On the Behrend function and the blowup of some fat points

Not much is known about the geometric properties of the punctual Hilbert scheme of fat points of length n supported at the origin of the affine plane A^2. In order to investigate them, a huge number of invariants, for fat points, has been introduced (e.g. multiplicity, order, type, blowup tree...). I will focus on the Behrend number v_Z of a fat point Z in A^2. Such invariant can be defined in terms of the blowup of the affine plane with center the subscheme Z. I will discuss the problem of computing the Behrend number of a monomial fat point following a joint work with Andrea T. Ricolfi. In particular, I will explain, first in the normal setting, how toric geometry methods apply in the construction of the blowup and in the computation of v_Z. Then, I will move to the non-normal setting, and I will show some examples of computation. Finally, if time permits, I will show some difficulties that arise in higher dimension.