Rational quartic symmetroids (Q2301367)

A \textit{quartic symmetroid} is a degree \(4\) surface \(X\subset\mathbb{P}^3\) given by an equation of the form \(\det A(x)=0\), where \(A(x)=A_0x_0+\ldots+A_3x_3\) is a symmetric matrix with linear entries. The \textit{rank\/} of a point \(x\in X\) is that of \(A(x)\). A generic quartic symmetroid is a \(K3\)-surface with ten nodes, all of rank \(2\). The author attempts a classification of quartic symmetroids \(X\) assuming that \(X\) is rational. He establishes that \(X\) must have either \((1)\) a line of singular rank \(3\) points, or \((2)\) a line of singular rank \(2\) points, or \((3)\) a smooth conic of singular points, or \((4)\) a singularity adjacent to \(T_8\) (a triple point), or \((5)\) a singularity adjacent to \(X_9\) (tacnode in the terminology of the paper). The dimension of each family and a description of a generic member (the number of isolated extra nodes) is also given.