On the Rao modules of minimal curves in \({\mathbb{P}^N}\) (Q2655544)

The paper investigates the Hartshorne-Rao modules \(M_C\) of a class of minimal curves (in their even liaison class) in \(\mathbb{P}^N, N \geq 4\), i.e. curves with the following property: in the same liaison class there is no other curve whose Hartshorne-Rao module is shifted on the left with respect to \(M_C\). The paper considers minimal curves lying on a smooth rational normal scroll surface \(S_e \,(e \geq 1)\) of degree \(e+2\) embedded via the divisor \(C_0+(e+1)L\) as an arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay surface of minimal degree in \(\mathbb{P}^{e+3}\), \(C_0,L\) being lines. The main result of the paper is the description of a free resolution of the Hartshorne-Rao module of a minimal curve \(C \cong aC_0+rL, 0 \leq r \leq e\) on the scroll \(S_1\), with an application to the Betti numbers of \(M_C\).