Focusing on geometric constructions over the complex numbers, this textbook delves into the essential topic of abelian varieties within algebraic geometry. It highlights the construction of significant classes of abelian varieties and explores their algebraic cycles, providing a comprehensive introduction to this rich area of study.
A complex torus is a connected compact complex Lie group. Any complex 9 9 torus is of the form X =
KlappentextAbelian varieties are special examples of projective varieties. As such they can be described by a set of homogeneous polynomial equations. The theory of abelian varieties originated in the beginning of the ninetheenth centrury with the work of Abel and Jacobi. The subject of this book is the theory of abelian varieties over the field of complex numbers, and it covers the main results of the theory, both classic and recent, in modern language. It is intended to give a comprehensive introduction to the field, but also to serve as a reference. The focal topics are the projective embeddings of an abelian variety, their equations and geometric properties. Moreover several moduli spaces of abelian varieties with additional structure are constructed. Some special results onJacobians and Prym varieties allow applications to the theory of algebraic curves. The main tools for the proofs are the theta group of a line bundle, introduced by Mumford, and the characteristics, to be associated to any nondegenerate line bundle. They are a direct generalization of the classical notion of characteristics of theta functions. The second edition contains five new chapters which present some of the most important recent result on the subject. Among them are results on automorphisms and vector bundles on abelian varieties, algebraic cycles and the Hodge conjecture.