Let $ {\mathbb {C}}^{n+1}_o$ denote the germ of $ {\mathbb {C}}^{n+1}$ at the origin. Let $V$ be a hypersurface germ in $ {\mathbb {C}}^{n+1}_o$ and $W$ a deformation of $V$ over $ {\mathbb {C}}_{o}^{m}$. Under the hypothesis that $W$ is a Newton non-degenerate deformation, in this article we prove that $W$ is a $\mu$-constant deformation if and only if $W$ admits a simultaneous embedded resolution. This result gives a lot of information about $W$, for example, the topological triviality of the family $W$ and the fact that the natural morphism $(\operatorname {W( {\mathbb {C}}_{o})}_{m})_{{\rm red}}\rightarrow {\mathbb {C}}_{o}$ is flat, where $\operatorname {W( {\mathbb {C}}_{o})}_{m}$ is the relative space of $m$-jets. On the way to the proof of our main result, we give a complete answer to a question of Arnold on the monotonicity of Newton numbers in the case of convenient Newton polyhedra.

Let ${{\mathbf{P}}^{n}}$ be the $n$-dimensional projective space over some algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic 0. For an integer $t\,\ge \,3$ consider the invertible sheaf $O\left( t \right)$ on ${{\mathbf{P}}^{n}}$ (Serre twist of the structure sheaf). Let $N\,=\,\left( \underset{n}{\mathop{t+n}}\, \right)$, the dimension of the space of global sections of $O\left( t \right)$, and let $k$ be an integer satisfying $0\,\le \,k\,\le \,N\,-\,\left( 2n\,+\,2 \right)$. Let ${{P}_{1}},\ldots ,{{P}_{k}}$ be general points on ${{\mathbf{P}}^{n}}$ and let $\pi :\,X\,\to \,{{\mathbf{P}}^{n}}$ be the blowing-up of ${{\mathbf{P}}^{n}}$ at those points. Let ${{E}_{i}}\,=\,{{\pi }^{-1}}\left( {{P}_{i}} \right)$ with $1\,\le \,i\,\le \,k$ be the exceptional divisor. Then $M={{\pi }^{*}}\left( O(t) \right)\,\otimes \,{{O}_{X}}\left( -{{E}_{1}}-\cdots -{{E}_{k}} \right)$ is a very ample invertible sheaf on $X$.

We characterize embeddability of algebraic varieties into smooth toric varieties and prevarieties. Our embedding results hold also in an equivariant context and thus generalize a well-known embedding theorem of Sumihiro on quasiprojective $G$-varieties. The main idea is to reduce the embedding problem to the affine case. This is done by constructing equivariant affine conoids, a tool which extends the concept of an equivariant affine cone over a projective $G$-variety to a more general framework.

We make precise the structure of the first two reduction morphisms associated with codimension two non-singular subvarieties of non-singular quadrics Qn, n ≥ 5. We give a coarse classification of the same class of subvarieties when they are assumed not to be of log-general-type.

We show that over a field k of characteristic zero an affine (n — 1)- space embedded as a closed subvariety in affine n-space and homogeneous for a codimension two linear torus action on is defined by the vanishing of a variable.