On the Debarre-de Jong and Beheshti-Starr conjectures on hypersurfaces with too many lines (Q621291)

Let \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^n\) be a projective hypersurface of degree \(d\) over a closed field of characteristic zero. It was conjectured by Debarre and de Jong that if \(X\) is smooth and \(d \leq n\) then the Fano scheme of lines on \(X\) must have its expected dimension, say \(2n-d-3\). The paper under review proposes a more general conjecture which implies the previous one (just considering hyperplane sections in the case \(d=n\)): if \(d \geq n\) and an irreducible component of the family of lines on \(X\) of dimension \(\geq n-2\) is considered then by any point in the locus of this family it passes a line of the family meeting the singular locus of \(X\). This conjecture also implies a special case of a conjecture of Beheshti and Starr about linear spaces on hypersurfaces. The paper under review shows that the proposed conjecture reduces to determining if the intersection of the top Chern classes of certain vector bundles over the cone swept out by lines by a point is nonzero. The study of certain positive properties of these vector bundles allows the authors to prove their conjecture in some special situations. Some interesting examples are also provided.