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One of the major open problems in noncommutative algebraic geometry is the classification of noncommutative projective surfaces (or, slightly more generally, of noetherian connected graded domains of Gelfand-Kirillov dimension 3). In a companion paper the authors described a noncommutative version of blowing down and, for example, gave a noncommutative analogue of Castelnuovo's classic theorem that lines of self-intersection (-1) on a smooth surface can be contracted. In this paper we will use these techniques to construct explicit birational transformations between various noncommutative surfaces containing an elliptic curve. Notably we show that Van den Bergh's quadrics can be obtained from the Sklyanin algebra by suitably blowing up and down, and we also provide a noncommutative analogue of the classical Cremona transform. This extends and amplifies earlier work of Presotto and Van den Bergh., Comment: 45 pages; 2 figures; comments welcome

In the ongoing programme to classify noncommutative projective surfaces (connected graded noetherian domains of Gelfand-Kirillov dimension three) a natural question is to determine the minimal models within any birational class. In this paper we show that the generic noncommutative projective plane (corresponding to the three dimensional Sklyanin algebra R) as well as noncommutative analogues of P^1 x P^1 and of the Hirzebruch surface F_2 (arising from Van den Bergh's quadrics R) satisfy very strong minimality conditions. Translated into an algebraic question, where one is interested in a maximality condition, we prove the following theorem. Let R be a Sklyanin algebra or a Van den Bergh quadric that is infinite dimensional over its centre and let A be any connected graded noetherian maximal order containing R, with the same graded quotient ring as R. Then, up to taking Veronese rings, A is isomorphic to R. Secondly, let T be an elliptic algebra (that is, the coordinate ring of a noncommutative surface containing an elliptic curve). Then, under an appropriate homological condition, we prove that every connected graded noetherian overring of T is obtained by blowing down finitely many lines (line modules)., Comment: 42 pages; Third and final version to appear in Advances in Mathematics: minor revisions from second version

One of the major open problems in noncommutative algebraic geometry is the classification of noncommutative projective surfaces (or, slightly more generally, of noetherian connected graded domains of Gelfand-Kirillov dimension 3). Earlier work of the authors classified the connected graded noetherian subalgebras of Sklyanin algebras using a noncommutative analogue of blowing up. In order to understand other algebras birational to a Sklyanin algebra, one also needs a notion of blowing down. This is achieved in this paper, where we give a noncommutative analogue of Castelnuovo's classic theorem that (-1)-lines on a smooth surface can be contracted. The resulting noncommutative blown-down algebra has pleasant properties; in particular it is always noetherian and is smooth if the original noncommutative surface is smooth. In a companion paper we will use this technique to construct explicit birational transformations between various noncommutative surfaces which contain an elliptic curve., Comment: 40 pages

Given a projective scheme $X$ over a field $k$, an automorphism $\sigma$ of $X$, and a $\sigma$-ample invertible sheaf $L$, one may form the twisted homogeneous coordinate ring $B = B(X, L, \sigma)$, one of the most fundamental constructions in noncommutative projective algebraic geometry. We study the primitive spectrum of $B$, as well as that of other closely related algebras such as skew and skew-Laurent extensions of commutative algebras. Over an algebraically closed, uncountable field $k$ of characteristic zero, we prove that that the primitive ideals of $B$ are characterized by the usual Dixmier-Moeglin conditions whenever the dimension of $X$ is no more than 2., Comment: 34 pages

Let A=k+A_1+A_2.... be a connected graded, noetherian k-algebra that is generated in degree one over an algebraically closed field k. Suppose that the graded quotient ring Q(A) has the form Q(A)=k(Y)[t,t^{-1},sigma], where sigma is an automorphism of the integral projective surface Y. Then we prove that A can be written as a naive blowup algebra of a projective surface X birational to Y. This enables one to obtain a deep understanding of the structure of these algebras; for example, generically they are not strongly noetherian and their point modules are not parametrized by a projective scheme. This is despite the fact that the simple objects in the quotient category qgr A will always be in (1-1) correspondence with the closed points of the scheme X.

If A is a strongly noetherian graded algebra generated in degree one, then there is a canonically constructed graded ring homomorphism from A to a twisted homogeneous coordinate ring B(X, L, sigma), which is surjective in large degree. This result is a key step in the study of projectively simple rings. The proof relies on some results concerning the growth of graded rings which are of independent interest., Comment: LaTeX, 21 pages; corollary of main theorem added to intro; other minor changes from ver. 1

We introduce the notion of a projectively simple ring, which is an infinite-dimensional graded k-algebra A such that every 2-sided ideal has finite codimension in A (over the base field k). Under some (relatively mild) additional assumptions on A, we reduce the problem of classifying such rings (in the sense explained in the paper) to the following geometric question, which we believe to be of independent interest. Let X is a smooth irreducible projective variety. An automorphism f: X -> X is called wild if it X has no proper f-invariant subvarieties. We conjecture that if X admits a wild automorphism then X is an abelian variety. We prove several results in support of this conjecture; in particular, we show that the conjecture is true if X is a curve or a surface. In the case where X is an abelian variety, we describe all wild automorphisms of X. In the last two sections we show that if A is projectively simple and admits a balanced dualizing complex, then Proj(A) is Cohen-Macaulay and Gorenstein., Comment: Some new material has been added in Section 1; to appear in Advances in Mathematics

Let B(X,L,s) be the twisted homogeneous coordinate ring of an irreducible variety X over an algebraically closed field k with dim X > 1. Assume that c in X and s in Aut(X) are in sufficiently general position. We show that if one follows the commutative prescription for blowing up X at c, but in this noncommutative setting, one obtains a noncommutative ring R=R(X,c,L,s) with surprising properties. In particular: (1) R is always noetherian but never strongly noetherian. (2) If R is generated in degree one then the images of the R-point modules in qgr(R) are naturally in (1-1) correspondence with the closed points of X. However, both in qgr(R) and in gr(R), the R-point modules are not parametrized by a projective scheme. (3) qgr R has finite cohomological dimension yet H^1(R) is infinite dimensional. This gives a more geometric approach to results of the second author who proved similar results for X=P^n by algebraic methods., Comment: Latex, 42 pages