If $X\subset \mathbb{P}^n$ is a projective non degenerate variety, the $X$-rank of a point $P\in \mathbb{P}^n$ is defined to be the minimum integer $r$ such that $P$ belongs to the span of $r$ points of $X$. We describe the complete stratification of the fourth secant variety of any Veronese variety $X$ via the $X$-rank. This result has an equivalent translation in terms both of symmetric tensors and homogeneous polynomials. It allows to classify all the possible integers $r$ that can occur in the minimal decomposition of either a symmetric tensor or a homogeneous polynomial of $X$-border rank 4 (i.e. contained in the fourth secant variety) as a linear combination of either completely decomposable tensors or powers of linear forms respectively.Comment: In Press: Advances in Pure and Applied Mathematic

Here we focus on the compactification of the moduli space of curves of genus g together with an unramified double cover, constructed by Arnaud Beauville in order to compactify the Prym mapping. We present an alternative description of it, inspired by the moduli space of spin curves of Maurizio Cornalba, and we discuss in detail its main features, both from a geometrical and a combinatorial point of view.

We introduce and study properties of the Terracini locus of projective varieties X, which is the locus of finite sets $$S \subset X$$S ⊂ X such that 2S fails to impose independent conditions to a linear system L. Terracini loci are relevant in the study of interpolation problems over double points in special position, but they also enter naturally in the study of special loci contained in secant varieties to projective varieties.We find some criteria which exclude that a set S belongs to the Terracini locus. Furthermore, in the case where X is a Veronese variety, we bound the dimension of the Terracini locus and we determine examples in which the locus has codimension 1 in the symmetric product of X.

Let X subset of P-r be an integral and non-degenerate variety. Set n:=dim(X). We prove that if the (k+n-1)-secant variety of X has (the expected) dimension (k+n-1)(n+1)-1<r and X is not uniruled by lines, then X is not k-weakly defective and hence the k-secant variety satisfies identifiability, i.e. a general element of it is in the linear span of a unique S subset of X with #(S)=k. We apply this result to many Segre-Veronese varieties and to the identifiability of Gaussian mixtures G(1,d). If X is the Segre embedding of a multiprojective space we prove identifiability for the k-secant variety (assuming that the (k+n-1)-secant variety has dimension (k+n-1)(n+1)-1<r, this is a known result in many cases), beating several bounds on the identifiability of tensors.

In this paper we will study the Brill–Noether theory of vector bundles on a smooth projective curve X. As usual in papers on this topic we are mainly interested in stable or at least semistable bundles. Let W k r, d (X) be the scheme of all stable vector bundles E on X with rank (E)=r, deg (E)=d and h 0(X, E)[ges ]k+1. For a survey of the main known results, see the introduction of [6]. The referee has pointed out that the results in [6] were improved by V. Mercat in [14]; he proved that W k r, d (X) is non-empty for d<2r if and only if k+1[les ]r+(d−r)/g. If X has general moduli the more interesting existence theorem was proved in [19]. However, in this paper we are mainly interested in very special curves X, e.g. the hyperelliptic or the bielliptic curves. We work over an algebraically closed base field K. In Section 5 we will assume char (K)=0. In Section 1 we will give some theorems of Clifford's type. In Section 2 we will construct several stable bundles with certain properties. Here the main tool is an operation (the +elementary transformation) which sends a vector bundle E on X to another vector bundle E′ with rank (E′)=rank (E) and deg (E′)=deg (E)+1 (see Section 2 for its definition and its elementary properties). Using the +elementary transformations in Section 3 we will prove the following existence theorem which covers the case of a ‘small’ number of sections.