Inspired by very ampleness of Zariski geometries, we introduce and study the notion of a
very ample family of plane curves in any strongly minimal set and the corresponding
notion of a very ample strongly minimal set (characterized by the definability of such
a family). We show various basic properties; for example, any strongly minimal set
internal to an expansion of an algebraically closed field is very ample, and any
very ample strongly minimal set nonorthogonal to a strongly minimal set
is internal
to
. We
then use very ampleness to characterize the
full relics of an algebraically closed field
— those
structures
interpreted in
which recover all constructible subsets of powers of
. Next
we show that very ample strongly minimal sets admit very ample families of plane
curves of all dimensions, and we use this to characterize very ampleness in terms of
definable pseudoplanes. Finally, we show that nonlocally modular expansions of
divisible strongly minimal groups are very ample, and we deduce — answering
an old question of Martin (1988) — that in a pure algebraically closed
field there are no
reducts between
and
.
Dedicated to Boris Zilber, whose
far-reaching vision is a never ending source of
inspiration.