Characteristics of complexes of conics in space of four dimensions

Abstract

In this note we obtain a system of characteristics on which depend the main enumerative properties of complexes, or systems ∞3, of conics in space of four dimensions. The method used is applicable to a large number of problems of this nature, and we select this illustration as being analogous to congruences in ordinary space. In particular a finite number of conics pass through an arbitrary point, thereby defining the order, n, of the system. Linear complexes are those for which this order is unity. The conics of a complex satisfy eight simple conditions, in general conditions of contact with a fixed form or forms, but they may include conditions of incidence with a surface, each such counting once, with a curve, each such counting twice, or with fixed points each such counting thrice. In particular only incidence conditions can occur when the system is linear, for otherwise more than one conic would pass through certain ∞3 points of space. Points through which more than a finite number of conics pass are termed singular, as well as their loci. Directrix constructs are necessarily singular, but they do not necessarily exhaust the singular system, for the complex may possess ∞2 curves lying on a surface. In the linear case through a point of a singular curve pass ∞2 conics, and through a point of a singular surface ∞1 conics. The possibilities in the nonlinear cases are too numerous to be detailed. Similarly the system of planes of the conies may possess a singular curve, through which ∞2 of the planes pass.