Curves on a ruled cubic surface (Q1429237)

The authors study the degeneration of a family of cubic surfaces \(\{S_t\}\) in the projective \(3\)-space, to a surface \(S_0\) which is a ruled cubic with a double line. In particular they study the possible limits of family of curves contained in the general surface \(S_t\). Describing the limit of the \(27\) lines on \(S_t\), they find a necessary condition for a curve \(C_0 \subset S_0\) to be a limit. As a consequence, it turns out that no smooth curve of degree \(\geq 11\) is a limit of curves on smooth cubics.