Related papers: Normal bundles of rational curves on complete inte…

Let G/Q be an homogeneous variety embedded in a projective space P thanks to an ample line bundle L. Take a projective space containing P and form the cone X over G/Q, we call this a cone over an homogeneous variety. Let $\alpha$ a class of…

Any smooth projective curve embeds into $\mathbb{P}^3$. More generally, any curve embeds into a rationally connected variety of dimension at least three. We prove conversely that if every curve embeds in a threefold $X$, then $X$ is…

We give necessary and sufficient topological conditions for a simple closed curve on a real rational surface to be approximable by smooth rational curves. We also study approximation by smooth rational curves with given complex…

We construct families of curves which provide counterexamples for a uniform boundedness question. These families generalize those studied previously by several authors. We show, in detail, what fails in the argument of Caporaso, Harris,…

We exhibit planar, rational curves of large degree over ${\mathbb F}_2$ that have a unique singular point, which has multiplicity 2. In characteristic 0 such curves exist only for degrees up to $6$. v.2: references updated and examples of…

We show that a smooth projective complex manifold of dimension greater than two endowed with an elliptic fiber space structure and with finite fundamental group always contains a rational curve, provided its canonical bundle is relatively…

Consider the Fano scheme $F_k(Y)$ parameterizing $k$-dimensional linear subspaces contained in a complete intersection $Y \subset \mathbb{P}^m$ of multi-degree $\underline{d} = (d_1, \ldots, d_s)$. It is known that, if $t := \sum_{i=1}^s…

Given a proper family of varieties over a smooth base, with smooth total space and general fibre, all over a finite field k with q elements, we show that a finiteness hypothesis on the Chow groups, CH_i, i=0,1,...,r, of the fibres in the…

It is well known that one can find a rational normal curve in $\mathbb P^n$ through $n+3$ general points. We prove a generalization of this to higher dimensional varieties, showing that smooth varieties of minimal degree can be interpolated…

We describe smooth rational projective algebraic surfaces X, over an algebraically closed field of characteristic different from 2, having an even set of four disjoint (-2)-curves N_1,...,N_4, i.e. such that N_1+...+N_4 is divisible by 2 in…

Let SU(r,d) be the moduli space of rank r, degree d vector bundles over a smooth projective curve of genus $g\ge 2$. If (r,d)=1 and d divides r+1, then SU is rational. Furthermore, if $0<\delta < r$ and all prime divisors of $\delta$ divide…

The problem of determining the splitting of the normal bundle of rational space curves has been considered in the 80s in a series of papers by Ghione and Sacchiero and by Eisenbud and Van de Ven. With our approach we are able to obtain…

Let $X\subset \mathbb {P}^r$ be an integral and non-degenerate variety. Set $n:= \dim (X)$. Let $\rho (X)''$ be the maximal integer such that every zero-dimensional scheme $Z\subset X$ smoothable in $X$ is linearly independent. We prove…

A new proof of the mirror conjecture for Fano and Calabi-Yau complete intersections in P^n is given, using only the circle action on the graph space. The proof applies to projective bundles as well, with applications to "linear" relative…

Let $X$ be a smooth projective variety over the complex numbers. One knows by the Cone Theorem that the closed cone of curves of $X$ is rational polyhedral whenever $c_1(X)$ is ample. For varieties $X$ such that $c_1(X)$ is not ample,…

Let U be an open subset of a unirational variety (or more generally of a separably rationally connected variety). We prove that there is rational curve C in U such that the fundamental group of C surjects onto the fundamental group of U.…

We show that if f: X --> Y is a finite, separable morphism of smooth curves defined over a finite field F_q, where q is larger than an explicit constant depending only on the degree of f and the genus of X, then f maps X(F_q) surjectively…

We show that complex Fano hypersurfaces can have arbitrarily large degrees of irrationality. More precisely, if we fix a Fano index e, then the degree of irrationality of a very general complex Fano hypersurface of index e and dimension n…

We study families of scrolls containing a given rational curve and families of rational curves contained in a fixed scroll via a stratification in terms of the degree of the induced map onto P^1 and we prove that there is no rational normal…

For $X$ a smooth cubic threefold we study the Pl\"ucker embedding of the Fano surface of lines $S$ of $X$. We prove that if $X$ is general then the minimal gonality of a covering family of curves of $S$ is four and that this happens for a…