K3 surface

A K3 surface is an important and interesting example of a compact space complex surface (complex dimension 2 being real dimension 4). Together with two dimensional complex tori, they are the Calabi-Yau manifolds of dimension two. Most K3 surfaces are not algebraic. This means that, in general, they cannot be embedded in any projective space as a surface defined by polynomial equations. However, K3 surfaces first arose in algebraic geometry and it is in this context that they received their name — it is after three algebraic geometers, Kummer, Kähler and Kunihiko Kodaira, alluding also to the mountain peak K2 in the news when the name was given during the 1950s.

=Definition=

There are many equivalent properties that can be used to characterize a K3 surface. The definition given depends on the context:

In differential geometry, a typical definition is of a compact, complex, simply connected surface with trivial canonical line bundle .

In algebraic geometry, the definition a surface, X , with trivial canonical class such that H 1( X , O X) = 0. is preferred since it generalizes to more arbitrary base field (mathematics) (not just the complex numbers). Here, H 1( X , O X) denotes the first sheaf cohomology group of O X, the sheaf of regular functions on X .

Another characterization, sometimes found in physics literature, is that a K3 manifold is a hyperkähler manifold of real dimension 4 with SU(2) holonomy .

=Important Properties=

As 4-dimensional real manifolds, all K3 surfaces are diffeomorphism to one another and so have the same Betti numbers: 1, 0, 22, 0, 1.

All K3 surfaces are Kähler manifold.

It is known that there is a coarse moduli space for K3 surfaces, of dimension 20. There is a period mapping and Torelli theorem for complex K3 surfaces.

K3 manifolds play an important role in string theory because they provide us with the second simplest compactification after the torus. Compactification on a K3 surface preserves one half of the original supersymmetry.

=Examples=

#A Kummer surface is the quotient of a two-dimensional abelian variety A by the action a → − a . This results in 16 singularities, at the 2-torsion points of A . It was shown classically that the minimal resolution of this quotient is a K3 surface. #A non-singular degree 4 surface in P 3. #The intersection of a Quadric and a cubic in P 4. #The intersection of three Quadrics in P 5. #A double cover of the projective plane branched along a degree 6 curve.

=External links=

*[http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9611137 K3 Surfaces and String Duality, by Paul Aspinwall] *[http://www.cgtp.duke.edu/ITP99/morrison/cortona.pdf The Geometry of K3 surfaces, by David Morrison]