Fundamental divisors on Fano varieties of index \(n - 3\) (Q1938038)

Let \(X\) be a Fano variety, that is a normal complex projective variety of dimension \(n\) with at most canonical singularities such that the anticanonical divisor \(-K_X\) is Cartier and ample. The Fano index \(i(X)\) is defined as the largest positive integer \(t\) such that there exists a Cartier divisor \(H\) satisfying \(-K_X \sim t H\). The unique Cartier divisor class \(H\) realising \(-K_X \sim i(X) H\) is called the fundamental divisor of \(X\), it plays an important role in the study of Fano varieties of high index (cf. [\textit{M. C. Beltrametti} and \textit{A. J. Sommese}, The adjunction theory of complex projective varieties. De Gruyter Expositions in Mathematics. 16. Berlin: de Gruyter. (1995; Zbl 0845.14003)]; \textit{S. Mukai} [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86, No. 9, 3000--3002 (1989; Zbl 0679.14020)]). The aim of the paper under review is to study the fundamental divisor of Fano varieties of index \(n-3\). The first result says that if the linear system \(|H|\) is not empty, then a general divisor \(Y \in |H|\) has at most canonical singularities. The second result concerns the dimension of the space of global sections \(H^0(X, H)\). The author proves that \(h^0(X, H) \geq n-2\) for every smooth \(X\) of dimension \(n\) unless (maybe) \(n=6,7\). These theorems generalise the analogous result for Fano fourfolds by \textit{Y. Kawamata} [Asian J. Math. 4, No. 1, 173--181 (2000; Zbl 1060.14505)]. The proof consists on the one hand of a Riemann-Roch computation combined with stability results for the tangent bundle, on the other hand of an extension of global sections from certain log-canonical centres. As an application one obtains a generalisation of a result by the reviewer and \textit{C. Voisin} [Pure Appl. Math. Q. 7, No. 4, 1371--1393 (2011; Zbl 1316.14022)]: if \(X\) is a smooth Fano manifold of dimension \(n>7\) and index \(n-3\), the group \(H^{2n-2}(X, \mathbb Z)\) is generated over \(\mathbb Z\) by classes of curves.