Codimension one foliations of degree three on projective spaces (Q2071452)

The goal of the present work is to study the irreducible components of the space of (codimension one) degree \(3\) foliations on the projective space, \(\mathbb{F}\mathrm{ol}(3,\mathbb{P}^n)\). The study of irreducible components of the space of foliations has had a lot of activity after Joanoulou [\textit{J. P. Jouanolou}, Equations de Pfaff algébriques. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1979; Zbl 0477.58002)]. The first result of the present paper (Theorem A) is a precise structure theorem for codimension one foliations of degree three on \(\mathbb{P}^n\), generalizing the previous result of \textit{ F. Loray} et al. [Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, Cl. Sci. 5 (21) 1315--1331 (2020; Zbl 1477.32040)] where the case \(n=3\) was established: If \(\mathcal{F}\) is a codimension one foliation on \(\mathbb{P}^n\), \(n\geq 3\), of degree three then either \(\mathcal{F}\) is defined by a closed rational \(1\)-form without codimension one zeros, or there exists an algebraically integrable codimension two foliation of degree one tangent to \(\mathcal{F}\), or \(\mathcal{F}\) is a linear pull-back of a degree three foliation on \(\mathbb{P}^2\), or \(\mathcal{F}\) admits a rational first integral. The proof can be found in Chapter \(6\). Chapters \(3\) and \(4\) are devoted to study logarithmic foliations and foliations tangent to multiplicative actions respectively and previously unknow irreducible components of \(\mathbb{F}\mathrm{ol}(3, \mathbb{P}^3)\) are presented. In chapter \(5\) foliations tangent to additive actions are studied and it is proven that the only component of this form of \(\mathbb{F}\mathrm{ol}(3, \mathbb{P}^3)\) is the linear pull-back component. Using the results of these chapters, Theorem A and Theorem 6.2 of Loray [loc.cit.] the second goal of the paper is achieved (Theorem B). It gives a precise description of components of \(\mathbb{F}\mathrm{ol}(3, \mathbb{P}^n)\), \(n\geq 3\), whose general elements do not admit rational first integrals. In particular it is proved that \(\mathbb{F}\mathrm{ol}(3,\mathbb{P}^n)\) has exactly \(18\) distinct components whose general elements correspond to foliations which do not admit a rational first integral. Also, by computing the Zariski tangent space at the general element of each one of these components, it is verified that \(6\) of them are generically non-reduced, given the first examples of this kind of components. On the other hand, a complete classification of the components of the space of foliations is not obtained, but it is proven a partial result: The space of codimension one foliations of degree three on \(\mathbb{P}^n\), \(n\geq 3\), has at least \(24\) distinct irreducible components. This is Theorem C. The last section of the paper presents some open problems about the components of the space of folations and one conjecture about the smoothness of this space.