Homaloidal hypersurfaces and hypersurfaces with vanishing Hessian (Q936534)

A homaloidal hypersurface is a hypersurface in some complex projective space \(\mathbb{P}^r\) defined by a homogeneous equation \(f=0\) such that the partial derivatives of \(f\) induce a birational map \(\phi_f\) of \(\mathbb{P}^r\). The interest in such hypersurfaces, though a classical subject, was revived by \textit{I. V. Dolgachev} [Mich. Math. J. 48, Spec. Vol., 191--202 (2000; Zbl 1080.14511)] who classified these homaloidal hypersurfaces in the case \(r=2\), and by \textit{S. Papadima} and the reviewer [Ann. Math. (2) 158, No. 2, 473--507 (2003; Zbl 1068.32019)] who showed that the birationality condition on \(\phi_f\) can be expressed purely topologically. The authors show that for \(r>2\) there are homaloidal hypersurfaces of degree larger than \(r+1\), thus disproving a hope raised by Dolgachev's classification. Families of such hypersurfaces are constructed using duals to certain scroll surfaces. They also study the relations between homaloidal hypersurfaces and hypersurfaces with a vanishing Hessian. In particular they show that such a hypersurface cannot have isolated singularities when \(r>2\). The similar claim for the homaloidal hypersurfaces is an open conjecture by S. Papadima and the reviewer.