An algebraic hypersurface is an algebraic variety that may be defined by a single implicit equation of the form where is a multivariate polynomial. Generally the polynomial is supposed to be irreducible. When this is not the case, the hypersurface is not an algebraic variety, but only an algebraic set. It may depend on the authors or the context whether a reducible polynomial defines a hypersurface. For avoiding ambiguity, the term irreducible hypersurface is often used. As for algebraic varieties, the coefficients of the defining polynomial may belong to any fixed field, and the points of the hypersurface are the zeros of in the affine space where is an algebraically closed extension of. A hypersurface may have singularities, which are the common zeros, if any, of the defining polynomial and its partial derivatives. In particular, a real algebraic hypersurface is not necessarily a manifold.
Properties
Hypersurfaces have some specific properties that are not shared with other algebraic varieties. One of the main such properties is Hilbert's Nullstellensatz, which asserts that a hypersurface contains an algebraic set if and only if the defining polynomial of the hypersurface has a power that belongs to the ideal generated by the defining polynomials of the algebraic set. A corollary of this theorem is that, if two irreducible polynomials define the same hypersurface, then one is the product of the other by a nonzero constant. Hypersurfaces are exactly the subvarieties of dimension of an affine space of dimension of. This is the geometric interpretation of the fact that, in a polynomial ring over a field, the height of an ideal is 1 if and only if the ideal is a principal ideal. In the case of possibly reducible hypersurfaces, this result may be restated as follows: hypersurfaces are exactly the algebraic sets whose all irreducible components have dimension.
A real hypersurface is a hypersurface that is defined by a polynomial with real coefficients. In this case the algebraically closed field over which the points are defined is generally the field of complex numbers. The real points of a real hypersurface are the points that belong to The set of the real points of a real hypersurface is the real part of the hypersurface. Often, it is left to the context whether the term hypersurface refers to all points or only to the real part. If the coefficients of the defining polynomial belong to a field that is not algebraically closed, one says that the hypersurface is defined over, and the points that belong to are rational over . For example, the imaginary -sphere defined by the equation is a real hypersurface without any real point, which is defined over the rational numbers. It has no rational point, but has many points that are rational over the Gaussian rationals.
Projective algebraic hypersurface
A of dimension in a projective space of dimension over a field is defined by a homogeneous polynomial in indeterminates. As usual, means that all monomials of have the same degree, or, equivalently that for every constant, where is the degree of the polynomial. The of the hypersurface are the points of the projective space whose projective coordinates are zeros of. If one chooses the hyperplane of equation as hyperplane at infinity, the complement of this hyperplane is an affine space, and the points of the projective hypersuface that belong to this affine space form an affine hypersurface of equation Conversely, given an affine hypersurface of equation it defines a projective hypersurface, called its, whose equation is obtained by homogenizing. That is, the equation of the projective completion is with where is the degree of. These two processes projective completion and restriction to an affine subspace are inverse one to the other. Therefore, an affine hypersurface and its projective completion have essentially the same properties, and are often considered as two points-of-view for the same hypersurface. However, it may occur that an affine hypersurface is nonsingular, while its projective completion has singular points. In this case, one says that the affine surface is. For example, the circular cylinder of equation in the affine space of dimension three has a unique singular point, which is at infinity, in the direction.
