N
) where c
i
s are integers and c
0
c
1
c
N
. We consider the
decomposition
F
X
(t
c0
u
00
, ..., t
c
N
u
0N
, ...., t
c
N
u
nN
) =

j
t
j
F
j
(u
0
, ..., u
n
),
where F
j
(u
0
, ..., u
n
) are polynomials not contaning the variable t. Let c
i
= r
i
k,
0 i N. By denition, the Chow form F(u
0
, ..., u
n
) is stable (resp. semi-stable)
with respect to c(or say, ) if and only if
min{
j
: F
j
0} < 0 (resp. 0).
For simplicity, we say
F
(c) = min{
j
: F
j
0} is the c-weight of the Chow form
F
X
. It is easy to see the following.
Proposition 3. (1). Let r = (k +c
0
, ..., k +c
N
), then

F
(c) =
F
(r) k (n + 1) deg X.
(2). Let c = (c
0
, ..., c
N
), and let
F
X
(t
c0
u
00
, ..., t
c
N
u
0N
, ...., t
c
N
X
nN
) =

j
t
j
F
j
(u
0
, ..., u
n
),
then

F
(c) = max{
j
: F
j
0}.
Remark. max{
j
: F
j
0} is the Chow weight of X with respect to c.
The given 1-parameter subgroup (t) is associated with an integer vector r =
(r
0
, ..., r
N
). Mumford showed that the r-weight of the Chow form F
X
equals the
degree of contact e
O
X
(1)
(I
F
)(= e
F
, for short). Therefore, we can deduce the fol-
lowing.
Theorem 4 (Mumford). Fix X
n
P
N
a projective variety and a 1-parameter
subgroup given as in (*) with k = (

N
i=0
r
i
)/N + 1. Then (X, O
X
(1)) is stable
(resp. semistable) with respect to if and only if
e
F
< (resp. )
(n + 1) deg X
N + 1
N

i=0
r
i
.
2.3. Computing Degree of Contact with Weights. The situation is still the
same as in the last subsection. We will relate the mutiplicity e
F
with certain weight
of a Hilbert polynomial.
Let r = (r
0
, ..., r
N
) be the N + 1-tuple of positive reals associated with the
1-parameter subgroup . We dene the weight of X
i
to be r
i
, the weight of a
monomial in the X
i
to be the sum of the weights of the X
i
occuring in it, and the
weight of a polynomial in the X
i
s to be the greatest weight of a monomial ocurring
in it. When m is large enough, the monomials of degree m in the X
i
s generate
H
0
(X, O
X
(m)) by [3]. We then dene the weight of an element of H
0
(X, O
X
(m))
to be the least weight of the polynomials in the X
i
s reducing to it. The weight of a
basis of H
0
(X, O
X
(m)) is the sum of the weights of its members. We often consider
monomials in the X
i
s as elements of H
0
(X, O
X
(m)) by abuse of language. A basis
consisting of such monomials is called an -basis, and the minimum weight of such
basis will be denoted w
r
(m).
10 JULIE TZU-YUEH WANG
Let I = I
X
be the homogeneous ideal of C[X
0
, . . . , X
N
] dening X. Let m
be a positive integer, denote by C[X
0
, . . . , X
N
]
m
the homogeneous polynomial of
degree m and I
m
:= C[X
0
, . . . , X
N
]
m
I. Then we can identify H
0
(X, O
X
(m)) =
(X, O
X
(m) to be C[X
0
, . . . , X
N
]
m
/I
m
. Moreover,
dimH
X
(m) := dim(C[X
0
, . . . , X
N
]
m
/I
m
)
is called the m-th Hilbert polynomial of X. Under this identication, it is easy to
see that
w
r
(m) = min
_
_
H
I
(m)

i=1
a
i
r
_
_
,
where the minimum is taken over all sets of monomials x
a1
, . . . , x
a
H
I
(m)
whose
residue classes modulo I form a basis of C[x
0
, . . . , x
N
]
m
/I
m
.
Remark. The Hilbert weight of X with respect to r is dened by
S
X
(m, r) := max
_
_
H
I
(m)

i=1
a
i
r
_
_
,
where the maximum is taken over all sets of monomials x
a1
, . . . , x
a
H
I
(m)
whose
residue classes modulo I form a basis of C[x
0
, . . . , x
N
]
m
/I
m
. Let r = (r
0
, ..., r
N
).
Then
w
r
(m) = S
X
(m, r).
Proposition 5. Fix X, F, I
F
and I
F
as in 2.2. Then for large m,
dim((

X, O

X
(m)/I
m
F
) = w
r
(m).
Proof. Let W
k
(X, O
X
(m)) be the k-th graded piece of t so that W
0
W
1

W
M
= (X, O
X
(m)) for M large. Since W
j
is spanned by the monomials in X
i
of
weight less than or equal to k when m is large, there is an F-basis of H
0
(X, O
X
(m))
compatible with this ltration. Such a basis clearly has minimal weight and hence
w
r
(m) = 0 dimW
0
+ 1 (dimW
1
dimW
0
) +
j(dimW
j
dimW
j1
) + +M(dimW
M
dimW
M1
)
= M dim(X, O
X
(m)) dimW
0
dimW
M1
=
M1

j=0
dim((X, O
X
(m))/W
j
)
= dim((

X, O

X
(m)/I
m
F
).
We note that the last equality comes from the following identication:
I
F
=
M

j=0
t
j
W
j
,
and
(

X, O

X
(m)) = (X, O
X
(m)) k[t].

The relation between e

F
and w
r
(m) is as follows.
Corollary 6. e
F
= n.l.c.(w
r
(m)).
STABILITY 11
Proof.
e
F
= e
O
X
(1)
(I
F
)
= n.l.c.((O

X
(m)/I
m
F
))
= n.l.c.(dim((

X, O

X
(m)/I
m
F
))
= n.l.c.(w
r
(m)).

The following example from [1] illustrates the application of Theorem 4.

Example. The Steiner surface X
2
P
4
is dened to be the closure of the image
of the map : P
2
P
4
dened by
(x, y, z) (xz, yz, x
2
, xy, y
2
) = (w
0
, ..., w
4
).
is a rational map undened only at P = (0, 0, 1). Then extends to a morphism
from the blowing-up of P
2
at P which is a rational rule surface of type F
1
ruled
by the pencil of lines through P. Therefore, X is just P
2
blown up at the point
P and embedded by the system of conics passing through P. The degree of X is
three. This can be checked for example, counting intersection of X[w
0
w
1
= 0]
[w
3
= 0] which consists of three points (0, 0, 1, 0, 0, ), (0, 0, 0, 0, 1) and (1, 1, 0, 0, 0)
of multiplicity one.
Let F be the weighted ag given by choosing coordinates w
i
as above with
weights r
0
= r
1
= 1 and r
2
= r
3
= r
4
= 0. Since the exceptional divisor is dened
by w
2
= w
3
= w
4
= 0, F measures the vanishing of sections on that curve. The
1-parameter subgroup cooresponding to it is
(t) =
_

_
t 0
t
1
1
0 1
_

_
t

2
5
.
So we get,
(dimX + 1)(deg X)
N + 1
N

i=0
r
i
=
3 3 2
5
=
18
5
. (2)
We will now compute e
F
by Proposition 5 and Corollary 6.
Let i, j, k and be non-negative integers. Then we can write
(X, O
X
(m)) = span{x
i
y
j
z
k
| i +j +k = 2m, k m},
(

X, O

X
(m)) = span{x
i
y
j
z
k
t

| i +j +k = 2m, k m},
I
F
= span{x
i
y
j
z
k
t

| i +j +k = 2, k 1, k},
I
m
F
= span{x
i
y
j
z
k
t

| i +j +k = 2m, k m}.
12 JULIE TZU-YUEH WANG
Hence
dim
(

X, O

X
(m))
I
m
F
=
m

k=0
#{(i, j, )| i +j = 2mk, < k}
=
m

k=0
(2mk + 1)k
= 2m
m

k=0
k
m

k=0
k
2
+
m

k=0
k
=
2
3
m
3
+O(m
2
) = 4(
m
3
3!
) +O(m
2
).
This shows that e
F
= 4 by Proposition 5 and Corollary 6.
Together with (2), we have
e
F
>
(dimX + 1)(deg X)
N + 1
N

i=0
r
i
.
Hence, X is Chow-unstable with respect to F by Theorem 4.
References
[1] Morrison, I., Projective stability of ruled surfaces, Invent. Math. 56 (1980), 269-304.
[2] Mumford, D., Stability of projective varieties, Enseign. Math. 23 (1977), 39-110.
[3] Serre, J.-P., Faisceaux algebriques coherents, Ann. of Math. 61 (1955), 197-278.
[4] Silverman, J.H., The Arithmetic of Elliptic Curves, GTM 106, Springer-Verlag, New York,
1986.
Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan, R.O.C.
E-mail address: jwang@math.sinica.edu.tw