Surfaces containing a family of plane curves not forming a fibration (Q1944722)

The classification of the smooth non-degenerate surfaces in \(\mathbb P^4\) containing a \(1\)-dimensional family of plane curves has been completed in [\textit{V. Beorchia} and \textit{G. Sacchiero}, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 213, No. 9, 1750--1755 (2009; Zbl 1166.14025)]. Here the author considers the analogous problem in \(\mathbb P^N\), for \(N\geq 5\) and obtains the complete classification. The main result is that, if \(X\) is a smooth non-degenerate linearly normal surface in \(\mathbb P^N\), \(N\geq 4\), swept out by a family of plane curves not forming a fibration, then it belongs to one of the following classes: (i) \(X\) is contained in a rational normal scroll \(S_{0,a,b}\) in \(\mathbb P^N\), \(N=a+b+2\), with \(a=0,1\); (ii) \(X\subset \mathbb P^5\) is the second symmetric power of a plane curve, naturally embedded in the secant variety of the Veronese surface; (iii) \(X\) is an elliptic scroll in \(\mathbb P^4\) or \(\mathbb P^5\). The proof relies on the classical theorem of Ugo Morin on families of pairwise incident planes. As a corollary, the author gives a characterization of the manifolds containing a \(1\)-dimensional family of hypersurfaces not forming a fibration. Also a few other related consequences of Morin's work on families of intersecting spaces are described.