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# Coupling to the continuous spectrum and HFB approximation

## 1 Introduction

In many problems of present-day nuclear physics (structure of the ground state of nuclei close to drip lines, description of weakly bound or unbound excited states, decay of isomeric states), one has to explicitly take into account the continuum of scattering states in addition to the discrete spectrum of bound states. A convenient approach to these problems is provided by the mean-field theory in which pairing correlations are included in a self-consistent way through the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) formalism . In this method a set of quasi-particle excitations together with their vacuum is obtained, which forms the basis for a description of ground state properties and spectra. In principle, quasi-particle states, when expressed in terms of the single-particle eigenstates of a one-body hamiltonian, are always superpositions of states belonging to both the discrete and continuous spectra . In ordinary stable nuclei, the continuum part of quasi-particle states is usually neglected, as ground state properties and low-energy excitations mainly depend on the discrete quasi-particle states representing occupied and negative energy unoccupied single-particle orbitals. So, quasi-particles are often obtained using expansions on a discrete basis of orthonormal square-integrable functions.

A very different situation is encountered in weakly bound nuclei, where the gap between the last occupied single-particle level and the continuum of positive energy states may become smaller than a few MeV. In this case, the residual pairing interaction is able to induce a significant coupling between the discrete and continuum single-particle states and the contribution of the continuum to quasi-particle states cannot be neglected.

In such a situation, new numerical methods for solving the HFB equations have to be implemented, which more or less implicitly, amount to introduce a suitable discretization of the continuum. With these methods, not only the contribution of the continuum to quasi-particle states can be obtained, but also a description of quasi-particles belonging to the continuous spectrum, including resonances. Let us note that such a treatment is necessary to reproduce the unusual properties of weakly bound nuclei such as halos and neutron skins.

Several techniques have been proposed in the past along these lines: lattice calculations , Basis-Spline Galerkin lattice , methods using the local-scale point transformation of the spherical harmonic oscillator wave functions , which are adapted to calculations involving zero-range two-body interactions such as the Skyrme forces. Another approach, based on the Kamimura-Gauss basis  has been reported recently . It appears to be a promising technique for both zero range and finite range forces. Recently, a method has been proposed where the HFB equations are solved in a spherical box with exact boundary conditions for scattering states . In these methods, the HFB equations are usually expressed in space coordinates, which is especially convenient when a zero-range nucleon-nucleon interaction is used, and interesting results have been obtained in this context .

In the case of the finite range Gogny interaction , the HFB equations have always been solved by expanding the quasi-particle states on a finite discrete basis of orthonormal functions. In view of computational convenience, the latter are usually chosen as the eigenfunctions of an harmonic oscillator (HO), whose geometry and symmetries are adapted to the nuclear states to be studied. The HFB equations are then expressed in matrix form, and they are solved by using an iterative procedure. Namely, at iteration $`n`$, the set of individual wave functions $`\{\psi _i^{(n)}\}`$ is expanded on a finite basis of generalized eigenstates of a reference hamiltonian $`H^{(n)}`$, generally taken as $`T+V_{HO}^{(n)}`$, where $`V_{HO}^{(n)}`$ is an harmonic oscillator potential:

$$\psi _i^{(n)}=\underset{p=1}{\overset{N_{max}}{}}C_{i,p}^{(n)}\phi _p^{(n)}.$$
(1)
The $`\phi _p^{(n)}`$ are explicitly known and the unknown coefficients $`C_{i,p}^{(n)}`$ are determined using matrix diagonalization techniques.

This simple choice has been found to be appropriate for computing the properties of well bound nuclei, the convergence of the iterative procedure being obtained with a reasonable number of iterations . In practice, the sum in (1) is truncated to a number of states $`N_{max}`$ corresponding to a number of HO shells ranging from 6-8 in light nuclei up to 16-20 in heavy and superheavy nuclei.

On the other hand, in exotic nuclei close to drip-lines, weakly bound single-particle states acquire a spatial extension so large that the use of expansions on HO wave functions such as (1) requires prohibitively large values of $`N_{max}`$. In this case, as mentioned above, an alternative method of solving the HFB equations has to be found.

A natural way to avoid this difficulty is to change the reference potential from which the basis is built. Let us recall the well-known “decomposition of unity” on a complete basis of generalized eigenstates, associated with a reference hamiltonian, a sum of kinetic and potential terms $`H=T+V`$. We assume that $`V`$ is short-ranged and negative for small $`r`$. This decomposition formula can be written formally as

$$\mathrm{𝟏}=\underset{n=1}{\overset{N}{}}|\phi _n><\phi _n|+|\phi (,k)><\phi (,k)|dk,$$
(2)
where the first (resp. second) contribution corresponds to the discrete (resp. continuous) spectrum of $`H`$.

Numerical simulations  show that the continuous contribution in (2) can be neglected in the expansion of single particle states provided the gap between the energy of the last occupied state $`|E_N|`$ and the continuous threshold is large enough, which is the case in stable nuclei.

As mentioned before, for nuclei near instability, the gap is small and the continuous contribution in (2) has to be taken into account.

A new difficulty then appears: a numerical treatment based on equation (2) requires to introduce both a discretization and a cut-off in the integral involving continuous states. This leads to a finite expansion upon discrete basis states which is not necessarly less expensive than the one in (1), unless one can identify a few states carrying a predominant contribution of the continuous part in (2). As shown in a simplified model , such a discretization would probably lead to the same numerical difficulties as above, as the necessary truncation of the integral in( 2) is not likely to be less expensive than a sum with large $`N_{max}`$ in (1).

As a matter of fact one knows that the so-called metastable or resonant states corresponding to complex singularities of the resolvent give important contributions to the density of states. These states decay exponentially in time, preventing them to be considered as part of the spectrum, although they correspond to long-living nuclear configurations. Moreover it has been soon recognized (see  and references therein) that, despite their pathological asymptotic behaviour, these unstable states could be used as generalized eigenfunctions that can be used to describe resonance phenomena in nuclear collisions. In this framework, a given state is expanded on a set of functions that includes resonant functions on the same footing as bound state eigenfunctions.

The drawbacks of such a procedure are well known: as the resulting problem looses its self-adjointness, the complex spectrum has to be reinterpreted together with the associated wave functions. However such expansions have been frequently used to describe various physical situations (potential and obstacle scattering, nuclear reactions… ). Recently, this approach has also been used to treat the problem of multiconfiguration mixing within the nuclear shell model .

Our purpose is to show that this old idea may be applied in a simple way to self-consistent computations when loosely bound or metastable states are expected, which is precisely the case in HFB computations for heavy nuclei, especially those which are close to drip-lines.

This paper is organized as follows. In Sec. 2, we consider a model where the Schrödinger equation is solved in a bounded domain, and we apply it to a simplified one-body problem. In Sec. 3 some numerical experiments are presented, while Sec. 4 briefly presents our conclusions.

## 2 The problem in a bounded domain

Classically, in order to derive generalized eigenfunction expansions such as (2), one first computes the Green function associated to the problem and one uses complex analysis to continue this Green function and study its singularities. Then, by applying the Cauchy residue theorem, one obtains (2), where the sum corresponds to the discrete spectrum, and the integral takes into account the continuous part of the spectrum (see Appendix A).

A natural way to avoid the delicate discretization of the continuous contribution in (2) is to restrict the initial problem to a bounded region $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, where one expects that most of the physics takes place, and to impose “transparent” boundary conditions reflecting the properties of the exterior (unbounded) domain. In fact, this last point deserves a special comment. It is clear that the kind of artificial conditions we impose on the boundary must be of particular nature in order to mimic the behaviour of the “exterior world”, in a transparent way: the waves produced in the interior region must not be disturbed (reflected) by the boundary. For example, a standard Dirichlet or Von Neumann boundary conditions would lead to a problem essentially different from the one we want to solve and would produce results without clear connection with the solution of our original problem. One can check easily in particular that Dirichlet condition would lead to nothing but a Fourier series expansion, which makes the obtained solution strongly domain-dependent.

One can show that this kind of “transparent” boundary conditions, which has been developped in the acoustic domain and more recently in the Schrödinger context (see  and references therein) leads to a complex condition producing a non-selfadjoint problem: this is the price to pay for “replacing the exterior by the boundary”.

By restricting the domain, one can hope to get improved asymptotic properties for the modified Green functions, allowing one to bypass the integral along the physical cuts in (2). As a consequence, complex isolated singularities appear outside the imaginary axis, coming from the artificial complex conditions at the boundary of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

To our knowledge, this idea goes back to Kapur and Peierls  who first introduced in the thirties non self-adjoint flux conditions associated to Schrödinger equations, a method which has been widely used in the context of nuclear reactions .

### 2.1 The model

In the particular situation of the square well potential, the above method can be worked out in a very simple way. The idea is to replace the harmonic oscillator by a new reference potential $`V`$ such that the hamiltonian $`H=T+V`$ has a continuous spectrum, in order to describe more accurately the loosely bound states and, if necessary, metastable states.

As we expect that the physics takes place in the region $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ where the potential is non-zero, we restrict the dynamics to $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and we impose a boundary condition at the boundary which mimics the external scattering behaviour.

To be specific, let us consider the Schrödinger equation for a particle in a compactly supported spherically symmetric potential $`V`$:

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}+V(r)\right)\phi _k(r)=k^2\phi _k(r),\text{for}r\mathrm{\Omega }=(0,r_0).$$
(3)
Where we have considered $`\mathrm{}^2/2m=1`$ and an orbital momentum $`\mathrm{}=0`$. As a new reference potential $`V`$, we take the square well defined as:

$$V(r)=|\begin{array}{cc}V_0,\text{for}r<r_0,\hfill & \\ 0,\text{otherwise},\hfill & \end{array}$$
(4)
where $`V_0>0`$ and $`r_0>0`$.

We chose the square well because the associated eigenfunctions are rather elementary (Bessel functions). Moreover, in order to simplify the arguments we restrict the analysis to $`s`$-waves, in which case the eigenfunctions are simply sine and cosine functions.

As an extra boundary condition for $`r=r_0`$, we choose the free radiation condition:

$$\left(\frac{d}{dr}ik\right)\phi _k(r)=0,\text{for}r=r_0.$$
(5)
From the above discussion about “transparent” boundary conditions, we stress that the non-selfadjoint boundary condition (5) amounts to fix an imaginary flux condition reflecting exactly the physical radiation behaviour at infinity for the free Schrödinger equation. We feel that this choice corresponds to our purpose to produce the smallest perturbation near the artificial boundary $`r=r_0`$.

The problem (3)-(5) is easily solved by computing the corresponding Green function (see Appendix A), giving simple explicit expressions for the associated eigenfunctions and the following expansion for any function $`fL^2(0,r_0)`$:

$$f(r^{})=\underset{n}{}\frac{k_n}{i+k_nr_0}\left(_0^{r_0}\mathrm{sin}p_nrf(r)𝑑r\right)\mathrm{sin}p_nr^{},$$
(6)
where the $`k_n`$ are the solutions both, real and complex, of the equation :

$$p_n\mathrm{cot}p_nr_0=ik_n,$$
(7)
with $`p_n=(k_n^2+V_0)^{1/2}`$. For real roots we recover bound and virtual state eigenfunctions, while for non real ones we get resonant and anti-resonant eigenfunctions.

### 2.2 Application to HFB problems

Let us consider the familiar Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations:

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}T+𝒰& 𝒱\\ 𝒱& T𝒰\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1\\ \psi _2\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}E+\lambda & 0\\ 0& E\lambda \end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1\\ \psi _2\end{array}\right),$$
(8)
where the particle-hole and particle-particle potentials $`𝒰`$ and $`𝒱`$ depend on $`\psi _1`$ and $`\psi _2`$.

In order to solve this non linear eigenvalue problem we expand the unknown wave functions $`\psi _1`$ and $`\psi _2`$ on our reference basis, suitably truncated up to a rank $`N`$, depending on the desired accuracy:

$$\psi _1=\underset{n=0}{\overset{N}{}}a_n\phi _n,\text{ and }\psi _2=\underset{n=0}{\overset{N}{}}b_n\phi _n,$$
(9)
where

$$\phi _n(r)=\mathrm{sin}p_nr$$
(10)
and the coefficients $`p_n`$ are obtained by solving the transcendental equation (7).

Replacing the functions $`\psi _1(r)`$ and $`\psi _2(r)`$ by there expansions, multiplying on the left by $`\phi _m^{}(r)`$ and integrating, one gets the following expressions for (8):

$$\{\begin{array}{c}\underset{n=0}{\overset{N}{}}(𝐓_{mn}+𝐔_{mn})a_n+𝐕_{mn}b_n=(E+\lambda )\underset{n=0}{\overset{N}{}}𝐑_{mn}a_m,\\ \\ \underset{n=0}{\overset{N}{}}𝐕_{mn}a_n(𝐓_{mn}+𝐔_{mn})b_n=(E\lambda )\underset{n=0}{\overset{N}{}}𝐑_{mn}b_m.\end{array}$$
(11)
or in matrix form:

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}𝐓+𝐔& 𝐕\\ 𝐕& 𝐓𝐔\end{array}\right)\mathrm{\Psi }=\left(\begin{array}{cc}(E+\lambda )𝐑& 0\\ 0& (E\lambda )𝐑\end{array}\right)\mathrm{\Psi }$$
(12)
where T, U, V and R are complex hermitian matrices and $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is the column vector of components $`c_i(a_1,\mathrm{},a_N,b_1,\mathrm{},b_N)`$.

The equation (12) is a generalized eigenvalue problem, from which the coefficients of the expansion (10) together with the eigenvalues $`E`$ can be obtained.

If we solve the problem using only the functions $`\phi _n`$ (corresponding to $`\mathrm{}=0`$), these elements are rather simple and in many cases they can be computed analytically.

Some care must be taken in the evaluation of the kinetic energy $`𝐓`$. As discussed before, the expansion we use is valid only for $`r(0,r_0)`$ and expansion (9) concerns only the part of the functions $`\psi _{1,2}(r)`$ defined in this interval. Consequently equations (9) have to be replaced by:

$$Y(r_0r)\psi _1(r)=\underset{n}{}a_n\phi _n(r),\text{and}Y(r_0r)\psi _2(r)=\underset{n}{}b_n\phi _n(r),$$
(13)
where $`Y(r_0r)`$ is the Heaviside function. Taking the second derivative of this function, one gets:

$$\frac{d^2}{dr^2}\left[Y(r_0r)\psi _i(r)\right]=Y(r_0r)\frac{d^2\psi _i(r)}{dr^2}\delta (r_0r)\frac{d\psi _i(r)}{dr}|_{r=r_0}$$
(14)
As a consequence, the matrix elements of the kinetic energy $`T`$ are:

$`\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 𝐓_{mn}& ={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}}{\displaystyle _0^{r_0}}\phi _m^{}(r)\left[\mathrm{\Delta }\delta (r_0r){\displaystyle \frac{d}{dr}}\right]\phi _n(r)𝑑r\hfill \\ \\ & ={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2k_n^2}{2m}}𝐑_{mn}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2k_n^2}{2m}}\mathrm{sin}(k_mr_0)\mathrm{cos}(k_nr_0)\hfill \end{array}`$ (15)
They are computed in the same way as those of R (see relation (11)). Let us note that similar formulas have to be employed if the potentials $`𝒰`$ and $`𝒱`$ contain velocity-dependent contributions for example in the spin-orbit components.

In the case of a nucleon-nucleon force of simple form (Skyrme or Gogny forces), the matrices $`𝒰`$ and $`𝒱`$ can be calculated analytically. Let us note that since T and R are hermitian matrices, the reality of the eigenvalues in equation (11) is insured. Finally the Coulomb potential can also be calculated analytically.

### 2.3 Canonical states

In order to interpret the HFB results, let us introduce the normal reduced density $`\rho (r,r^{})`$:

$$rr^{}\rho (r,r^{})=\underset{k}{}\psi _2^{(k)}(r)\psi _{2}^{(k)}{}_{}{}^{}(r^{}),$$
(16)
where $`\psi _2^{(k)}`$ denotes the lower component of the $`k^{th}`$ solution of equation (12). With a similar notation, the abnormal reduced density $`\stackrel{~}{\rho }(r,r^{})`$ is given by:

$$rr^{}\stackrel{~}{\rho }(r,r^{})=\underset{k}{}\psi _2^{(k)}(r)\psi _{1}^{(k)}{}_{}{}^{}(r^{}),$$
(17)
Using expansion (9), these relations become:

$$rr^{}\rho (r,r^{})=\underset{k}{}\underset{i,j}{}b_i^{(k)}b_{j}^{(k)}{}_{}{}^{}\phi _i(r)\phi _j^{}(r^{}),$$
(18)
and:

$$rr^{}\stackrel{~}{\rho }(r,r^{})=\underset{k}{}\underset{i,j}{}b_i^{(k)}a_{j}^{(k)}{}_{}{}^{}\phi _i(r)\phi _j^{}(r^{}),$$
(19)
for $`0r,r^{}r_0`$.

The interpretation of these quantities is clear (see for example ). The normal density is localized as soon as the chemical parameter $`\lambda `$ is negative. The canonical basis $`\{\overline{\psi }_i\}`$ is defined as the set of eigenvectors of the normal density:

$$𝑑r^{}rr^{}\rho (r,r^{})\overline{\psi }_i(r^{})=v_i^2\overline{\psi }_i(r),$$
(20)
where the eigenvalues $`v_i^2`$ are the occupation probabilities of the corresponding canonical states. It is straightforward to show that if the $`\overline{\psi }_i`$ are expanded in the same way as the quasi-particle wave functions, this equation corresponds to:

$$\rho 𝐑\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}_i=v_i^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}_i,$$
(21)
where $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}_i`$ is the vector built with the coefficients of the expansion of $`\overline{\psi }_i(r)`$ and $`\rho `$ is the matrix defined by:

$$\rho _{ij}=\underset{k}{}b_i^{(k)}b_{j}^{(k)}{}_{}{}^{}.$$
(22)
It is important to stress that $`\rho _{ij}`$ is not properly speaking a representation of the normal density since the set of functions $`\{\phi _i\}`$ does not form a basis.

Finally, we define the energies of the canonical states as the diagonal matrix element of the Hartree-Fock Hamiltonian in the basis of the canonical states :

$$ϵ_i=\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }_i}|H|\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }_i}$$
(23)
This term can be easily written once the coefficients of the expansion of the canonical states are known.

## 3 Numerical simulations

To illustrate this method we have chosen to solve a simplified problem of HFB type with spherical symmetry. We consider the following equations:

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}T+𝒰& 𝒱\\ 𝒱& T𝒰\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1\\ \psi _2\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}E+\lambda & 0\\ 0& E\lambda \end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1\\ \psi _2\end{array}\right)$$
(24)
where $`T`$ is the kinetic energy operator, $`𝒰`$ and $`𝒱`$ are respectively the particle-hole and particle-particle mean-fields. We do not take into account the possible effects of a Coulomb field or of a spin-orbit potential, although this would not lead to any difficulties in the treatment.

### 3.1 Hartree-Fock case (no pairing)

We first consider the case without pairing, i.e. $`𝒱=0`$. In this case, the Lagrange multiplier $`\lambda `$ is not needed any more and we can omit it in the equations. We want to check the ability of our method to construct the correct bound and resonant states associated with a given potential. To this aim, we consider the gaussian potential used in :

$$𝒰(r)=5e^{0.25(r3.5)^2}8e^{0.2r^2}$$
(25)
This potential is given in MeV and the radial coordinate in fm in units where $`\mathrm{}^2/2m=1/2`$ MeV.fm<sup>2</sup>. This potential has a rich spectrum in all partial waves and the discretes states have been calculated with high accuracy in . The energies and widths of the discrete states up to 10 MeV are reported in table 1.

To build the set of functions (10) we have used a rectangular well of depth 30 MeV and radius 12 fm. By solving equation (7) we have found 30 bound states and 29 virtual states. We complete this set with the lowest resonances and companion anti-resonances. The corresponding functions are not orthogonal and we cannot build the matrix $`𝐑`$ using all of them, otherwise the generalized eigenvalue problem (12) would be – at least numerically – singular. In order to reject some functions we use the following procedure: we build the full matrix $`𝐑`$, using all functions and try to invert it with a simple Gauss method. During this calculation, if we encounter a pivot smaller than a given value, then we reject the corresponding function. As a result, most of the times, we cannot use simultaneously bound and virtual states, because those two sets span spaces which are almost identical. In this example, we have been led to keep the 30 bound states, 3 resonances and 3 anti-resonances. The total number of functions used to expand the solutions is then 36.

Because of the absence of pairing field, the matrix equation (12) is equivalent to the Hartree-Fock problem:

$$\left[𝐓+𝐔\right]\mathrm{\Psi }=E𝐑\mathrm{\Psi }$$
(26)
The matrix elements of the matrices T, R and U can be computed analytically. Their expressions are given in Appendix B. After computing the matrices in (26) and diagonalizing the matrix R<sup>-1</sup>(T+U) we obtain a set of eigenvalues and eigenvectors that we normalize to 1 inside the domain $`(0,r_0)`$.

We have reported in table 2 the eigenvalues obtained below 10 MeV. We can see that the values from table 1 are nicely reproduced. The bound states are given with an accuracy of five to six significant digits for the $`\mathrm{}=0`$ and $`\mathrm{}=2`$ states. The narrow resonances are also very well reproduced. The discrepancies between the values in table 1 and 2 for the resonances energies are mainly due to their widths. The wide resonances found in table 1 by computing the S matrix cannot be seen directly in table 2 because they spread over a number of scattering states. The states with $`\mathrm{}=1`$ are not so well reproduced, but we have checked that the agreement is better if we use more functions to expand the solutions (in this example, all the results are obtained by using 36 functions to expand the solutions). A plausible explanation concerning this deficiency is the following: the set of functions used to expand the solutions behaves like $`r`$ in the limit $`r0`$, so the convergence is supposed to be slower for partial waves with $`\mathrm{}>0`$, the most important consequences are seen on waves with $`\mathrm{}=1`$ because these functions have a significant amplitude near the origin where they are not supposed to be correctly reproduced. This effect is smoothed for higher partial waves because the centrifugal term prevent them to “explore” the vincinity of the origin. It is really remarkable to see that the solutions with orbital angular momentum from 0 to 4 can be reproduced by expansions on functions with $`\mathrm{}=0`$.

We can also observe how the eigenfunctions behave. Some of them with $`\mathrm{}=0,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ and 2 are plotted on figures 1, 2 and 3. Figure 1 shows that the method is able to reproduce the deeply bound states, weakly bound states and scattering states. In the particular case of the scattering state at 2.252302 MeV, the wave function is strongly localized in the region of the potential and corresponds to a resonant state.

On figure 2 we see that the wave functions for $`\mathrm{}=1`$ are less correctly reproduced. Some small unphysical oscillations appear on the tail of the functions. As it was discussed previously, this problem can be cured by enlarging the set of functions used to expand the solutions.

We can see on figure 3 that despite the fact that the expansion of the solutions involves only functions with $`\mathrm{}=0`$, the behavior of the $`\mathrm{}=0`$ states at the origin ($`\mathrm{\Psi }r^{\mathrm{}+1}`$) is very well reproduced. One observes that the 2.384031 MeV resonance wave function is strongly localized in the region where the potential is attractive, while the $`4.675124`$ MeV one is much less localized.

### 3.2 Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov case

We choose $`𝒰`$ to be a Saxon-Woods potential:

$$𝒰(r)=\frac{𝒰_0}{1+e^{\frac{rR_0}{a}}}$$
(27)
As the pairing field is known to be mainly localized around the nuclear surface, we adopt for the particle-particle channel potential $`𝒱`$ the derivative of a Saxon-Woods potential with the same radius and diffuseness as in the particle-hole channel, but with a different intensity:

$$𝒱(r)=\frac{d}{dr}\left[\frac{𝒱_0}{1+e^{\frac{rR_0}{a}}}\right]$$
(28)
The system (24) has been solved for partial waves from $`\mathrm{}=0`$ to $`4`$.

As discussed in , the spectrum of (24) is unbound from above and from below. The solutions for negative and positive energies are related by:

$$\{\begin{array}{c}\psi _1(E,r)=\psi _2(E,r)\\ \psi _2(E,r)=\psi _1(E,r)\end{array}$$
(29)
Therefore, when solving equation (24), we consider only the solutions with $`E>0`$.

The numerical parameters of the particle-hole potential (28) have been taken as

$$𝒰_0=32\text{ MeV},r_0=3.7\text{ fm},a=0.65\text{ fm}$$
(30)
and those of the particle-particle channel potential:

$$𝒱_0=4\text{ MeV},r_0=3.7\text{ fm},a=0.65\text{ fm}$$
(31)
The energy scale is chosen such that $`\mathrm{}^2/2m=20`$ MeV in this example.

The set of functions $`\{\phi _i\}`$ used to expand the solutions was generated from a box of radius 40 fm and depth 180 MeV which contains 38 bound states and 37 virtual states. The set $`\{\phi _i\}`$ is built with the 38 bound states and the 2 first couples of resonances and anti-resonances, so the dimension of the matrices is 42.

In table 3 we have reported the energies and the norms of the particle-particle bound states when the pairing field and the chemical parameter are set to zero. The system has one loosely bound state 124 keV below the continuum. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the convergence in the basis of the different partial waves is quite fast and good except for $`\mathrm{}=1`$ for which it is slower. For this reason, we will present in detail the results only for $`\mathrm{}`$=0 and 2. As in the previous paragraph, we have checked that a satisfactory convergence for $`\mathrm{}=1`$ can be obtained by enlarging the set of functions $`\{\phi _i\}`$. In a future development of this method, where most general case of 3 dimensionnal computation will be investigated, this problem will not appear because the effective centrifugal potential is not present anymore.

In table 4 we have reported the energies and the norms $`N_2`$ of the lower components of the quasi-particle states for which $`N_2`$ is larger than $`0.001`$, for $`\mathrm{}=0`$ and $`\mathrm{}=2`$. For higher orbital momenta, the lower component of all solutions is almost zero and does not contribute to the particle density. With the value chosen for the chemical potential ($`\lambda =0.750`$ MeV), the number of particles in the system is on the average 3.163 for $`\mathrm{}=0`$ and 0.417 for $`\mathrm{}=2`$. We have represented in figure 4 three quasi-particle wave functions: two states close to the Fermi sea and a deep hole state, with quasi-particle energies 0.475 MeV, 0.936 MeV and 18.594 MeV, respectively. The energy of the first quasi-particle state is smaller than $`|\lambda |`$ and therefore this state belongs to the discrete spectrum (this is actually the only discrete state in the full spectrum). The asymptotic behaviour of the quasi-particle wave function is :

$$\{\begin{array}{c}\psi _1(r)\mathrm{exp}(\kappa _1r)\\ \\ \psi _2(r)\mathrm{exp}(\kappa _2r)\end{array}\text{for}r\mathrm{}.$$
(32)
The two other quasi-particle states shown in the figure are continuum states with an asymptotic behaviour given by:

$$\{\begin{array}{c}\psi _1(r)\mathrm{sin}(k_1r)\\ \\ \psi _2(r)\mathrm{exp}(\kappa _2r)\end{array}\text{for}r\mathrm{},$$
(33)
with obvious definitions for $`k_1`$, $`\kappa _1`$ and $`\kappa _2`$.

We can see in figure 4 that the method we employ here nicely reproduces those two completely different asymptotic behaviours.

Using the relation given in equation (16) the densities of particles for $`\mathrm{}`$=0 and 2 can be built. These quantities are represented in figure 5 using linear and logarithmic scales.

We notice on the logarithmic plots that the behaviour of the density becomes oscillatory when it falls below $`10^9`$ fm<sup>-3</sup>. This is due to the truncation of the basis expansion and also to some numerical inaccuracies. However the particle density is so small in this region that this pathology should not play any significant role in the calculation of any observable.

Eventually we diagonalize the density operator in order to construct the canonical states. The single-particle energies and occupations of $`\mathrm{}=0`$ canonical states are displayed in table 5. The wave-functions of the first three ones are shown in figure 6. We notice that the expected decrease to zero at large $`r`$ of these wave functions is remarkably well described within the present approach.

## 4 Conclusion

We have presented in this work an expansion method which can be used to express both discrete and continuum solutions of the most general HF or HFB equations, when any kind of nucleon-nucleon interaction is used. Because of the simplicity of the functions on which we expand the solutions, many steps of the resolution can be done analytically. This is the great advantage of the method. For example, the matrices needed for the resolution of the equations (12) can be evaluated analytically if the mean-field potentials are of Saxon-Woods, and derivative of Saxon-Woods or Gaussian forms.

The fact that this method avoids the problems associated with the discretization of integro-differential equations has an important consequence: it is fast and accurate. The only part of the problem that has to be done numerically is the inversion of the matrix $`𝐑`$ and the diagonalisation of (12). In general, the dimension involved are rather small, at least in the case of spherical symmetry. So these steps can be done rapidly and with a good accuracy. In addition, as the quasi-particle states are expressed as finite expansions on a basis of wave-functions, the method ensures that the variational HF and HFB procedures lead to an upper bound of the total energy of the system, which can be improved at will by increasing the size of the basis.

Because of the form of the kinetic energy (15), the matrix problem that we solve is formally equivalent to solving the corresponding integro-differential equations in a box of radius $`r_0`$ with the non local boundary condition $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(r_0)=iK\mathrm{\Psi }(r_0)`$ for the solutions, where $`K`$ is the operator defined by:

$$\phi _m^{}(r)K\phi _n(r)𝑑r=k_n\delta _{mn},$$

and $`k_n`$ are the solutions of equation (7). In this sense, the present method is completely equivalent to working directly in the coordinate representation as done e.g. in  and, provided the size of the box is the same, comparable results would be obtained. The advantage of the technique we propose is that it can be applied to HFB calculations employing a finite-range nuclear interaction such as the Gogny force. Actually, once the matrix elements of the two-body force are computed, the method allows one to solve the HF and HFB equations as easily as with a basis of harmonic oscillator states, which has been done extensively with the Gogny force . In addition, extensions of the method to non-spherical nuclei could be done in the same fashion as with harmonic oscillator bases.

Let us note that in the limit where the depth of the rectangular well goes to infinity ($`V_0+\mathrm{}`$ in equation (4)) usual discrete Fourier expansions are recovered. In that case the formalism is greatly simplified because the transcendental equation (7) becomes trivial and the overlap matrix R reduces to unity.

The more general case investigated here has however the advantage of defining a reference set of functions which are adapted to the expansion of the (quasi-)particle state solutions of the HFB equations in nuclear systems. As shown in the present work, good approximation of the solutions can therefore be obtained, using comparatively small expansions.

The implementation of the present technique in the fully self-consistent HFB procedure will be the next step of this study. An important issue will be to check if nuclear properties can be accurately reproduced in realistic situations, in particular in nuclei close to drip lines, by using bases small enough to ensure extensive calculations even in heavy nuclei. If such a requirement is met, the method of solving the HFB equations we propose should open a broad range of new nuclear studies for the future.

## Appendix A The decomposition of identity

In this paragraph, we consider $`\mathrm{}^2/2m=1`$ to simplify the expressions. We consider the Green function $`G^{KP}(r,r^{};k)`$ (KP for Kapur-Peierls), corresponding to mixed boundary conditions on the domain $`]0,r_0[`$, solution of the (non self adjoint) problem:

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\left[\frac{d^2}{dr^2}+(V(r)k^2)\right]G^{KP}(r,r^{};k)=\delta (rr^{}),\hfill & \text{if}0<r,r^{}<r_0,\hfill \\ G^{KP}(0,r^{};k)=0,\hfill & \\ \frac{d}{dr}G^{KP}(r,r^{};k)|_{r=r_0}=ikG^{KP}(r,r^{};k)|_{r=r_0}\hfill & \end{array}$$
(34)
If we put $`p=\sqrt{k^2+V_0}`$, the solution reads:

$$\{\begin{array}{c}G^{(1)}(r,r^{};k)=A_1e^{ipr}+B_1e^{ıpr},\text{for}0rr^{},\\ G^{(2)}(r,r^{};k)=A_2e^{ipr}+B_2e^{ıpr},\text{for}r^{}rr_0,\end{array}$$
(35)
The coefficients are given by the boundary conditions:

$$\{\begin{array}{c}G^{(1)}(0,r^{};k)=0,\hfill \\ G^{(2)}(r^{},r^{};k)=G^{(1)}(r^{},r^{};k),\hfill \\ (G^{(2)})^{}(r_+^{},r^{};k)=(G^{(1)})^{}(r_{}^{},r^{};k)1,\hfill \\ (G^{(2)})^{}(r_0,r^{};k)=ikG^{(2)}(r_0,r^{};k),\hfill \end{array}$$
(36)
and we obtain:

$$G^{KP}(r,r^{};k)=|\begin{array}{c}\frac{ik\mathrm{sin}p(r^{}r_0)+p\mathrm{cos}p(r^{}r_0)}{ik\mathrm{sin}pr_0p\mathrm{cos}pr_0}\frac{\mathrm{sin}pr}{p},\text{if}0rr^{},\\ \frac{ik\mathrm{sin}p(rr_0)+p\mathrm{cos}p(rr_0)}{ik\mathrm{sin}pr_0p\mathrm{cos}pr_0}\frac{\mathrm{sin}pr^{}}{p},\text{if}r^{}rr_0,\end{array}$$
(37)
One checks that $`kG^{KP}(r,r^{};k)`$ can be meromorphically continued in the complex plane and that for $`0<r,r^{}<r_0`$, it decays exponentially when $`|k|\mathrm{}`$ in the whole complex plane $``$.

In order to get a completeness formula, we consider a compactly supported $`C^2`$ function $`f`$, (which is zero near the end points $`r=0`$ and $`r=r_0`$, and we denote by $`g`$ the function defined by:

$$g(r)=\left(\frac{d^2}{dr^2}V_0\right)f(r).$$
(38)
By multiplying (34) by $`f`$, (38) by $`G^{KP}(r,r^{};k)`$, subtracting the two resulting equations and integrating over $`(0,r_0)`$, we get:

$$_0^{r_0}kG^{KP}(r,r^{};k)f(r)𝑑r=\frac{1}{k}f(r^{})+\frac{1}{k}_0^{r_0}G^{KP}(r,r^{};k)g(r)𝑑r.$$
(39)
By integrating on each side on a big circle $`C_\mathrm{\Lambda }=\{k:|k|=\mathrm{\Lambda }\}`$, we obtain:

$$\underset{k\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{2i\pi }_{C_\mathrm{\Lambda }}\left[_0^{r_0}kG^{KP}(r,r^{};k)f(r)𝑑r\right]𝑑k=f(r^{}).$$
(40)
By applying the Cauchy residues theorem, we get the following formula:

$$f(r^{})=\underset{n}{}Res\left[_0^{r_0}kG^{KP}(r,r^{};k)f(r)𝑑r\right]_{k=k_n},$$
(41)
where the $`k_n`$ are the solutions of the equation :

$$p_n\mathrm{cot}p_nr_0=ik_n,$$
(42)
with $`p_n=\sqrt{k_n^2+V_0}`$ After computing the residue, we get the following decomposition identity:

$$f(r^{})=\underset{n}{}\frac{k_n}{i+k_nr_0}\left(_0^{r_0}\mathrm{sin}p_nrf(r)𝑑r\right)\mathrm{sin}p_nr^{}.$$
(43)
In this identity, the index $`n`$ labels all the complex solutions of (42).

One may assume for convenience that the first $`N`$ roots are pure imaginary $`k_n=i\kappa _n`$ with $`\kappa _n>0`$, and correspond to the $`N`$ real eigenvalues $`E_n=\kappa _n^2`$, $`1nN`$, with $`V_0<E_n<0`$. The other roots are located symmetrically in the negative half-plane $`\mathrm{}m(k)<0`$, in such a way that if $`k`$ is a root, $`\overline{k}`$ is also a root of (42).

Numerically, the pure imaginary roots $`k_n`$ can be computed by using Newton’s method. For the other complex roots, one can show that  the behaviour of $`\xi _n=k_nr_0=x_n+iy_n`$ for $`n`$ large, is given by:

$$\{\begin{array}{c}x_n=c_n\frac{1}{c_n}\mathrm{log}(\frac{2c_n}{A}+\mathrm{},\hfill \\ y_n=\mathrm{log}(\frac{2c_n}{A})\frac{1}{2c_n^2}(\mathrm{log}(\frac{2c_n}{A})1)^2+\mathrm{}\hfill \end{array}$$
(44)
where $`c_n=(n+\frac{1}{2})\pi `$. Then $`\xi _nn\pi i\mathrm{log}n`$ gives an initial guess for the large order roots.

## Appendix B Matrix elements of the potentials:

### Gaussian Potential

To express the matrix elements of the Gaussian potential in compact form, we introduce the function:

$$K_{\alpha \beta }^L(\gamma )=\frac{\mathrm{exp}(\beta \gamma +\frac{\gamma ^2}{4\alpha })\sqrt{\pi }}{8\sqrt{\alpha }}[\text{erf }\left(\sqrt{\alpha }(r\beta \frac{\gamma }{2\alpha })\right)+\text{erf }\left(\sqrt{\alpha }(\beta +\frac{\gamma }{2\alpha })\right),]$$
(45)
where erf denotes the error function . The matrix elements of a general gaussian function:

$$f_{\alpha \beta }(r)=e^{\alpha (r\beta )^2},$$
(46)
can be written:

$`\begin{array}{cc}\hfill {\displaystyle _0^L}\mathrm{sin}(\kappa _i^{}r)f_{\alpha \beta }(r)\mathrm{sin}(\kappa _jr)& dr=K_{\alpha \beta }^L\left(i(\kappa _i^{}+\kappa _j)\right)+K_{\alpha \beta }^L\left(i(\kappa _i^{}+\kappa _j)\right)\hfill \\ & K_{\alpha \beta }^L\left(i(\kappa _i^{}\kappa _j)\right)K_{\alpha \beta }^L\left(i(\kappa _i^{}\kappa _j)\right).\hfill \end{array}`$ (47)
If we choose $`(\alpha =0.25,\beta =3.5)`$ and $`(\alpha =0.2,\beta =0)`$, we can use this relation to compute the matrix element of the potential (25) very simply.

### Saxon-Woods potential

In order to compute the matrix elements of the Saxon-Woods potential, we introduce the function $`I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa )`$ defined by:

$$I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa )=_0^L\frac{e^{i\kappa r}}{1+e^{\frac{rr_0}{a}}}𝑑r.$$
(48)
This integral can be evaluated using the hypergeometric function $`{}_{2}{}^{}F_{1}^{}`$ :

$`\begin{array}{cc}\hfill I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa )={\displaystyle \frac{i}{\kappa }}[_2F_1(1,ia\kappa ;1+ia\kappa ;& e^{\frac{r_0}{a}})\hfill \\ \hfill & e_2^{i\kappa L}F_1(1,ia\kappa ;1+ia\kappa ;e^{\frac{Lr_0}{a}})].\hfill \end{array}`$ (49)
The matrix element of a Saxon-Woods potential $`V(r)`$ with depth $`V_0`$, diffuseness $`a`$ and radius $`r_0`$ are given by:

$$𝐕_{mn}=V_0_0^L\frac{\mathrm{sin}(\kappa _m^{}r)\mathrm{sin}(\kappa _nr)}{1+e^{\frac{rr_0}{a}}}𝑑r,$$
(50)
and can be written explicitly using the $`I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa )`$ functions:

$$𝐕_{mn}=\frac{V_0}{2}\mathrm{}\left[I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa _m^{}\kappa _n)I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa _m^{}+\kappa _n)\right].$$
(51)
If $`\kappa _m^{}=\kappa _n`$, this expression becomes:

$$𝐕_{mn}=\frac{V_0}{2}\left[L+a\mathrm{ln}\left[\frac{1+e^{\frac{r_0}{a}}}{e^{\frac{L}{a}}+e^{\frac{r_0}{a}}}\right]\frac{I_{r_0a}^L(2\kappa _n)+I_{r_0a}^L(2\kappa _n)}{2}\right].$$
(52)
### Derivative of Saxon-Woods potential

We have used for the particle-particle channel a potential with the shape of the derivative of a Saxon-Woods potential with depth $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$, diffuseness $`a`$ and radius $`r_0`$:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(r)=\mathrm{\Delta }_0\left[\frac{d}{dr}\frac{1}{1+e^{\frac{rr_0}{a}}}\right].$$
(53)
The matrix elements of this potential can also be written using the function (49):

$`\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 𝚫_{mn}& =\mathrm{\Delta }_0[{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _m^{}\kappa _n}{4i}}[I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa _m^{}\kappa _n)I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa _n\kappa _m^{})]\hfill \\ \\ & +{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}(\kappa _m^{}L)\mathrm{sin}(\kappa _nL)}{1+\mathrm{exp}(\frac{Lr_0}{a})}}{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _m^{}+\kappa _n}{4i}}[I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa _m^{}+\kappa _n)I_{r_0a}^L(\kappa _m^{}\kappa _n)]]\hfill \end{array}`$ (54)
### Centrifugal term

The matrix elements associated with the centrifugal term are given by:

$$𝐂_{ij}=\frac{\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)}{2m}_0^L\frac{\mathrm{sin}\kappa _i^{}r\mathrm{sin}\kappa _jr}{r^2}𝑑r.$$
(55)
This integral can be evaluated using the sine integral function :

$`\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 𝐂_{ij}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)}{2m}}[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}\kappa _i^{}L\mathrm{sin}\kappa _jL}{L}}+& {\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _i^{}\kappa _j}{2}}\text{Si}(\kappa _i^{}\kappa _j)L\hfill \\ & {\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _i^{}+\kappa _j}{2}}\text{Si}(\kappa _i^{}+\kappa _j)L].\hfill \end{array}`$ (56)


format: text

text:
# Involutions of a canonical curve.

## 1 Harmonic involutions.

###### Definition 1.1

Let $`X𝐏^n`$ be a projective variety. An isomorphism $`\phi :XX`$ is called an involution if $`\phi ^2=Id`$. Moreover, if $`\phi `$ is the restriction of an involution $`\overline{\phi }:𝐏^n𝐏^n`$ then $`\phi `$ is called a harmonic involution.

###### Proposition 1.2

Let $`X𝐏^n`$ be a linearly normal projective variety. An involution $`\phi :XX`$ is harmonic if and only if $`\phi ^{}(XH)XH`$ for all hyperplane $`H`$.

Proof: If $`\phi `$ is harmonic we clearly have that $`\phi ^{}(XH)XH`$.

Conversely, if $`\phi ^{}(XH)XH`$ for all hyperplane, then we have an involution $`\phi ^{}:H^0(𝒪_X(1))H^0(𝒪_X(1))`$ that makes the following diagram commutative:

so $`\phi `$ extends to $`𝐏^n`$.

Examples:

1. Any involution of a rational curve $`D_n𝐏^n`$ is harmonic.

It is sufficient to note that $`\phi ^{}(D_nH)`$ has degree $`n`$; because $`D_n`$ is a rational curve, it follows that $`\phi ^{}(D_nH)D_nH`$.
2. Any involution of a canonical curve $`C_𝒦𝐏^{\pi 1}`$ of genus $`\pi `$ is harmonic.

The linear system $`|\phi ^{}(C_𝒦H)|`$ has degree $`2\pi 2`$ and it has dimension $`\pi `$, so it is the canonical linear system and $`\phi ^{}(C_𝒦H)C_𝒦H`$.
3. Any involution of a normal rational scroll $`R_{n1}𝐏^n`$ with invariant $`e>0`$ is harmonic.

Let $`S_e=𝐏(𝒪_{P^1}𝒪_{P^1}(e))`$ be the ruled surface associated to $`R_{n1}`$. We know that $`HR_{n1}X_0+\text{b}f`$. Since $`\phi `$ is an isomorphism, $`\phi ^{}(X_0)^2=X_0^2`$ and $`\phi ^{}(f)^2=f^2=0`$. But, in $`S_e`$ with $`e>0`$, $`X_0`$ is the unique curve with negative self-intersection and $`f`$ is the unique curve with self-intersection $`0`$. From this $`\phi ^{}(X_0)X_0`$ and $`\phi ^{}(f)f`$. Then:

$$\phi ^{}(HR_{n1})\phi ^{}(X_0+\text{b}f)\phi ^{}(X_0)+\text{b}\phi ^{}(f)X_0+\text{b}fHR_{n1}$$

We recall some basic facts about involutions in a projective space.

###### Proposition 1.3

Any involution $`\overline{\phi }`$ of $`𝐏^n`$ has two complementary spaces $`S_1,S_2𝐏^n`$ of base points. In this way, the image of a point $`P`$ is the fourth harmonic of $`P`$, $`lS_1`$ and $`lS_2`$, where $`l`$ is the unique line passing through $`P`$ verifying $`lS_1\mathrm{}`$ and $`lS_2\mathrm{}`$.

Conversely, any pair of complementary spaces $`S_1,S_2`$ of $`𝐏^n`$ defines an involution of $`𝐏^n`$.

###### Remark 1.4

If we take a base of $`𝐏^n`$, $`W=\{P_1,\mathrm{},P_{k+1},P_1^{},\mathrm{},P_{k^{}+1}^{}\}`$ where $`P_1,\mathrm{},P_{k+1}=S_1`$ and $`P_1^{},\mathrm{},P_{k^{}+1}^{}=S_2`$ then the involution $`\phi `$ is given by the matrix:

$$M_\phi =\left(\begin{array}{cc}Id& 0\\ 0& Id\end{array}\right)$$

###### Definition 1.5

Under the above assumptions, we say that $`\phi `$ is harmonic respect to $`S_1`$ and $`S_2`$. Moreover, $`S_1`$ and $`S_2`$ are called the base spaces of $`\phi `$.

###### Remark 1.6

The linear isomorphism $`\overline{\phi }`$ induces an isomorphism:

$$\overline{\phi }^{}:𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2)))𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2)))$$

Because $`\overline{\phi }`$ is an involution, $`\overline{\phi }^{}`$ is an involution too. Therefore, it has two complementary spaces of base points. Taking coordinates respect to the base $`W`$, a quadric $`Q𝐏^n`$ has a matrix:

$$M_Q=\left(\begin{array}{cc}A& C\\ C^t& B\end{array}\right)$$

We see that $`\overline{\phi }^{}(Q)=Q`$ if and only if $`M_{\overline{\phi }^{}(Q)}=M_\phi M_QM_\phi =\lambda M_Q`$ for some $`\lambda 0`$, if and only if $`A=B=0`$ or $`C=0`$. In the first case $`Q`$ is called a harmonic quadric and in the second case $`Q`$ is called a base quadric. The set of harmonic quadrics will be denoted by $`𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2))_h)`$ and the set of base quadrics by $`𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2))_b)`$. We have that:

1. $`Q`$ is a harmonic quadric if and only if $`P^tM_QP=0`$ for each $`PS_1,P^{}S_2`$; that is, if $`S_1`$ and $`S_2`$ are polar respect to $`Q`$.
2. $`Q`$ is a base quadric if and only if $`S_1,S_2Q`$.

###### Definition 1.7

Let $`\mathrm{\Sigma }𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2)))`$ be a projective subspace $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=𝐏(V)`$ and let $`\overline{\phi }:𝐏^n𝐏^n`$ a harmonic involution respect to two spaces $`S_1,S_2`$. $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is called a base-harmonic system respect to $`S_1,S_2`$ when it is a fixed space of $`\overline{\phi }^{}`$.

###### Remark 1.8

If we denote $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_h=\mathrm{\Sigma }𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2))_h)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_b=\mathrm{\Sigma }𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2))_b)`$, we see that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a base-harmonic system if and only if $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=\mathrm{\Sigma }_h+\mathrm{\Sigma }_b`$; that is, $`V`$ has a base composed by harmonic and base quadrics.

###### Proposition 1.9

Let $`X𝐏^n`$ be a projective variety.

1. If $`X`$ has a harmonic involution $`\phi `$ respect to two spaces $`S_1,S_2`$ then the system $`𝐏(H^0(I_X(2)))`$ is base-harmonic system respect to $`S_1,S_2`$.
2. Suppose that $`X`$ is the complete intersection of quadrics. If $`𝐏(H^0(I_X(2)))`$ is a base-harmonic system respect to $`S_1,S_2`$, then $`X`$ has a harmonic involution respect to two spaces $`S_1,S_2`$.

Proof:

1. Let $`Q𝐏(H^0(I_X(2)))`$, that is, $`X`$ is contained on $`Q`$. It is sufficient to show that $`\overline{\phi }^{}(Q)`$ contains $`X`$. Since $`\overline{\phi }(X)=X`$ and $`XQ`$, $`X=\overline{\phi }(X)\overline{\phi }(Q)`$ and the conclusion follows.
2. Let $`\overline{\phi }:𝐏^n𝐏^n`$ the harmonic involution defined by the spaces $`S_1,S_2`$. If $`X`$ is the complete intersection of quadrics, then $`X=Q_1\mathrm{}Q_k`$ where $`\{Q_1,\mathrm{},Q_k\}`$ is a base of $`𝐏(H^0(I_X(2)))`$. If $`𝐏(H^0(I_X(2)))`$ is a base-harmonic system respect to $`S_1,S_2`$ we can choose a base of fixed quadrics, so

$$\overline{\phi }(X)=\overline{\phi }(Q_1\mathrm{}Q_k)=\overline{\phi }(Q_1)\mathrm{}\overline{\phi }(Q_k)=Q_1\mathrm{}Q_k=X$$

and we can restrict $`\overline{\phi }`$ to $`X`$.

###### Proposition 1.10

Let $`X𝐏^n`$ be a projective variety and let $`\phi :XX`$ a harmonic involution of $`X`$ respect to spaces $`S_1,S_2`$.

Let $`F=\overline{\{P𝐏^n/Px,\phi (x),xX\}}`$ be the variety of lines joining points of $`X`$ related by the involution. Then:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill h^0(I_{X,P^n}(2))_b& =h^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))_b=\hfill \\ & =h^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))h^0(I_{FS_1,S_1}(2))h^0(I_{FS_2,S_2}(2))\hfill \end{array}$$

Proof: Let us first prove that $`H^0(I_{X,P^n}(2))_b=H^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))_b`$.

Since $`XF`$, a quadric containing $`F`$ contains $`X`$ too, so $`H^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))_bH^0(I_{X,P^n}(2))_b`$.

Conversely, if $`QH^0(I_{X,P^n}(2))_b`$, $`X,S_1,S_2Q`$. Therefore, each line $`l`$ of $`F`$ meets $`Q`$ in four points: $`(x,\phi (x),lS_1,lS_2)`$ and then it is contained on $`Q`$. Thus, $`FQ`$ and $`H^0(I_{X,P^n}(2))_bH^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))_b`$.

Now, let us consider the following exact sequence:

$$0H^0(I_{FS_1,P^n}(2))H^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))\stackrel{\alpha }{}H^0(I_{FS_1,S_1}(2))$$

Let us see that $`\alpha `$ is a surjective map. Let $`Q_1S_1`$ be a quadric which contains $`FS_1`$. Taking the cone of $`Q_1`$ over $`S_2`$, we obtain a quadric of $`𝐏^n`$ that contains the lines joining $`Q_1`$ and $`S_2`$ so it contains $`F`$. From this, we deduce that:

$$h^0(I_{FS_1,P^n}(2))=h^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))h^0(I_{FS_1,S_1}(2))$$

Similarly, we have

$$0H^0(I_{FS_1S_2,P^n}(2))H^0(I_{FS_1,P^n}(2))\stackrel{\beta }{}H^0(I_{FS_2,S_2}(2))$$

where $`H^0(I_{FS_1S_2,P^n}(2))=H^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))_b`$ and $`\beta `$ is a surjective map. Therefore:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill h^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))_b& =h^0(I_{FS_1,P^n}(2))h^0(I_{FS_2,S_2}(2))=\hfill \\ & =h^0(I_{F,P^n}(2))h^0(I_{FS_1,S_1}(2))h^0(I_{FS_2,S_2}(2))\hfill \end{array}$$

We finish this section by computing the dimension of the spaces of harmonic and base quadrics in an involution over a normal rational curve.

Let $`D_n𝐏^n`$ be a rational normal curve of degree $`n`$ and let $`\phi :D_nD_n`$ an involution of degree $`2`$. The lines joining points related by the involution generate a rational normal ruled surface $`R_{n1}𝐏^n`$. This ruled surface has two directrix curves $`C_1,C_2`$ on the base spaces $`S_1,S_2`$ of the involution.

We now (, IV, $`2.17`$ and $`2.19`$) that $`R_{n1}𝐏(𝒪_{P^1}𝒪_{P^1}(e))`$ for some $`e0`$. In this way the divisor of hyperplane sections of $`R_{n1}`$ is $`HX_0+(n1+e)/2f`$. Moreover the curve $`D_n`$ corresponds to a $`2`$-secant curve on the surface, so $`D_n2X_0+kf`$. Since $`deg(D_n)=D_n.H=n`$, we obtain $`k=e+1`$. Because $`D_n`$ is irreducible, $`D_n.X_00`$ and we obtain $`e1`$. We deduce that $`e=0`$ if $`n`$ is odd and $`e=1`$ if $`n`$ is even.

In this way we see that if $`n`$ is odd, the directrix curves $`C_1,C_2`$ have degree $`(n1)/2`$ and if $`n`$ is even, the directrix curves have degree $`(n2)/2`$ and $`n/2`$.

By applying Proposition 1.10 we have that:

$$h^0(I_{D_n}(2))_b=h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))h^0(I_{C_1}(2))h^0(I_{C_2}(2))$$

The dimension of theses spaces are well known. Thus, we obtain:

$$h^0(I_{D_n}(2))_b=\{\begin{array}{c}(\frac{n1}{2})^2\text{ if }n\text{ is odd}\hfill \\ \\ \frac{n(n2)}{4}\text{ if }n\text{ is even}\hfill \end{array}$$

Note that when $`n`$ is odd, $`D_n2X_0+f`$, so $`D_n.X_0=1`$ with $`C_1,C_2X_0`$. Thus, the base points of the involution of $`D_n`$ are $`D_nC_1`$ and $`D_nC_2`$. When $`n`$ is even, $`D_n2X_0+2f`$, so $`D_n.X_0=0`$ and $`D_n.(X_0+f)=2`$ where $`C_1X_0`$ and $`C_2X_0+f`$. In this case the base points of the involutions of $`D_n`$ are the two points of $`D_nC_2`$.

## 2 Involutions of the canonical curve.

Let $`C_𝒦`$ be the canonical curve of genus $`\pi `$ and let $`\phi :C_𝒦C_𝒦`$ be an involution. We saw that it is a harmonic involution. We will use the results obtained in . The scroll generated by the involution is a canonical scroll $`R_\text{b}`$. We call genus of the involution $`\phi `$ to the genus of the ruled surface $`R_\text{b}`$. Thus we have a $`2:1`$-morphism $`\gamma :C_𝒦X`$. $`R_\text{b}`$ has a canonical directrix curve $`\overline{X_0}`$ of genus $`g`$, and a nonspecial curve $`\overline{X_1}`$ with degree $`\pi 1`$. They lie on disjoint spaces $`𝐏^{g1}`$ and $`P^{\pi g1}`$. The involution of $`C_𝒦`$ has $`2(\pi 12(g1))`$ base points that are the ramifications of $`\gamma `$. We denote them by $``$ and we know that $`C_𝒦\overline{X_1}`$.

Let us compute the number of base quadrics containing $`C_𝒦`$, that is, the dimension of $`H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2))_b`$. By Proposition 1.10 we know that:

$$h^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2))_b=h^0(I_{R_\text{b}}(2))h^0(I_{\overline{X_0},P^{g1}}(2))h^0(I_{\overline{X_1},P^{\pi g1}}(2))$$

We can compute this dimension because we know that (see ):

$$\begin{array}{c}h^0(I_{R_\text{b}}(2))=h^0(𝒪_{P^{\pi 1}}(2))h^0(𝒪_{S_\text{b}}(2H))+dim(s(H,H))\hfill \\ h^0(I_{\overline{X_0}}(2))=h^0(𝒪_{P^{g1}}(2))h^0(𝒪_X(2𝒦))+dim(s(𝒦,𝒦))\hfill \\ h^0(I_{\overline{X_1}}(2))=h^0(𝒪_{P^{\pi g1}}(2))h^0(𝒪_X(2\text{b}))+dim(s(\text{b},\text{b}))\hfill \\ \\ dim(s(H,H))=dim(s(𝒦,𝒦))+dim(s(\text{b},\text{b}))\hfill \end{array}$$

From this, we obtain:

$$h^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2))_b=h^0(𝒪_{P^{\pi 1}}(2))_bh^0(𝒪_X(\text{b}+𝒦))$$

Thus the number of base quadrics containing $`C_𝒦`$ is:

$$h^0(C_𝒦(2))_b=(g1)(\pi g2)$$

###### Theorem 2.1

Let $`C_𝒦𝐏^{\pi 1}`$ be a nonhyperelliptic canonical curve of genus $`\pi `$ that it is complete intersection of quadrics. $`C_𝒦`$ has an involution of degree $`2`$ if and only if $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))`$ is harmonic respect to two disjoint complementary subspaces of dimensions $`k`$ and $`\pi k2`$, with $`k\pi k1`$. Moreover the involution has genus $`g=k+1`$ if and only if $`h^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2))_b=(g1)(\pi g2)`$.

Proof: The first assertion follows from Proposition 1.9.

By the above discussion we know the number of base quadrics $`h^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2))_b=(g^{}1)(\pi g^{}2)`$ where $`g^{}`$ is the genus of the involution. This genus is $`k+1`$ or $`\pi k1`$. Suppose that $`(g^{}1)(\pi g^{}2)=(g1)(\pi g2)`$ with $`g=k+1`$. If $`g^{}=\pi k1=\pi g`$ then we obtain $`\pi =2g`$ so the genus $`g^{}`$ of the involution is $`k+1`$.

###### Remark 2.2

It is well known that a nonhyperelliptic canonical curve of genus $`\pi 5`$ is the complete intersection of quadrics, except when it is trigonal or when $`\pi =6`$ and it has a $`g_5^2`$. In the first case the intersection of the quadrics of $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))`$ is a rational normal scroll; in the second case it is the Veronese surface of $`𝐏^5`$.

### 2.1 Involutions of the canonical curve of genus $`\pi =4`$.

Let $`C_𝒦𝐏^3`$ be a canonical curve of genus $`4`$. It is well known that this curve is the complete intersection of a quadric and a cubic surface (see ,IV,Example $`\mathrm{5.2.2}`$). Suppose that $`C_𝒦`$ has an involution $`C_𝒦X`$ where $`X`$ is a smooth curve of genus $`g`$. We have that $`\pi 12g2`$, so then genus of $`X`$ can be $`1`$ or $`2`$ (if $`g=0`$ the curve $`C_𝒦`$ is hyperelliptic).

###### Proposition 2.1.1

A canonical curve of genus $`4`$ has an elliptic involution if and only if it is the complete intersection of an elliptic cubic cone $`S`$ and a quadric that doesn’t pass through the vertex of $`S`$.

Proof: Suppose that $`C_𝒦`$ has an elliptic involution. We know that the involution generates a scroll $`R`$. In this case the directrix curve $`X_0`$ has degree $`g1=0`$, so it is a point. Then $`R`$ is an elliptic cone. If $`Q`$ is the unique quadric that contains $`C_𝒦`$, then necessary $`C_𝒦=QR`$. Moreover, we know that $`C_𝒦X_0=\mathrm{}`$, so $`Q`$ does not pass through the vertex of $`R`$. Conversely, if $`C_𝒦=QR`$ and $`Q`$ does not pass through the vertex of $`R`$, the generators of $`S`$ provide an elliptic involution of $`C_𝒦`$.

###### Theorem 2.1.2

A canonical curve of genus $`4`$ has an involution of genus $`2`$ if and only if it is the complete intersection of a quadric and a cubic surface which has a harmonic involution respect to polar lines respect to the quadric.

Proof:

1. Suppose that $`C_𝒦=Q_2Q_3`$ where $`Q_2`$ is a quadric and $`Q_3`$ is a cubic surface with a harmonic involution $`\phi :Q_3Q_3`$. Let $`l`$ and $`l^{}`$ the base spaces. Suppose that they are polar respect to $`Q_2`$. From this, $`\phi (Q_2)=Q_2`$ so $`C_𝒦`$ has a harmonic involution. Because the base spaces have dimension $`1`$, the involution has genus $`2`$.
2. Suppose that $`C_𝒦`$ has a harmonic involution $`\phi `$ of genus $`2`$. From this, the base spaces are two lines $`l`$ and $`l^{}`$. Let $`R𝐏^3`$ the ruled surface generated by the involution. We know that $`R`$ contains $`l`$ and $`l^{}`$ with multiplicities $`3`$ and $`2`$ respectively. Moreover, $`l^{}C_𝒦=\mathrm{}`$ and $`lC_𝒦`$ consist of two points. We know that $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))=\{Q_2\}`$ and $`dim𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(3)))=4`$. In this way $`C_𝒦=Q_2Q_3`$ for any cubic surface $`Q_3𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(3)))`$. Consider the involution $`\overline{\phi }:𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(3)))𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(3)))`$ induced by $`\phi `$. Let us see that there is a fixed irreducible element. Let $`V`$ be the set of reducible elements of $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(3)))`$. Because $`Q_2`$ is the unique quadric containing $`C_𝒦`$ then $`V=\{Q_2+H;H𝐏^3\}`$ and $`dim(V)=3`$. Since the base points of $`\overline{\phi }`$ generate $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(3)))`$, then there exist at least a fixed irreducible element.

### 2.2 Involutions of the Veronese surface.

Let $`v_{2,n}`$ be the Veronese map of $`𝐏^n`$:

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill v_{2,n}:𝐏_{}^{n}{}_{}{}^{}& & V_{2,n}𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2)))\hfill \\ \hfill [x_0:\mathrm{}:x_n]& & [x_0^2:x_0x_1:\mathrm{}:x_n^2]\hfill \end{array}$$

We will denote the image of this map by $`V_{2,n}`$. If $`n=2`$, it is the Veronese surface and we will denote it by $`V_2`$.

###### Proposition 2.2.1

The involutions of the Veronese variety $`V_{2,n}`$ are harmonic respect to two base spaces which are the harmonic and base quadrics of two subspaces $`S_1,S_2`$ of $`𝐏^n`$.

Proof: A harmonic involution $`\phi :𝐏^n𝐏^n`$ respect to spaces $`S_1,S_2`$ induces a harmonic involution $`\overline{\phi }`$ in $`𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2)))`$ respect to $`𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2))_h)`$ and $`𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2))_b)`$.

Because $`\overline{\phi }v_{2,n}=v_{2,n}\overline{\phi }`$, we see that $`\overline{\phi }`$ restricts to $`V_{2,n}`$. In this way we have a harmonic involution $`\overline{\phi }:V_{2,n}V_{2,n}`$ respect to the spaces $`𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2))_h)`$ and $`𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2))_b)`$.

Conversely, given an involution $`\eta `$ of $`V_2`$. Applying the isomorphism $`v_{2,n}`$, we obtain an involution $`\phi ^{}`$ of $`𝐏_{}^{n}{}_{}{}^{}`$ with base spaces $`S_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{},S_{2}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$. In this way, the dual map $`\phi =\phi ^{}`$ provides an involution $`\overline{\phi }`$ of $`𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2)))`$ such that $`\overline{\phi }|_{V_{2,n}}=\eta `$.

We will denote the Veronese surface by $`V_2`$.

###### Corollary 2.2.2

Any nontrivial involution of the Veronese surface $`V_2`$ is harmonic respect to a line which corresponds to the conics of $`𝐏^2`$ passing through a point $`P`$ and a line $`r`$, and a $`3`$-dimensional space $`V`$ corresponding to the polar conics of $`𝐏^2`$ respect to $`P`$ and $`r`$.

Proof: It is sufficient to note that an involution $`\eta `$ of $`V_2`$ is induced by and involution $`\phi `$ of $`P^2`$. If $`\phi `$ is nontrivial, then its base spaces are a point $`P`$ and a line $`r`$.

###### Proposition 2.2.3

Let $`\eta `$ be a nontrivial harmonic involution of the Veronese surface. Then $`h^0(𝒪_{V_2}(2))_b=2`$.

Proof: Consider the Veronese map of $`𝐏^2`$:

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill v_2:𝐏_{}^{n}{}_{}{}^{}& & V_2𝐏(H^0(𝒪_{P^n}(2)))\hfill \\ \hfill [x_0:x_1:x_2]& & [x_0^2:x_0x_1:\mathrm{}:x_2^2]=[y_0:y_1:\mathrm{}:y_5]\hfill \end{array}$$

Let $`Y`$ be the matrix:

$$\left(\begin{array}{ccc}y_0& y_1& y_2\\ y_1& y_3& y_4\\ y_2& y_4& y_5\end{array}\right)$$

We know that $`H^0(𝒪_{V_2}(2))`$ is generated by the quadrics of $`𝐏^5`$ whose equations are defined by the minors of order $`2`$ of the matrix $`Y`$.

Moreover the base spaces of $`\phi `$ are a line $`l`$ corresponding to the conics of $`𝐏^2`$ passing through a line $`r`$ and a point $`P`$ and a space $`V`$ corresponding to the polar conics respect to $`P`$ and $`r`$.

Taking an adequate system of coordinates we can consider $`P`$ generated by the equations $`\{x_1=x_2=0\}`$ and $`r`$ generated by the equation $`x_0=0`$.

A conic containing $`P`$ and $`r`$ has an equation $`ax_0x_1+bx_0x_2=0`$. Then the equations of $`l`$ are $`\{y_0=y_3=y_4=y_5=0\}`$.

A polar conic respect to $`P`$ and $`r`$ has an equation $`ax_0^2+bx_1^2+cx_1x_2+dx_2^2=0`$. Then the equations of $`V`$ are $`\{y_1=y_2=0\}`$.

Applying the conditions to contain $`V`$ and $`l`$ to the equations of $`H^0(𝒪_{V_2}(2))`$, we obtain that the quadrics containing $`V`$ and $`l`$ are generated by $`\{y_1y_4y_2y_3=y_1y_5y_2y_4=0\}`$. From this, $`h^0(𝒪_{V_2}(2))_b=2`$.

### 2.3 Harmonic involutions of the rational ruled surfaces.

Let $`R_{n1}𝐏^n`$ a rational normal ruled surface of degree $`n1`$, with $`n>3`$. Let $`\phi :R_{n1}R_{n1}`$ a harmonic involution of the surface. Then $`\phi `$ conserves the degree of the curves. From this, it applies generators into generators if $`n>3`$. In this way, we have the following induced harmonic involutions:

$$\begin{array}{cccc}\hfill \phi _0:𝐏^1& & 𝐏^1& \\ \hfill P& & Q& /\phi (Pf)=Qf\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`𝐏^1`$ parameterizes the generators.

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \phi _l:|D_l|& & |D_l|\hfill \\ \hfill D& & \phi (D)\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`|D_l|`$ is the linear system of curves of degree $`l`$.

Let $`k`$ be the degree of the curve of minimum degree of $`R_{n1}`$:

1. If $`k=\frac{n1}{2}`$, then there is a $`1`$-dimensional family of irreducible curves of degree $`k`$. The involution $`\phi _k`$ has at least $`2`$ base points, so there are two disjoint curves $`D_k`$ that are invariant by $`\phi `$.
2. If $`k<\frac{n1}{2}`$, then there is a unique curve of minimum degree, so it is invariant by $`\phi `$. Moreover, if $`l=n1k`$ the linear system $`|D_l|`$ has dimension $`lk`$. Its generic curve is an irreducible curve disjoint from $`D_k`$. In particular, the set of reducible curves of $`|D_l|`$ are an hyperplane composed by curves of the form $`D_k+f_i`$. Thus, we have a harmonic involution:

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \phi _l:𝐏^{lk}|D_l|& & |D_l|𝐏^{lk}\hfill \end{array}$$

We know that $`\phi _l`$ has two disjoint spaces of base points. Both of them can not be contained on the hyperplane (because they generate $`𝐏^{nk}`$), so necessary there exists an irreducible curve in $`|D_l|`$ that is fixed by the involution $`\phi _l`$; that is, it is invariant by $`\phi `$.

We conclude the following proposition:

###### Proposition 2.3.1

Given a harmonic involution on a rational normal ruled surface of degree $`n1`$, there exist two disjoint rational normal curves $`D_k`$,$`D_l`$ with degrees $`k`$ and $`l`$, $`k+l=n1`$, that are invariant by the involution.

Let $`D_k𝐏^k`$ and $`D_l𝐏^l`$ be the two invariant curves. The involution $`\phi `$ restricts to these spaces. Thus, we have a harmonic involution $`\phi _k:𝐏^k𝐏^k`$. It has two invariant spaces $`𝐏^{k_1}`$, $`𝐏^{k_2}`$ with $`k_1+k_2+1=k`$. Similarly, the harmonic involution $`\phi _l:𝐏^l𝐏^l`$ has two invariant spaces $`P^{l_1}`$, $`P^{l_2}`$ with $`l_1+l_2+1=l`$. From this, we have two possibilities for the base spaces $`S_1`$,$`S_2`$ of the involution $`\phi `$:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\begin{array}{c}S_1=𝐏^{k_1},𝐏^{l_1}=𝐏^{k_1+l_1+1}\hfill \\ S_2=𝐏^{k_2},𝐏^{l_2}=𝐏^{k_2+l_2+1}\hfill \end{array}\hfill & \begin{array}{c}S_1=𝐏^{k_1},𝐏^{l_2}=𝐏^{k_1+l_2+1}\hfill \\ S_2=𝐏^{k_2},𝐏^{l_1}=𝐏^{k_2+l_1+1}\hfill \end{array}\hfill \end{array}$$

Conversely if we have two harmonic involutions in $`𝐏^k`$ and $`𝐏^l`$ we can recuperate an involution in $`𝐏^n`$. Note that this involution is not unique, because we have two ways to define it. Moreover, in order to restrict the involution to the ruled surface $`q:R_{n1}𝐏^1`$ we need that the involutions in $`𝐏^k`$ and $`𝐏^l`$ restrict to $`D_k`$ and $`D_l`$ and that they are compatible, that is, the images of the points on the same generator lay on the same generator: $`q(\phi _k(D_kPf))=q(\phi _l(D_lPf)),P𝐏^1`$.

Thus, if $`\phi _k`$ and $`\phi _l`$ verify these conditions we have a harmonic involution $`\phi `$ that restricts to $`R_{n1}`$.

###### Proposition 2.3.2

A harmonic involution on a normal rational ruled surface $`R_{n1}`$ defines two harmonic involutions $`\phi _k`$, $`\phi _l`$ on two disjoint rational curves $`D_k`$, $`D_l`$ that generate the surface. Moreover, they make commutative the diagram $`(1)`$.

Conversely, if two harmonic involutions $`\phi _k`$, $`\phi _l`$ on two rational curves generating a rational ruled surface $`R_{n1}`$ verifying $`q(\phi _k(D_kPf))=q(\phi _l(D_lPf)),P𝐏^1`$. , then they define two possible harmonic involutions on $`R_{n1}`$, taking the space bases generate by the space bases of $`\phi _k`$ and $`\phi _l`$.

###### Remark 2.3

In order to obtain compatible involutions $`\phi _k`$, $`\phi _l`$ it is sufficient to define a involution $`\eta `$ on $`𝐏^1`$ and to translate it to $`D_k`$ and $`D_l`$:

$$\begin{array}{c}\phi _k(D_kPf):=D_k\eta (P)f\\ \phi _l(D_lPf):=D_l\eta (P)f\end{array}$$

for all $`P𝐏^1`$.

Moreover, if $`\phi _k`$ and $`\phi _l`$ are compatible involutions and one of them is the identity, then the other one is the identity too.

We saw how are the (nontrivial) harmonic involutions on a normal rational curve $`D_m𝐏^m`$:

1. If $`m=2\mu `$ the involution is defined by two base spaces $`𝐏^\mu `$, $`𝐏^{\mu 1}`$ such that $`𝐏^\mu D_m=PQ`$ and $`𝐏^{\mu 1}D_m=\mathrm{}`$ ($`P,Q`$ base points).
2. If $`m=2\mu +1`$ then involution is defined by two base spaces $`𝐏_1^\mu `$, $`𝐏_2^\mu `$ such that $`𝐏_1^\mu D_m=P`$ and $`𝐏_2^\mu D_m=Q`$ ($`P,Q`$ base points).

In both cases the involution generates a normal rational ruled surface $`R_{m1}`$ of degree $`m1`$, whose directrix curves lay on the space bases. We call them base curves.

Thus, let $`\phi `$ be a harmonic involution on $`R_{n1}`$. Let $`\phi _k`$, $`\phi _l`$ be the harmonic involutions induced on the directrix curves $`D_k`$, $`D_l`$. Let $`𝐏^{k_1}`$, $`𝐏^{k_2}`$, $`𝐏^{l_1}`$, $`𝐏^{l_2}`$ be the base spaces of $`\phi _k`$ and $`\phi _l`$. We know that the base spaces of $`\phi `$ are $`S_1=𝐏^{k_1},𝐏^{l_1}`$, $`S_2=𝐏^{k_2},𝐏^{l_2}`$. Let $`C_{k_1}`$, $`C_{k_2}`$, $`C_{l_1}`$, $`C_{l_2}`$ the corresponding base curves. Let $`F`$ be the variety of lines that join the points of the involution: $`F=\overline{\{P𝐏^n/Px,f(x),xR_{n1}\}}`$. Let us identificate $`FS_1`$ and $`FS_2`$.

###### Lemma 2.3.3

The variety $`FS_1`$ $`(FS_2)`$ is a normal rational ruled surface of degree $`k_1+l_1=n_1`$ $`(k_2+l_2=n_2)`$ generated by the directrix curves $`C_{k_1}`$ and $`C_{l_1}`$ ($`C_{k_2}`$ and $`C_{l_2}`$). We call it base ruled surface $`R_{n_11}`$ ($`R_{n_21}`$).

Proof: Given a point $`PR_{n1}`$, consider the line $`r=P,f(P)`$ of $`F`$. $`r`$ meets $`S_1`$ in a point $`P_1`$ that corresponds to project $`P`$ from $`S_2`$ onto $`S_1`$. Thus, given a generator $`fR_{n1}`$, the lines of $`F`$ defined by the points of $`f`$ meet $`S_1`$ in a line $`f_1`$; this line is the projection of $`f`$ from $`S_b`$. Moreover, since $`f`$ meets $`D_k`$ and $`D_l`$, its projection on $`S_1`$ meets $`C_{k_1}`$ and $`C_{l_1}`$. In this way we see that the generator of $`R_{n1}`$ project into lines joining $`C_{k_1}`$ and $`C_{l_2}`$, so $`FS_1`$ is the rational ruled surface defined by these directrix curves.

We saw that a harmonic involution on a normal rational ruled surface is defined by the involutions of the directrix curves $`D_k`$ and $`D_l`$. From this, we distinguish several types of involutions:

1. $`\phi _k`$ and $`\phi _l`$ are the identity.

Then the base spaces of $`\phi `$ are the spaces $`𝐏^k`$ and $`𝐏^l`$ that contain the directrix curves. All the generators are invariants by $`\phi `$ and the variety $`F`$ is the ruled surface $`R_{n1}`$.
2. $`\phi _k`$ and $`\phi _l`$ are not trivial.

1. $`n1=2\lambda `$ (even).

    1. $`k=2\mu ,l=2(\lambda \mu )`$.

        Then the involutions on $`D_k`$ and $`D_l`$ have the following base spaces and base curves:

        $`C_\mu 𝐏^\mu `$, $`C_{\mu 1}𝐏^{\mu 1}`$, with $`P_k,Q_kC_\mu `$ base points of $`D_k`$.

        $`C_{\lambda \mu }𝐏^{\lambda \mu }`$, $`C_{\lambda \mu 1}𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}`$, with $`P_l,Q_lC_{\lambda \mu }`$ base points of $`D_l`$.

        Then, the base spaces of $`\phi `$ are:

        1. Case A:

            $`S_1=𝐏^\mu ,𝐏^{\lambda \mu }=𝐏^{\lambda +1}P_k,Q_k,P_l,Q_l`$.

            $`S_2=𝐏^{\mu 1},𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}=𝐏^{\lambda 1}`$.

            Where the generators $`f_P,f_Q𝐏^{\lambda +1}`$ are fixed.
            2. Case B:

            $`S_1=𝐏^\mu ,𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}=𝐏^\lambda P_k,Q_k`$.

            $`S_2=𝐏^{\mu 1},𝐏^{\lambda \mu }=𝐏^\lambda P_l,Q_l`$.

            Where the generators $`f_P,f_Q`$ are invariant (not fixed).
        2. $`k=2\mu +1,l=2(\lambda \mu )1`$.

        Then the involutions on $`D_k`$ and $`D_l`$ have the following base spaces and base curves:

        $`P_kC_\mu 𝐏^\mu `$, $`Q_kC_\mu 𝐏^\mu `$, with $`P_k,Q_k`$ base points of $`D_k`$.

        $`P_lC_{\lambda \mu }𝐏^{\lambda \mu }`$, $`Q_lC_{\lambda \mu }𝐏^{\lambda \mu }`$, with $`P_l,Q_l`$ base points of $`D_l`$.

        Then, the base spaces of $`\phi `$ are:

        1. Case C:

            $`S_1=𝐏^\mu ,𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}=𝐏^\lambda P_k,P_l`$.

            $`S_2=𝐏^\mu ,𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}=𝐏^\lambda Q_k,Q_l`$.

            Where the generators $`f_P𝐏^a,f_QS_2`$ are fixed.
            2. Case B: (similar to case 2.1.1.2).

            $`S_1=𝐏^\mu ,𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}=𝐏^\lambda P_k,Q_l`$.

            $`S_2=𝐏^\mu ,𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}=𝐏^\lambda P_l,Q_k`$.

            Where the generators $`f_P,f_Q`$ are invariant (not fixed).
    2. $`n1=2\lambda 1`$ even.

    Then the curves $`D_k`$ and $`D_l`$ have degrees $`k=2\mu `$ and $`l=2(\lambda \mu )1`$. The base spaces and base curves are:

    $`C_\mu 𝐏^\mu `$, $`C_{\mu 1}𝐏^{\mu 1}`$, with $`P_k,Q_kC_\mu `$ base points of $`D_k`$.

    $`P_lC_{\lambda \mu 1}𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}`$, $`Q_lC_{\lambda \mu 1}𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}`$, with $`P_l,Q_l`$ base points of $`D_l`$.

    In any case, the base spaces of $`\phi `$ are:

    1. Case D:

        $`S_1=𝐏^\mu ,𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}=𝐏^\lambda P_k,Q_k,P_l`$.

        $`S_2=𝐏^\mu ,𝐏^{\lambda \mu 1}=𝐏^\lambda Q_l`$.

        Where $`f_P`$ is a fixed generator and $`f_Q`$ are an invariant generator.

Let $`\phi :R_{n1}R_{n1}`$ a harmonic involution over the rational normal ruled surface $`R_{n1}𝐏^n`$. By the proposition 1.9 we know that $`H^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))`$ is a base-harmonic system; that is, $`H^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))=H^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_hH^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b`$. Let us see the dimension of these spaces. We know that $`h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))=({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{n1})`$. We will treat each case separated:

1. All generators are invariant by the involution.

We use the proposition 1.10. In this case $`F=R_{n1}`$, $`F𝐏^a=D_k`$ and $`F𝐏^b=D_l`$. Thus,

$$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b=h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))h^0(I_{D_k}(2))h^0(I_{D_l}(2))=kl$$

and

$$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_h=h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b=({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{n1})kl$$
2. The generic generator is not invariant by the involution.

We use the proposition 1.10. But in this case, $`FS_1=R_{n_11}`$ and $`FS_2=R_{n_2}`$. Then we have:

$$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b=h^0(I_F(2))h^0(I_{R_{n_11}}(2))h^0(I_{R_{n_21}}(2))$$
$`(2)`$
A quadric containing $`R_{n1}R_{n_11}`$ meets each line of $`F`$ in three points. Then such quadric contains $`F`$, so $`H^0(I_F(2))=H^0(I_{R_{n1}R_{n_11}}(2))`$. Consider the exact sequence:

$$0H^0(I_{R_{n1}R_{n_11}}(2))H^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))\stackrel{\alpha }{}H^0(𝒪_{R_{n_11}}(2Y))$$

where $`Y=R_{n1}R_{n_11}`$. Then:

$$h^0(I_F(2))h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))h^0(𝒪_{R_{n_11}}(2R_{n1}R_{n_11}))$$

and applying $`(2)`$ we obtain in each case:

1. ($`n1=2\lambda ,S_1=𝐏^{\lambda 1},S_2=𝐏^{\lambda +1},f_Q,f_P`$ fixed generators.)

    $$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b\lambda (\lambda 1)$$
    2. ($`n1=2\lambda ,S_1=𝐏_1^\lambda ,S_2=𝐏_2^\lambda ,f_Q,f_P`$ invariant (not fixed) generators, with $`f_P𝐏_i^\lambda =P_i`$, $`f_QP_i^\lambda =Q_i`$.)

    $$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b\lambda (\lambda 1)$$
    3. $`(n1=2\lambda ,S_1=𝐏_1^\lambda ,S_2=𝐏_2^\lambda ,f_Q,f_P`$ fixed generators, with $`f_P𝐏_1^\lambda `$, $`f_Q𝐏_2^\lambda `$.)

    $$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b\lambda (\lambda 1)+1$$
    4. $`(n1=2\lambda 1,S_1=𝐏^{\lambda 1},S_2=𝐏^\lambda ,f_Q`$ fixed generator in $`𝐏^\lambda `$, and $`f_q`$ invariant generator, with $`f_QP^{\lambda 1}=Q_1`$.)

    $$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b(\lambda 1)^2$$

Now, let us compute the harmonic quadrics.

Let $`E_k`$ the set of $`k+1`$ generic points in $`D_k`$ and $`E_l`$ the set of $`l+1`$ generic points on $`D_l`$. Note that a harmonic quadric that passes through a point of $`R_{n1}`$ passes through the image point too. From this, a quadric passing through $`E_k(E_l)`$ meets $`D_k(D_l)`$ in $`2k+2(2l+2)`$ points because $`D_k(D_l)`$ is invariant by the involution. Moreover, a harmonic quadric that contains $`D_k`$ and $`D_l`$, contains the invariant (not fixed) generators too, because they meet each space base in a point.

Finally, a harmonic quadric containing $`D_k`$ and $`D_l`$ and passing through $`m`$ generic points of $`R_{n1}`$ contains their images ($`2m`$ points) and the corresponding $`2m`$ generators. Let $`E_m`$ be $`m`$ generic points of $`R_{n1}`$ and let $`E`$ be $`E_kE_lE_m`$.

If $`Q`$ is a harmonic quadric passing through the points of $`E`$, then $`D_kD_l\{`$invariant generators$`\}2mfQR_{n1}`$. If $`2m>2(n1)(k+l)`$number of invariant generators, then $`R_{n1}Q`$ and we have the exact sequence:

$$0H^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_hH^0(I_{𝐏^{n1}}(2))_hH^0(𝒪_E(2))$$

From this:

$$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_hh^0(𝒪_{𝐏^{n1}}(2))_h(n+1+m)$$

In each case we obtain:

1. There are not invariant generators. Taking $`m=\lambda +1`$ we have:

$$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_h({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{\lambda +1})+({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{\lambda +3})(3\lambda +3)$$
2. There are two invariant generators. Taking $`m=\lambda `$ we have:

$$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_h({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{\lambda +2})+({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{\lambda +2})(3\lambda +2)$$
3. There are not invariant generators. Taking $`m=\lambda +1`$ we have:

$$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_h({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{\lambda +2})+({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{\lambda +2})(3\lambda +3)$$
4. There is an invariant generator. Taking $`m=\lambda `$ we have:

$$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_h({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{\lambda +1})+({}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.17em}2}}{}^{\lambda +2})(3\lambda +1)$$

We see that the sum of the bounds computed for the harmonic and base quadrics is the quadrics of $`H^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))`$ in all cases, so these bounds are reached in all cases, and we have the number of base quadrics:

###### Proposition 2.3.4

Let $`R_{n1}𝐏^n`$ be a rational normal scroll of degree $`n1`$. Let $`\phi :R_{n1}R_{n1}`$ be a harmonic involution. Then we have the following cases:

1. All the generators are invariant. There are two directrix curves of base point $`D_k,D_l`$ with $`k+l=n1`$. They lay on the base spaces $`𝐏^k`$, $`𝐏^l`$.

$$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b=kl$$
2. There are two invariant (fixed or not):

1. $`n1=2\lambda `$ ($`n`$ even).

    1. The base spaces are $`𝐏^{\lambda 1}`$,$`𝐏^{\lambda +1}`$. There are two fixed generators in $`𝐏^{\lambda +1}`$.

        $$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b=\lambda (\lambda 1)$$
        2. The base spaces are $`𝐏^\lambda `$,$`𝐏^\lambda `$. There is a fixed generator in each of them.

        $$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b=\lambda (\lambda 1)+1$$
        3. The base spaces are $`𝐏^\lambda `$,$`𝐏^\lambda `$. There are not fixed generators.

        $$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b=\lambda (\lambda 1)$$
    2. $`n1=2\lambda 1`$ ($`n`$ odd).

    1. The base spaces are $`𝐏^{\lambda 1}`$,$`𝐏^\lambda `$. There is a fixed generator in $`𝐏^\lambda `$.

        $$h^0(I_{R_{n1}}(2))_b=(\lambda 1)^2$$

### 2.4 Involutions of the canonical curve of genus $`\pi >4`$.

We have investigated all the possible cases where the quadrics that contain a canonical curve are a base-harmonic system:

###### Theorem 2.4.1

The unique cases where the system of quadrics containing a canonical curve $`C_𝒦`$ of genus $`\pi `$, $`\pi >4`$ are a base-harmonic system respect to base spaces $`𝐏^{g1}`$, $`𝐏^{\pi g1}`$ ($`\pi 2g1>0`$) with $`b`$ independent base quadrics are:

1. $`b=(g1)(\pi g2)`$

1. If $`\pi =2g,2g+1,2g+2`$ and the curve has a $`g_3^1`$ or an involution of genus $`g`$, or both of them; except if $`\pi =6`$ and $`g=2`$ when $`C_𝒦`$ can have a $`g_5^2`$.
    2. If $`\pi 2g,2g+1,2g+2`$ and the curve $`C_𝒦`$ has a $`\gamma _2^1`$ of genus $`g`$.
2. $`b=(g1)(\pi g2)+1`$, $`\pi =2g1r`$ or $`\pi =2g`$ and $`C_𝒦`$ has a $`g_3^1`$ (not a $`\gamma _2^1`$).
3. $`b=(g1)(\pi g1)`$ and $`C_𝒦`$ has a $`g_3^1`$ (not a $`\gamma _2^1`$).

###### Corollary 2.4.2

The unique involutions on a trigonal canonical curve of genus $`\pi `$, $`\pi >4`$ are of genus $`\frac{\pi }{2},\frac{\pi 1}{2}`$ or $`\frac{\pi 2}{2}`$.

Proof: Let $`C_𝒦𝐏^n`$ be a trigonal canonical curve and let $`R_{\pi 2}`$ be the ruled surface of trisecants. Suppose that $`C_𝒦`$ has an involution of genus $`g`$. Then the system of quadrics $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))`$ is a base-harmonic system with $`(g1)(\pi g2)`$ independent base quadrics. Since $`R_{\pi 2}=_{QC_𝒦}Q`$, we have a harmonic involution over $`R_{\pi 2}`$. By Proposition 2.3.4 we know that $`\pi =2g`$, $`\pi =2g+1`$ or $`\pi =2g+2`$ and the conclusion follows.

###### Corollary 2.4.3

The unique involutions on a smooth quintic plane curve are of genus $`2`$.

###### Theorem 2.4.4

Let $`C_𝒦𝐏^{\pi 1}`$ a canonical curve of genus $`𝐏`$, $`\pi >4`$. Then $`C_𝒦`$ has an involution of genus $`1`$ if and only if the quadrics of $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))`$ are a base-harmonic system respect to a point and a space $`𝐏^{\pi 2}`$ without base quadrics.

Proof: If $`C_𝒦`$ has an involution of genus $`1`$, we know that the involution generates an elliptic cone, the system of quadrics $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))`$ is harmonic and it hasn’t base quadrics respect to $`𝐏^0`$ and $`𝐏^{\pi 2}`$.

Conversely, if the system of quadrics $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))`$ is harmonic respect to $`𝐏^0`$ and $`𝐏^{\pi 2}`$, necessary it hasn’t base quadrics, because the quadric containing $`C_𝒦`$ are reducible. If $`C_𝒦`$ is not trigonal we have an involution of genus $`1`$ in $`C_𝒦`$. If $`C_K`$ is trigonal, by Corollary 2.4.2, $`\pi =2,3,4`$. But we have supposed that $`\pi >4`$.

###### Theorem 2.4.5

Let $`C_𝒦𝐏^{\pi 1}`$ be the canonical curve of genus $`\pi `$, with $`\pi >4`$. If $`C_𝒦`$ has an involution of genus $`g`$ then $`\pi 2g1`$ and the quadrics of $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))`$ are a base-harmonic system respect to the base spaces $`𝐏^{g1}`$, $`𝐏^{\pi g1}`$ that contains $`(g1)(\pi g2)`$ independent base quadrics. Conversely, these conditions are sufficient to grant the existence of an involution, except when:

1. $`\pi =6,g=2`$ and $`C_𝒦`$ has a $`g_5^2`$; or
2. $`\pi =2g`$,$`2g+1`$ or $`2g+2`$ and $`C_𝒦`$ is trigonal.

###### Remark 2.4

Let us study what happens at the two exceptions:

1. Suppose that $`C_𝒦`$ is a canonical curve of genus $`6`$ with a $`g_5^2`$, that is,it is isomorphic to a smooth plane curve of degree $`5`$. Suppose that the quadrics of $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))`$ are a base-harmonic system respect to the base spaces $`𝐏^1`$ and $`𝐏^3`$. It induces a harmonic involution on the Veronese surface and then, an involution on the plane. Obviously, the generic plane curve of degree $`5`$ of the plane is not invariant by this involution. So in this case the hypothesis of the above theorem are not sufficient.

However, there are smooth quintic plane curves invariant by an involution. For example, we can take the quintic curve $`f(x_0,x_1)x_2^4x_0=0`$ on the plane, where $`f(x_0,x_1)`$ is a generic homogeneous polynomial of degree $`5`$. This curve is smooth an it’s invariant by the involution

$$\begin{array}{ccc}x_0x_0;& x_1x_1;& x_2x_2\end{array}$$
2. Now, suppose that $`C_𝒦`$ is trigonal. Then it lies on a rational ruled surface $`S_e=𝐏(𝒪_{P^1}𝒪_{P^1}(e))`$ in the linear systems $`|3X_0+af|`$. The canonical embedding is obtained by the linear system $`X_0+(ae2)f`$ on the ruled surface.

If $`𝐏(H^0(I_{C_𝒦}(2)))`$ is a base-harmonic system then it defines a harmonic involution on the ruled surface $`S_e`$. Moreover, we have an induced involution in the linear system $`|3X_0+af|`$. The generic curve of this linear system is not invariant by the involution. We see that the hypothesis of the theorem are not sufficient.

On the other hand, there are smooth curves on these linear systems invariant by the involution. Let us see an example. Consider the rational ruled surface $`S_0𝐏^1\times 𝐏^1`$ with coordinates $`[(x_0,x_1),(y_0,y_1)]`$. We can take the curve on $`S_0`$ with equation:

$$x_0^ny_0^3x_0^ny_0y_1^2+x_1^ny_1^3+x_1^ny_0^2y_1=0$$

with $`n5`$ even. This is a smooth curve of type $`(3,n)`$ on the linear system $`3X_0+nf`$. Moreover it is invariant by the involution

$$\begin{array}{cccc}x_0x_0;& x_1x_1;& & \\ y_0y_0;& y_1y_1& & \end{array}$$