On the syzygies and Alexander polynomials of nodal hypersurfaces

Abstract

We give sharp lower bounds for the degree of the syzygies involving the partial derivatives of a homogeneous polynomial defining a nodal hypersurface. The result gives information on the position of the singularities of a nodal hypersurface expressed in terms of defects or superabundances. The case of Chebyshev hypersurfaces is considered as a test for this result and leads to a potentially infinite family of nodal hypersurfaces having nontrivial Alexander polynomials.