Cartan-Fubini type rigidity of double covering morphisms of quadratic manifolds (Q265523)

Let \(Z\) be a Fano manifold with Picard number \(1\) and index \(i(Z) \geq 3\). For a generic point \(y \in Z\) one defines the \textit{normalized space \(\mathcal{K}_y\) of minimal rational curves through \(y\)} (see [\textit{J. Kollár}, Rational curves on algebraic varieties. Berlin: Springer-Verlag (1995; Zbl 0877.14012)]). It parameterizes all rational curves on \(Z\) which pass through \(y\) and have minimal intersection index with \(-K_Z\). General such curve is smooth at \(y\) and one obtains a rational map \(\tau_y: \mathcal{K}_y \dashrightarrow \mathbb{P}T_y(Z)\) sending a given rational curve to its tangent at \(y\). The map \(\tau_y\) is known to be birational (see e.g. [\textit{J.-M. Hwang} and \textit{N. Mok}, Asian J. Math. 8, No. 1, 51--64 (2004; Zbl 1072.14015)]) and the closure \(\mathcal{C}_y\) of \(\tau_y\) is called the \textit{variety of minimal rational tangents} at \(y\). Let further the generator of \(\mathrm{Pic}(Z)\) be very ample and for the corresponding embedding \(Z \subset \mathbb{P}^N\) variety \(Z\) be covered by lines (so that in particular \(\mathcal{C}_y \neq \emptyset\) for all \(y\)). In the paper under review, the author studies double covers \(\phi: X^Z \longrightarrow Z\) ramified in smooth section of \(Z\) by a hypersurface \(Y\) of degree \(2m, 1 \leq m \leq i(Z) - 2\), for which she proves the following (see Theorem 1.1 in the text). If \(x \in X^Z\) is a generic point, then \(\mathcal{C}_x\) is smooth of dimension \(i(Z) - m - 2\), and the differential \(d\phi_x: \mathbb{P}T_x(X^Z) \longrightarrow \mathbb{P}T_{\phi(x)}(Z)\) maps \(\mathcal{C}_x\) isomorphically onto an intersection of \(\mathcal{C}_{\phi(x)}\) and \(m\) hypersurfaces of degrees \(m+1,\ldots,2m\). The main result is proved in Sections \(3\) and \(4\) (after some preliminaries in Section \(2\)). There the author proves that the image \(d\phi_x(\mathcal{C}_x)\) parameterizes such lines on \(Z\) which have all even local intersection indices with ramification divisor of \(\phi\) (cf. Proposition 4.2). The proof then follows, for generic \(Y\), essentially from \textit{J.-M. Hwang} and \textit{H. Kim} [Math. Z. 275, No. 1--2, 109--125 (2013; Zbl 1282.14070)], whereas the case of arbitrary \(Y\) as above is deduced by simple deformation argument. In conclusion, the author also considers the so-called \textit{CR-rigidity} of \(\phi\), after [\textit{J.-M. Hwang} and \textit{N. Mok}, J. Math. Pures Appl. (9) 80, No. 6, 563--575 (2001; Zbl 1033.32013)], and establishes it in some special cases (cf. Theorem 1.4).