On the varieties of the second row of the split Freudenthal–Tits Magic Square

Abstract

Our main aim is to provide a uniform geometric characterization of the analogues over arbitrary fields of the four complex Severi varieties, i.e. the quadric Veronese varieties in 5-dimensional projective spaces, the Segre varieties in 8-dimensional projective spaces, the line Grassmannians in 14-dimensional projective spaces, and the exceptional varieties of type E-6 in 26-dimensional projective space. Our theorem can be regarded as a far-reaching generalization of Mazzocca and Melone's approach to finite quadric Veronesean varieties. This approach uses combinatorial analogues of smoothness properties of complex Severi varieties as axioms.