Normal bundles of rational curves in projective spaces (Q929270)

The author studies the splitting type of the normal bundle \(N_{C/\mathbb{P}^n}\) of a general rational curve \(C\) with one or two components in \(\mathbb P^n\). In particular, he shows that \(N_{C/\mathbb{P}^n}\) is \textit{almost balanced}, i. e. \(N_{C/\mathbb{P}^n}\cong\bigoplus_{i=1}^{n-1}\mathcal O_C(k_i)\), \(k_1\geq k_2\geq\cdots\geq k_{n-1}\) with \(k_1-k_{n-1}\leq1\), if the degrees of the components of \(C\) are high enough. Then, he considers general incidence pencils of rational curves: if \((d,n)\), \(d=\deg{C}\), is a perfect pair in the sense that \({2d-2\equiv0\pmod{(n-1)}}\), then a general \(C\) is balanced in the sense that \(k_1=k_{n-1}\). In this case, jumping of the splitting type of \(N_{C/\mathbb{P}^n}\) occurs in codimension one, and the author derives an enumerative formula for the number of normally jumping curves (with multiplicities) in a general pencil \(B\).