José Ignacio Cogolludo-Agustín

Characteristic varieties of quasi-projective manifolds and orbifolds

We prove that the irreducible components of the characteristic varieties of quasi-projective manifolds are either pull-backs of such components for orbifolds, or torsion points. This gives an interpretation for the so-called \emph{translated} components of the characteristic varieties, and shows that the zero-dimensional components are indeed torsion. The main result is used to derive further obstructions for a group to be the fundamental group of a quasi-projective manifold.

An arithmetic Zariski pair of line arrangements with non-isomorphic fundamental group

In a previous work, the third named author found a combinatorics of line arrangements whose realizations live in the cyclotomic group of the fifth roots of unity and such that their non-complex-conjugate embedding are not topologically equivalent in the sense that they are not embedded in the same way in the complex projective plane. That work does not imply that the complements of the arrangements are not homeomorphic. In this work we prove that the fundamental groups of the complements are not isomorphic. It provides the first example of a pair of Galois-conjugate plane curves such that the fundamental groups of their complements are not isomorphic (despite the fact that they have isomorphic profinite completions).

Numerical adjunction formulas for weighted projective planes and lattice point counting

This paper gives an explicit formula for the Ehrhart quasi-polynomial of certain 2-dimensional polyhedra in terms of invariants of surface quotient singularities. Also, a formula for the dimension of the space of quasi-homogeneous polynomials of a given degree is derived. This admits an interpretation as a Numerical Adjunction Formula for singular curves on the weighted projective plane.

Kummer covers and braid monodromy

In this work, we describe a method to construct the generic braid monodromy of the preimage of a curve by a Kummer cover. This method is interesting since it combines two techniques, namely, the construction of a highly non-generic braid monodromy and a systematic method to go from a non-generic to a generic braid monodromy. The latter process, called generification , is independent from Kummer covers, and it can be applied in more general circumstances since non-generic braid monodromies appear more naturally and are oftentimes much easier to compute. Explicit examples are computed using these techniques.

Coverings of Rational Ruled Normal Surfaces

In this work we use arithmetic, geometric, and combinatorial techniques to compute the cohomology of Weil divisors of a special class of normal surfaces, the so-called rational ruled toric surfaces. These computations are used to study the topology of cyclic coverings of such surfaces ramified along \(\mathbb {Q}\)-normal crossing divisors.

Wirtinger curves, Artin groups, and hypocycloids

The computation of the fundamental group of the complement of an algebraic plane curve has been theoretically solved since Zariski–van Kampen, but actual computations are usually cumbersome. In this work, we describe the notion of Wirtinger presentation of such a group relying on the real picture of the curve and with the same combinatorial flavor as the classical Wirtinger presentation; we determine a significant family of curves for which Wirtinger presentation provides the required fundamental group. The above methods allow us to compute that fundamental group for an infinite subfamily of hypocycloids, relating them with Artin groups.

Some Open Questions on Arithmetic Zariski Pairs

In this paper, complement-equivalent arithmetic Zariski pairs will be exhibited answering in the negative a question by Eyral-Oka [14] on these curves and their groups. A complement-equivalent arithmetic Zariski pair is a pair of complex projective plane curves having Galois-conjugate equations in some number field whose complements are homeomorphic, but whose embeddings in

Arrangements of hypersurfaces and Bestvina–Brady groups

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