The moduli space of hypersurfaces whose singular locus has high dimension (Q2512959)

The author considers hypersurfaces of degree \(l\) in \(n\)-dimensional projective space \(\mathbb{P}^n\), \(n \geq 3\) over an algebraically closed field \(k\) whose singular locus is at least of dimension \(b\) with \(1 \leq b \leq n-1\). The main result states that for sufficiently large degree \(l\) the moduli space of these surfaces contains a unique irreducible component of maximal dimension, consisting of those hypersurfaces that are singular along a \(b\)-dimensional projective subspace of \(\mathbb{P}^n\). The minimal degree depends on \(n\), \(b\) and the characteristic of the field \(k\). The author conjectures that the statement is actually true for any degree \(l \geq 2\). Under the additional assumption that \(k\) is of positive characteristic, the author also shows that, for \(l\) sufficiently large, there exists a unique irreducible component of second largest dimension, consisting of those hypersurfaces that are singular along a \(b\)-dimensional quadric. While the author's proof fails in characteristic zero, the statement may still be true.