Singular locus of ruled rational surfaces (Q1849685)

Consider the Grassmannian variety \({\mathbb G}\) of the lines in \({\mathbb P}^3\) and the schema \({\text{Mor}}_{d}({\mathbb P}^{1},{\mathbb G})\) of morphisms of degree \(d\) from \({\mathbb P}^1\) to \({\mathbb G}\). In an earlier paper [Ann. Inst. Fourier 52, No. 1, 105--132 (2002; Zbl 1037.14021)], the author proved that \({\text{Mor}}_{d}({\mathbb P}^{1},{\mathbb G})\) is a smooth and irreducible variety of dimension \(4d+4\). Moreover \({\text{Mor}}_{d}({\mathbb P}^{1},{\mathbb G})\) is equipped with an action of \({\text{ PGL}}_{2}\) and \({\text{ PO}}(q)\), where \(q\) is the quadratic form which defines \({\mathbb G}\) in the projective space \({\mathbb P}^5\). If \( f \in {\text{Mor}}_{d}({\mathbb P}^{1},{\mathbb G})\), then the image \(f({\mathbb P}^1)\) defines a ruled parametrized rational surface \(F\) in the projective space \({\mathbb P}^3\). The abstract singular locus of the surface \(F\) is defined as the subvariety \(\Psi(f)\) of the projective plane \(S^{2}{\mathbb P}^1\) corresponding to the pairs of rulings of \(F\) which have non empty intersection. The aim of the author is to study the following problem: is a ruled parametrized rational surface determined by its abstract singular locus? From now on, let \(d \geq 3\). If the surface (or its dual) is a cone, then the abstract singular locus \(\Psi(f)\) coincides with \(S^{2}{\mathbb P}^1\). In order to avoid these cases, consider the open subset \(\mathbf{R}_{d}\) of \({\text{Mor}}_{d}({\mathbb P}^{1},{\mathbb G})\) of morphisms \(f\) such that \(f({\mathbb P}^1)\) is not contained in a totally isotropic plane of the quadratic form \(q\). The author proves the following: If \( f \in {\text{Mor}}_{d}({\mathbb P}^{1},{\mathbb G})\), then the schema \(\Psi(f)\) is a curve if and only if \(f\) is in \(\mathbf{R}_{d}\). This curve has degree \(d-2\). The map \(\Psi\) so defined on \(\mathbf{R}_{d}\) is \({\text{PO}}(q)\)-invariant and takes values in the variety of degree \(d-2\) curves in \(S^{2}{\mathbb P}^1\). The author answers the above problem, proving that, for \(d \geq 3\), the morphism \(\Psi\) is generically injective modulo automorphisms of \({\mathbb P}^3\) and duality: the general fiber of \(\Psi\) is an \(\text{PO}(q)\)-orbit. Furthermore, if \(d \geq 5\), the general fiber is isomorphic to the group \(\text{PO}(q)\). In the second part of the paper, it is proved that if \(d \geq 6\), the image of the morphism \(\Psi\) is irreducible and normal of dimension \(4d-11\), regular in codimension \(d-5\). If \(d\) is even, the author is able to prove that the image of \(\Psi\) is rational.