The resultant-square conjecture for the discriminant of a trigonal genus-three curve

Let CC be the trigonal genus-three curve defined by f(x,y)=0f(x,y)=0, with coefficients μ1,μ2,μ3,μ4,μ5,μ6,μ8,μ9,μ12\mu_1,\mu_2,\mu_3,\mu_4,\mu_5,\mu_6,\mu_8,\mu_9,\mu_{12}. For variables xx and yy, write fxf_x and fyf_y for the corresponding partial derivatives, and let rsltz\operatorname{rslt}_z denote the resultant with respect to zz. Define

R1=rsltx(rslty(f(x,y),fx(x,y)),rslty(f(x,y),fy(x,y))),R2=rslty(rsltx(f(x,y),fx(x,y)),rsltx(f(x,y),fy(x,y))),R3=gcd(R1,R2).\begin{aligned} R_1&=\operatorname{rslt}_x\big(\operatorname{rslt}_y(f(x,y),f_x(x,y)),\operatorname{rslt}_y(f(x,y),f_y(x,y))\big),\\ R_2&=\operatorname{rslt}_y\big(\operatorname{rslt}_x(f(x,y),f_x(x,y)),\operatorname{rslt}_x(f(x,y),f_y(x,y))\big),\\ R_3&=\gcd(R_1,R_2). \end{aligned}

Here rsltz\operatorname{rslt}_z is the determinant of the Sylvester matrix with respect to zz. Resultant-square conjecture. The polynomial R3R_3 has weight 144144 and is a perfect square in the ring

Z[μ1,μ4,μ2,μ5,μ8,μ3,μ6,μ9,μ12].\mathbb{Z}[\mu_1,\mu_4,\mu_2,\mu_5,\mu_8,\mu_3,\mu_6,\mu_9,\mu_{12}].

The discriminant is a polynomial in the coefficients that vanishes exactly when the curve is singular, and the proposed construction is motivated by computer-algebra experiments in special cases. The source supplies no resolution status, so this remains open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

J. C. Eilbeck, V. Z. Enolski, S. Matsutani, Y. Ônishi and E. Previato, “Abelian Functions for Trigonal Curves of Genus Three”, arXiv:math/0610019 (2007).

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