[Math] When are curves irreducible

algebraic-curvesalgebraic-geometry

This question might be too vague, but we know lots of things about irreducible curves, but when I'm given a curve I often can't tell if it's irreducible, so I don't know if those things apply to my curve. I wonder if there's any way of telling if a (projective) curve is irreducible, without trying to factor the polynomial.

I read somewhere that a cubic regular curve in the complex projective plane is irreducible. Is there a generalization of this, e.g. for non-cubic curves, in a projective space over some other field, or in a higher-dimensional projective space? And is there some other similar results?

Best Answer

I hope to help you.

If $V$ is a curve, then $V$ is a closed set in Zariski topology $\Bbb A^n_k$. The following are equivalent:

$(1)$ V is irreducible
$(2)$ any two non-empty open sets of $V$ have a non-empty intersection
$(3)$ Every non-empty open subset is dense in $V$
$(4)$ Every non-empty open subset is connected
$(5)$ Every non-empty open subset is irreducible

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