Smooth curves specialize to extremal curves (Q2255285)

\textit{R. Hartshorne} [Inst. Hautes Études Sci. Publ. Math. 29, 5--48 (1966; Zbl 0171.41502)] proved that the full Hilbert scheme associated to a polynomial is connected when non-empty, but the connectedness problem for Hilbert schemes \(H_{d,g}\) of locally Cohen-Macaulay space curves of degree \(d\) and arithmetic genus \(g\) has stood open for more than 15 years. The reviewer showed that \(H_{d,g}\) is connected for \(d=3\) [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 30, 367--384 (1997; Zbl 0892.14004)] and later with \textit{E. Schlesinger} [Compos. Math. 139, No. 2, 169--196 (2003; Zbl 1053.14035)] obtained the same result for \(d=4\). A typical strategy consists in deformation to the extremal curves studied by \textit{M. Martin-Deschamps} and \textit{D. Perrin}: such curves \(C\) maximize the Rao function \(\rho (n) = h^1({\mathcal I}_C (n))\) for all \(n\) [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 317, No. 12, 1159--1162 (1993; Zbl 0796.14029)] and form an irreducible component \(E \subset H_{d,g}\) [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 29, No. 6, 757--785 (1996; Zbl 0892.14005)]. \textit{R. Hartshorne} [Commun. Algebra 28, No. 12, 6059--6077 (2000; Zbl 0994.14002)] has shown that many classes of curves deform to extremal curves. Here the authors prove that an irreducible component \(V \subset H_{d,g}\) contains an extremal curve if and only if for the general curve \(C \in V\) there is a point \(p \not \in C\) such that (a) every line \(L\) containing \(p\) satisfies \(\deg (C \cap L) \leq 2\) with equality for at most finitely many \(L\) and (b) if \(p \in L\) is a line with \(\deg (C \cap L) = 2\), then there is a plane \(L \subset H\) such that the divisor \(2L \subset H\) satisfies \(\deg (2L \cap C) \leq 3\). The method of proof, which appeared in earlier work of \textit{P. Lella} and \textit{E. Schlesinger} [Collect. Math. 64, No. 3, 363--372 (2013; Zbl 1282.14009)], is to show that \(C\) lies on a surface with equation of the form \(xG - y^{d-1}F\) with \(G, F\) forms in \(k[z,w]\) and that the limit of the curve under a weighted automorphism of \(\mathbb P^3\) is an extremal curve supported on the line \(x=y=0\).