Fano deformation rigidity of rational homogeneous spaces of submaximal Picard numbers (Q2163401)

A complex Fano manifold \(M\) is \textit{rigid under Fano deformation} (Fano rigid from now on) if any smooth connected family \(\pi: \chi \to Z\) of Fano manifolds, \(M=\pi^{-1}(z)\) is in fact an \(M\)-fibration; when non rigid, a fiber not biholomorphic to \(M\) is said a Fano degeneration of \(M\). When \(M=G/P\) (\(G\) semisimple algebraic group, \(P\subset G\) parabolic) is a rational homogeneous variety, several results on its Fano rigidity are known (see the Introduction of the paper under review and references therein): for Picard number one, the only non rigid rational homogeneous variety is that of lines in a \(5\)-dimensional quadric; for maximal Picard number (equal to the rank of \(G\)) no non-rigid rational homogeneous varieties exist. The paper under review deals with the question of the rigidity of rational homogeneous varietys in the next to extremal case (Picard number equal to rank of \(G\) minus one). The author proves (see Theorem 1.1) that for simple groups of type \(ADE\), all rational homogeneous varieties \(G/P\) whose Picard number is the rank of \(G\) minus one are rigid with two exceptions: the Flag of lines and planes in the \(3\)-dimensional projective space, and that of lines and planes in a \(6\)-dimensional quadric. Fano degenerations of these two exceptions are described.