Enumeration of non-nodal real plane rational curves

Abstract

Welschinger invariants enumerate real nodal rational curves in the plane or in another real rational surface. We analyze the existence of similar enumerative invariants that count real rational plane curves having prescribed non-nodal singularities and passing through a generic conjugation-invariant configuration of appropriately many points in the plane. We show that an invariant like this is unique: it enumerates real rational three-cuspidal quartics that pass through generically chosen four pairs of complex conjugate points. As a consequence, we show that through any generic configuration of four pairs of complex conjugate points, one can always trace a pair of real rational three-cuspidal quartics.