Isotrivial VMRT-structures of complete intersection type (Q1642925)

On a uniruled projective complex manifold \(X^n\), a VMRT-structure \(C \subset \mathbb{P}TX\) is the Zariski closure of the collection of tangent lines of all deformations of a given minimal degree rational curve. The problem addressed in this paper is whether a VMRT-structure is \textit{locally flat}, i.e. admits, near a generic point, coordinates in which the VMRT is invariant under translation. If this happens, then the VMRT has generic fibers \(C_x=C \cap \mathbb{P}T_x X\) isomorphic to one another as projective varieties. A \(Z\)-VMRT, for some projective variety \(Z \subset \mathbb{P}^{n-1}\), is one for which every \(C_x\) is carried to \(Z\) by some projective transformation \(\mathbb{P}T_x X \cong \mathbb{P}^{n-1}\). The main theorem: if \(Z\) is smooth, nondegenerate, and a complete intersection, then (except for certain possible choices of \(Z\) made explicit in the paper), every \(Z\)-VMRT is locally flat. The authors conjecture that the result continues to hold for some of those exceptions, but they give explicit counterexamples for certain \(Z\): general hyperplane sections of (a) spin varieties or (b) Lagrangian Grassmannians, of high enough dimension. The proofs use Cartan's approach to differential geometry, adapting connections to the VMRT, and some new results on cohomological invariants of complete intersection projective varieties.