Small contractions of smooth varieties. (Q1880010)

The author considers surjective morphisms (called Fano-Mori contractions) \(f : X \rightarrow W\) such that \(-K_X\) is \(f\)-ample. Suppose that such \(f\) is defined by \(| m(K_X + rL)| \) with some \(f\)-ample \(L\), \(r > 0\) and \(m\gg 0\), so \(K_X + rL\) is called a good supporting divisor of \(f\). The fibre locus inequality of Ionescu and Wisniewski [\textit{J. A. Wiśniewski}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 417, 141--157 (1991; Zbl 0721.14023)] implies that \(\dim S' \geq r + \operatorname{codim} E(f) - 1\), where \(S'\) is irreducible and contained in a fibre. The border case of the inequality has been considered by \textit{M. Andreatta, E. Ballico} and \textit{J. A. Wisniewski} [Math. Ann. 297, 191--198 (1993; Zbl 0789.14011)] (so the normalization of \(S'\) must be a projective space). Here the author consider the case where \(\dim S' = r + \operatorname{codim} E(f)\). He proves that either the Fujita \(\Delta\)-genus of \((S, L| S)\) (with \(S \rightarrow S'\) the normalization) is zero or (this only occurs when \(S'\) has irrational singularities) \(S\) is singular with \({\mathbb P}^{s-1}\)-bundle over a smooth curve as a desingularization. The author further completely describes the small contractions supported by \(K_X + (n-4)L\) with smooth fibres and \(-K_X\) \(f\)-spanned (a short table for smooth fibres \(F\), and all \(F\) are projective spaces or hyperquadrics).