Smooth divisors of projective hypersurfaces
Philippe Ellia
Università di Ferrara, ItalyDavide Franco
Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, ItalyLaurent Gruson
Université de Versailles-Saint Quentin en Yvelines, France

Abstract
Let X n ⊂ ℙ be a smooth codimension 2 subvariety. We first prove a “positivity lemma” (Lemma 1.1) which is a direct application of the positivity of NX (−1). Then we first derive two consequences:
- Roughly speaking the family of “biliaison classes” of smooth subvarieties of ℙ5 lying on a hypersurface of degree s is limited.
- The family of smooth codimension 2 subvarieties of ℙ6 lying on a hypersurface of degree s is limited.
The result in 1) is not effective, but 2) is. Then we obtain precise inequalities connecting the usual numerical invariants of a smooth subcanonical subvariety X ⊂ ℙn, n ≥ 5 (the degree d, the integer e such that ΩX ⋍ OX (e), the least degree, s, of a hypersurface containing X ). In particular we prove: s ≥ n + 1 if X is not a complete intersection.
Cite this article
Philippe Ellia, Davide Franco, Laurent Gruson, Smooth divisors of projective hypersurfaces. Comment. Math. Helv. 83 (2008), no. 2, pp. 371–385
DOI 10.4171/CMH/128