Trisecant Lines And Jacobians, II

Abstract

Let $\Theta$ be a symmetric theta divisor on an indecomposable principally polarized complex abelian variety $X$. The linear system $|2\Theta |$ defines a morphism $K:X\ra |2\Theta |^*$, whose image is the Kummer variety $K(X)$ of $X$. When $(X,\theta)$ is the Jacobian of an algebraic curve, there are infinitely many trisecants lines to $K(X)$. Welters has conjectured that the existence of one trisecant line to the Kummer variety should characterize Jacobians. The purpose of this article is to show the following weak version of Welters conjecture: $X$ is a Jacobian if and only if there exist points $a,b,c$ of $X$ such that (i) the subgroup of $X$ generated by $a-b$ and $b-c$ is dense in $X$, (ii) the points $K(a)$, $K(b)$ and $K(c)$ are distinct and collinear. This improves on previous results obtained by the author (Trisecant Lines And Jacobians, J. Alg. Geom. 1 (1992), 5--14). Various degenerate cases of the conjecture are also considered.