Threefolds with one apparent double point (Q330574)

Let \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^N\) be an irreducible complex projective variety of dimension \(n\), \(N \geq 2n+1\). Since the secant variety of \(X\) has dimension smaller than or equal to \(2n+1\), one can isomorphically project \(X\) to \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^{2n+1}\). If further isomorphic projections are possible then \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^{2n+1}\) is called \textit{secant defective}. The most simple non secant defective projective varieties are those with just one secant line through a general point on \(\mathbb{P}^{2n+1}\), called varieties with \textit{one apparent double point}, \(OADP\) varieties for simplicity. It is a classical problem that of classifying OADP varieties: there is a complete classification in dimension two and in the smooth case of dimension three (see the Introduction of the paper and references therein). The tangential projection from a general point of an OADP variety is birrational and its inverse contracts a hypersurface \(V \subset \mathbb{P}^n\) (\(V\) is called the \textit{fundamental hypersurface}) to the chosen point of projection. In fact, varieties whose general tangent projection is birational are known as \textit{Bronowski varieties} and conjecturally are just the OADP varieties. The paper under review deals with the study of OADP 3-varieties whose fundamental hypersurface is not a plane (in any dimension the case of \(V\) a hyperplane has been considered in [\textit{C. Ciliberto} and \textit{F. Russo}, Sci. China, Math. 54, No. 8, 1561--1575 (2011; Zbl 1246.14068)]). Since \(V\) is known to be a projection to \(\mathbb{P}^3\) of the Veronese quartic surface, then the different degrees of \(V\) are considered: the case \(V\) a quadric in Section 3, \(V\) a cubic in Section 4 and \(V\) a quartic in Section 5. In Thm. 2 the complete classification of normal Bronowski varieties of dimension 3, \(V\) a quadric, is presented, under the additional asssumption of minimality of the degree \(d\) (assumed by hypothesis to be \(5\)) of the linear system \(\mathcal{X}\) defining the inverse of the tangential projection. All of them are OADP varieties. In Thm. 3 a description of normal Bronowski 3-varieties with \(V\) a cubic, the same hypothesis on minimality of \(d\) (assumed to be \(7\)) and a further assumption on the base locus of \(\mathcal{X}\) is provided. They are all OADP varieties, too. Finally, when \(V\) is a quartic, the normal Bronowski \(3\)-variety (which is also an OADP variety, see Thm. 4) for a general configuration of the base locus of \(\mathcal{X}\) is described.