Projective subvarieties having large Green-Lazarsfeld index (Q427755)

Let \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^{n+c}\) denote a nondegenerate projective irreducible variety of degree \(d\) and codimension \(c \geq 1\). \(X\) satisfies condition \(N_{2,p}\) provided if \(\mathcal{I}_X\), the defining ideal of \(X\), is generated by quadrics and the syzygies are linearly generated until the \((p-1)\)-th step. The Green-Lazarsfeld index \(\text{ind} (X)\) is defined as the largest integer \(p\) such that \(X\) satisfies the condition \(N_{2,p}\). It is known (see \textit{D. Eisenbud} et al. [Compos. Math. 141, No. 6, 1460--1478 (2005; Zbl 1086.14044)] and \textit{Han} and \textit{Kwak} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 364, No. 11, 5791--5812 (2012)]) that \(d = c+1\) if and only if \(\text{ind} (X) \geq c\), and \(X\) is a del Pezzo variety if and only if \(\text{ind} (X) = c-1\). By virtue of these results this article is devoted to the following problem: For each \(k \geq 2\) and \(c > k\), classify projective varieties \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^{n+c}\) of codimension \(c\) such that \(\text{ind}(X) = c-k\). The author investigates the cases of \(k =2\) and \(k = 3\). The main results are the following: (1) Let \(c \geq 3\). Then \(\text{ind} (X) = c-2\) if and only if either \(X\) is a complete intersection of three quadrics or \(d = c+3\) and \(X\) is arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay. (2) Let \(c \geq 4\) and \(d = c+2\) (i.e. \(X\) is of almost minimal degree). Then \(\text{ind} (X) = c-3\) if and only \(X\) is a divisor of a cone \(Y\) over the rational normal surface scroll \(S(2,2) \subset \mathbb{P}^5\), linearly equivalent to \(H + 2F\), where \(H\) is a hyperplane section anf \(F\) is a ruling of \(Y\). Moreover for the case of smooth complex projective surfaces \(S \subset \mathbb{P}^{2+c}, c \geq 4,\) such that \(\text{index} S = c-3\) there is a classification by a complete list of 11 samples.