Nodal surfaces with obstructed deformations (Q1678556)

Let \(V_{d,s}\subset \mathbb P^{N}\) denote the locally closed subvariety parameterizing the nodal hypersurfaces in \(\mathbb P^3\) of degree \(d\) having exactly \(s\) nodes, where \(N=\binom{d+3}{3}-1\). In his article [Ann. Univ. Ferrara, Sez. VII, Sci. Mat. 63, No. 1, 87--101 (2017; Zbl 1371.14012)], \textit{A. Dimca} proved that if \(5\leq d \leq 7\) and \(V_{d,s}\neq \emptyset\), then \(V_{d,s}\) is smooth and has dimension \(N-s\). In the article under review, using different techniques, the author proves this result and that \(V_{d,s}\) is smooth and has dimension \(N-s\) if \(d\geq 8\) and \(s\leq 4d-5\). The author also shows that the bound \(4d-5\) is sharp by giving explicit examples of nodal surfaces with \(s=4d-4\).