Whats the relation between the Veronese embedding and the isomorphism $\operatorname{Proj}A\cong\operatorname{Proj}A^{(d)}$

algebraic-geometry

In the book Introduction to Schemes, G. Ellingsrud and J. Ottem show (in section 6.7) that if $A$ is a graded ring and
$$A^{(d)}:=\bigoplus_{n\geq 0} A_{nd}$$
then the natural inclusion $A^{(d)}\to A$ induces an isomorphism $\operatorname{Proj}A\cong\operatorname{Proj}A^{(d)}$. They call it the Veronese embedding. While I understand what they did, I don't understand why they called it this way. Isn't the Veronese embedding the inclusion $\operatorname{Proj} k[x_0,\dotsc,x_n]_d \to \mathbb{P}_k^{N-1}$, where $N=\binom{n+d}{d}$?

Best Answer

They are the same thing. Let $A_*$ be a finitely generated graded ring. Like you say, you can consider the subring $A_{d*}$, something called the $d$-th Veronese subring. There is a natural map $\operatorname{Proj} A_* \to \operatorname{Proj} A_{d*}$ which is an isomorphism of schemes.

Here's how this then leads to the Veronese embedding: Take $A_*$ to be the graded ring $k[x_0,\ldots,x_n]$. Compose the isomorphism $\operatorname{Proj} A_* \to \operatorname{Proj} _{d*}$ with the natural embedding of $\operatorname{Proj} A_{d*}$ into $\mathbb{P}^{N-1}$, where $N$ is the dimension of the space of homogeneous degree-$d$ polynomials. The composition is what precisely what we call classically the Veronese embedding.

An example with low $n$ and $d$ may help. If $n = 1$ and $d = 2$, then $\operatorname{Proj} A_{2*} = \operatorname{Proj} k[x^2,xy,y^2]$, embedding naturally in $\mathbb{P}^2_k$. Can you match that with more classical descriptions of the Veronese embedding?

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