Segre-Veronese embeddings of \(\mathbb P^1\times\mathbb P^1\times\mathbb P^1\) and their secant varieties (Q2642838)

For all positive integers \((a,b,c)\) consider the image \(X\) of \(\mathbb {P}^1\times \mathbb {P}^1\times \mathbb {P}^1\) into \(\mathbb {P}^N\), \(N:= (a+1)(b+1)(c+1)-1\). Here the authors prove that the \(s\)-th secant variety of \(X\) has the expected dimension, unless either \((a,b,c;s) = (2,2,2;7)\) or \((a,b,c;s) = (2h,1,1;2h+1)\), \(h\) an integer. In these exceptional cases the \(s\)-secant variety has dimension one less of the expected one. To prove this theorem the authors use Terracini's lemma to reduce it to the control of the cohomology of certain zero-dimensional subscheme. This result is motivated by questions arising in representation theory, coding theory and algebraic complexity theory [see \textit{M. V. Catalisano}, \textit{A. V. Geramita} and \textit{A. Gimigliano}, Linear Algebra Appl. 355, No. 1--3, 263--385 (2002; Zbl 1059.14061)]. There is a general classification of all defective threefolds [\textit{L. Chiantini} and \textit{C. Ciliberto}, in: Projective Varieties with unexpected properties, 131--176, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter (2005; Zbl 1100.14044)], but it seems very hard to extract from the general classification the particular, but important, case solved here.