New cubic fourfolds with odd-degree unirational parametrizations (Q2404127)

Let \(X\) be an \(n\)-dimensional complex projective variety; \(X\) is said to have a \textit{degree-\(\varrho\) unirational parametrization} if there exists a dominant rational map \(\rho: \mathbb P^n\dashrightarrow X\) such that \(\deg \rho = \varrho\). The paper under review studies the unirationality of the smooth cubic fourfolds \(X\subset \mathbb P^5\). Recall that \(\text{Hdg}^4(X,\mathbb Z):=H^4(X,\mathbb Z)\cap H^2(\omega_X^2)\) and that in that the (coarse) moduli space of cubic fourfolds \(\mathcal C\) the Noether-Lefschetz locus \(\{X\in \mathcal C \mid \text{rk} (\text{Hdg}^4(X,\mathbb Z))\geq 2\}\) is a countably infinite union of irreducile divisors \(\mathcal C_d\) with \(d\geq 8\), \(d\equiv 0,2\) (mod \(6\)), where \(\mathcal C_d\) is formed by the \textit{special cubic fourfolds} that admit a rank-\(2\) saturated sublattice of discriminant \(d\) in \(\text{Hdg}^4(X,\mathbb Z)\) (see [\textit{B. Hassett}, Compos. Math. 120, No. 1, 1--23 (2000; Zbl 0956.14031)] for more details). Because it is easy to see that every cubic fourfold has a unirational parametrization of degree \(2\) (see Example 18.19 of [\textit{J. Harris}, Algebraic geometry. A first course. Berlin etc.: Springer-Verlag (1992; Zbl 0779.14001)]), it is natural to ask if one can find an odd-degree unirational parametrization. Indeed, for a general \(X\) and for \(d=14,18,26,30,38\) the answer is positive (examples of [\textit{H. Nuer}, Lect. Notes Math. 2172, 161--167 (2016; Zbl 1371.14052)] combined with an algorithm by Hassett: see Proposition 38 of [\textit{B. Hassett}, Lect. Notes Math. 2172, 29--66 (2016; Zbl 1454.14111)]). In this paper, the author improve the list by showing that a general \(X\in \mathcal C_{42}\) has a degree-\(13\) unirational parametrization. Moreover, he proves that \(\mathcal C_{42}\) is \textit{uniruled}, i.e. there exists a variety \(Z\) and a dominant rational map \(Z\times \mathbb P^1\dashrightarrow X\) which does not factor through the projection to \(Z\).