Cox rings of degree one del Pezzo surfaces

Abstract

Let X be a del Pezzo surface of degree one over an algebraically closed field (of any characteristic), and let Cox(X) be its total coordinate ring. We prove the missing case of a conjecture of Batyrev and Popov, which states that Cox(X) is a quadratic algebra. We use a complex of vector spaces whose homology determines part of the structure of the minimal free Pic(X)-graded resolution of Cox(X) over a polynomial ring. We show that sufficiently many Betti numbers of this minimal free resolution vanish to establish the conjecture.