# Lascar and Morley ranks differ in differentially closed fields

## 1 Definability of Morley rank

We will say that Morley rank is *definable* (respectively *upward*, resp. *downward semi-definable*) if for every set of parameters $`A`$ and $`A`$-definable family of definable sets $`E_b(bB)`$ and $`bB`$, there is an $`A`$-definable set $`B^{}B`$ such that $`bB^{}`$ and $`MR(E_b^{})=MR(E_b)`$ (resp. $``$, $``$) for $`b^{}B^{}`$.

###### Lemma 1.1

Let $`T`$ be a theory of finite Morley rank. If Morley and Lascar ranks coincide on definable sets, then Morley rank is downward semi-definable.

Proof   Suppose Morley rank is not downward semi-definable, and let $`E_b`$ ($`bB`$) be an $`A`$-definable family demonstrating this. That is, there is some $`b^{}B`$ so that for every $`A`$-definable set $`B^{}B`$ with $`bB^{}`$ there is some $`b^{}B^{}`$ with $`MR(E_b^{})>MR(E_b^{})`$. Replace $`B`$ with an $`A`$-definable set of minimal Morley rank and degree containing $`b`$; so that now $`MR(\mathrm{tp}(\mathrm{b}^{}/\mathrm{A}))=\mathrm{MR}(\mathrm{B}):=\mathrm{m}`$. Let $`d:=MR(E_b^{})`$. For $`bB`$, let $`E_b^{}:=E_{b}^{}{}_{}{}^{m}`$. Then $`MR(E_b^{})=mMR(E_b)`$. So it is always a multiple of $`m`$. We have $`MR(E_b^{}^{})=md`$, while for many $`b^{}`$, $`MR(E_b^{}^{})md+m`$.

For $`B^{}B`$, let

$$X_B^{}:=\{(e,b):bB^{},eE_b^{}\}$$

and $`X:=X_B`$. Replace $`B`$ with some $`A`$-definable $`B^{}B`$ with $`b^{}B^{}`$ and the property that for every $`A`$-definable $`B^{\prime \prime }B^{}`$ with $`b^{}B^{\prime \prime }`$, $`(MR(X_{B^{\prime \prime }}),dM(X_{B^{\prime \prime }}))=(MR(X_B^{}),dM(X_B^{}))`$.

If $`(e,b)X`$ and $`b`$ is not generic in $`B`$, then $`bB^{}`$ for some $`A`$-definable subset of $`B`$ with $`MR(B^{})<MR(B)`$ and $`(e,b)X_B^{}`$. Since $`X_{BB^{}}`$ and $`X_B`$ have the same Morley rank and degree by the above reduction, $`MR(X_B^{})<MR(X)`$; so, $`MR(\mathrm{tp}(\mathrm{e},\mathrm{b}/\mathrm{A}))<\mathrm{MR}(\mathrm{X})`$.

On the other hand, if $`(e,b)X`$, and $`bB`$ is generic, then $`U(\mathrm{tp}(\mathrm{e},\mathrm{b}/\mathrm{A}))\mathrm{md}+\mathrm{m}`$. But $`MR(E_b^{})md+m`$ for infinitely many $`bB`$; so $`MR(X)>md+m`$. Thus $`U(\mathrm{tp}(\mathrm{e},\mathrm{b}/\mathrm{A}))<\mathrm{MR}(\mathrm{X})`$ for any $`(e,b)X`$. So $`U(X)<MR(X)`$, a contradiction.

## 2 A non-definable family

We now work with differential fields of characteristic $`0`$, and fix a universal domain 𝕌  (a saturated differentially closed field.)

Our plan is to produce a finite rank definable family of abelian varieties whose Manin kernels exhibit non-definable jumps in Morley rank. One difficulty is that there does not exist a definable family of abelian varieties containing a copy of every abelian variety of a given dimension. However, there are definable families of abelian varieties containing isomorphic copies of every *principally polarized* abelian variety of a given dimension.

For every abelian variety $`A`$ there is another abelian variety $`\stackrel{ˇ}{A}`$, called the dual abelian variety, which parametrizes the line bundles on $`A`$ algebraically equivalent to zero. A polarization is an isogeny $`\lambda :A\stackrel{ˇ}{A}`$. A polarization is principal if it is an isomorphism. A *principally polarized abelian variety* is an abelian variety $`A`$ given together with a principal polarization $`\lambda :A\stackrel{ˇ}{A}`$. Not all abelian varieties admit a principal polarization, but elliptic curves always do.

###### Theorem 2.1 ( VII §2)

Let $`L`$ be an algebraically closed field, and $`g`$ a positive integer. There exists a definable family $`\{(A_b,\lambda _b):bF\}`$ of $`g`$-dimensional principally polarized abelian varieties, such that every principally polarized $`g`$-dimensional abelian variety over $`L`$ is isomorphic to some $`(A_\alpha ,\lambda _\alpha )`$.

Let $`E_t`$ be an elliptic curve with $`j`$-invariant $`t`$. Given $`t,t^{}`$, let $`E(t,t^{}):=E_t\times E_t^{}`$. Given also an integer $`n`$, there exist group-theoretic isomorphisms $`\iota `$ between the finite $`n`$-torsion subgroups of $`E_t`$ and of $`E_t^{}`$. Let $`E(t,t^{},\iota ,n)`$ be the quotient of $`E_t\times E_t^{}`$ by the graph of $`\iota `$. Then $`A:=E(t,t^{},\iota ,n)`$ is an Abelian variety of dimension $`2`$. When $`E_t,E_t^{}`$ are not isogenous, $`A`$ has precisely two connected definable subgroups of Morley rank 1, namely the images of $`E_t`$ and of $`E_t^{}`$. Their intersection has order $`n^2`$. For a general choice of $`\iota `$, $`E(t,t^{},\iota ,n)`$ need not admit a principal polarization. However, if we choose $`\iota `$ to be anti-symplectic (ie $`\iota (x),\iota (y)_{E_t^{}}=y,x_{E_t}`$ where $`,`$ is the Weil pairing (See  §16 for the general theory of the Weil pairing) then $`E(t,t^{},\iota ,n)`$ is self-dual.

###### Lemma 2.2

If $`\iota :E_t[n]E_t^{}[n]`$ is an anti-symplectic isomorphism of the $`n`$-torsion points, then $`A:=E(t,t^{},\iota ,n)`$ has a natural principal polarization.

Proof   Since $`\iota `$ is an anti-symplectic map, the graph of $`\iota `$ is isotropic for the pairing on $`E_t\times E_t^{}`$ :

$`(x,\iota (x)),(y,\iota (y))_{E_t\times E_t^{}}`$ $`=`$ $`x,y_{E_t}\iota (x),\iota (y)_{E_t^{}}`$   
$`=`$ $`x,y_{E_t}y,x_{E_t}`$   
$`=`$ $`1`$   
Since $`\mathrm{\#}(E_t\times E_t^{})[n]=n^4`$ and the pairing is perfect, a maximal isotropic space has size $`n^2`$ which is the size of the graph of $`\iota `$. Hence, the graph of $`\iota `$ is a maximal isotropic subspace.

The lemma now follows from the more general lemma:

###### Lemma 2.3

Let $`A`$ be a principally polarized abelian variety identified with its dual via the polarization. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }A[n]`$ be a maximal isotropic subgroup of the $`n`$-torsion subgroup of $`A`$. Let $`B=A/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Then $`B`$ also admits a principal polarization.

Proof   Let $`\pi :AB`$ be the quotient map. Let $`\varphi :BA`$ be defined by $`b[n]a`$ where $`a`$ is any choice of a pre-image of $`b`$ under $`\pi `$. $`\varphi `$ induces a dual exact sequence

$$0\text{Hom}(\mathrm{ker}\varphi ,\mu _n)A\stackrel{ˇ}{B}0$$

where $`\mu _n`$ is the group of $`n`$-th roots of unity (See  III §15). The kernel of $`\varphi `$ is $`A[n]/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is isotropic, the pairing on $`A[n]`$ descends to a pairing $`(A[n]/\mathrm{\Gamma })\times \mathrm{\Gamma }\mu _n`$. Since the pairing is perfect and $`\mathrm{\#}A[n]=(\mathrm{\#}\mathrm{\Gamma })^2`$, via this pairing $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\text{Hom}(A[n]/\mathrm{\Gamma },\mu _n)`$.

Thus, the above exact sequence is

$$0\mathrm{\Gamma }A\stackrel{ˇ}{B}0$$

That is, $`\stackrel{ˇ}{B}`$ is the quotient $`A/\mathrm{\Gamma }=B`$.

###### Lemma 2.4

Let $`F^{}`$ be a Zariski (resp. Kolchin) closed subset of $`F`$, the definable parameter space for two dimensional principally polarized abelian varieties of Theorem 2.1. Assume $`F^{}`$ has a Zariski (resp. Kolchin) dense subset $`\{t_1,t_2,\mathrm{}\}`$, such that $`A_{t_n}`$ is isomorphic to some $`E(t,t^{},\iota ,n)`$ with $`\iota `$ anti-symplectic as above. Then for generic $`tF^{}`$, $`A_t`$ is a simple abelian variety.

Proof   Otherwise, a generic $`A_t`$ contains two elliptic curves. Their intersection is necessarily finite, say of order $`m`$. But then infinitely many $`A_{t_n}`$ must contain two elliptic curves with intersection of order $`m`$. For $`n>m`$, this contradicts the remarks above.

At this point it is quite easy to see that exists in DCF<sub>0</sub> a definable family of definable sets, whose generic element is strongly minimal, but with densely many sets of Morley rank 2. Thus:

###### Corollary 2.5

In $`DCF_0`$, Morley rank is not downwards semi-definable.

However, since $`DCF_0`$ does not have finite Morley rank, lemma 1.1 does not directly apply. At this point we quote a theorem from .

###### Theorem 2.6 (Buium )

Let $`(A,\lambda )`$ be any principally polarized abelian variety of maximal $`\delta `$-rank. There exists a definable family $`\{(A_t,\lambda _t):tF_1\}`$, containing a definably isomorphic copy of every principally polarized abelian variety isogenous to $`A`$, and such that $`F_1`$ has finite Morley rank.

We leave the notion of *$`\delta `$-rank* undefined here since we need only the facts that:

* A generic elliptic curve has maximal $`\delta `$-rank.
* The property of having maximal $`\delta `$-rank is isogeny invariant.
* The product of two abelian varieties each of maximal $`\delta `$-rank is also of maximal $`\delta `$-rank.

It seems likely that the $`\delta `$-rank condition is unnecessary in Buium’s theorem, but we leave this issue aside.

###### Corollary 2.7

There exists a finite Morley rank definable subset $`Y`$, such that Morley rank is not downwards semi-definable.

Proof   Pick $`t,t^{}`$ algebraically independent over $`k`$, the field of differential constants of 𝕌 . Let $`J_t,J_t^{}`$ be elliptic curves with $`j`$-invariants $`t,t^{}`$. Let $`A:=J_t\times J_t^{}`$, and let $`F_1`$ be a family as guaranteed to exist by Theorem 2.6. Given $`n`$, pick $`c=c(n)F_1`$ with $`A_c`$ isomorphic to $`E(t,t^{},\iota ,n)`$. Let $`F_2`$ be the Kolchin closure of the set $`\{c(1),c(2),\mathrm{}\}`$. Let $`b`$ be a generic element of $`F_2`$. By Lemma 2.4, $`A_b`$ is a simple Abelian variety. If $`A_b`$ were isogenous to an Abelian variety defined over $`k`$, this would be guaranteed by a certain formula true of $`b`$, and the same formula would hold of infinitely many $`c(n)`$; hence $`A`$ would also have this property, contradicting the choice of $`t,t^{}`$. Thus $`A_b`$ is a simple, non-isotrivial Abelian variety.

For $`tF_2`$, let $`M_t`$ be the Manin kernel of $`A_t`$. $`M_t`$ is uniformly definable over $`t`$ (cf. ). Then (cf. ) $`M_t`$ has Morley rank 1 for generic $`tF^{}`$ (when $`A_t`$ is a nonisotrivial simple Abelian variety.) But it has Morley rank 2 for each $`t=c(n)`$ (when $`A_t`$ is isogenous to a product of elliptic curves.) Thus Morley rank is not downward semi-definable in $`Y=\{(a,t):tF^\mathrm{\#},aM_t\}`$.

###### Corollary 2.8

Morley and Lascar rank do not agree on definable sets in DCF<sub>0</sub>.

Proof   Since $`Y`$ has finite Morley rank, with the structure induced from the ambient differentially closed field, Lemma 1.1 applies.

###### Question 2.9

Marker and Pillay have noted that on $`0`$-definable sets of differential order $`2`$, Lascar and Morley ranks are the same. Examples similar to the one produced above have order at least $`5`$. Is there a theorem responsible for this gap?