Freeness versus maximal degree of the singular subscheme for surfaces in \(\mathbb {P}^3\) (Q303991)

Let \(D \subset \mathbb P^3\) be a reduced surface of degree \(d\) defined by a homogeneous polynomial \(f \in S = \mathbb C[x,y,z,w]_d\). Let \(J_f\) be the Jacobian ideal of \(f\), i.e., the ideal generated by the first order partial derivatives \(f_x, f_y,f_z,f_w\) of \(f\). The Milnor (or Jacobian) algebra is defined by \(M(f) = S/J_f\). Let \(\Sigma\) be the singular subscheme of \(D\), i.e. the scheme defined by \(J_f\). For their purposes, the authors assume without loss of generality that \(\dim \Sigma = 1\). The minimal degree of a Jacobian relation for \(f\), denoted \(\mathrm{mdr}(f)\), is defined to be the smallest integer \(q \geq 0\) such that there is a nontrivial relation \(a_1 f_x + a_2 f_y + a_3 f_z + a_4 f_w = 0,\) where the \(a_j\) are homogeneous polynomials of degree \(q\). The authors assume that \(\mathrm{mdf}(f) > 0\), i.e. that \(D\) is not a cone over a curve in \(\mathbb P^{2}\). \(D\) is said to be \textit{free} if \(M(f)\) is Cohen-Macaulay of dimension 2. \(D\) is \textit{almost free} if \(J_f\) is saturated but not Cohen-Macaulay and \(\dim M(f) = 2\). The main result is to show that a free surface in \(\mathbb P^3\) is characterized by the maximality of the degree of \(\Sigma\) (assuming an additional tameness condition). They also give characterizations of the nearly free tame surfaces. These results are extensions to \(\mathbb P^3\) of a result of \textit{A. A. Du Plessis} and \textit{C. T. C. Wall} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 126, No. 2, 259--266 (1999; Zbl 0926.14012)] for the \(\mathbb P^2\) case.