The Hilbert schemes of locally Cohen-Macaulay curves in \(\mathbb{P}^3\) may after all be connected (Q379974)

While connectedness of the full Hilbert scheme was proved long ago in Hartshorne's thesis [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 29, 5--48 (1966; Zbl 0171.41502)], connectedness of the Hilbert scheme \(H_{d,g}\) of locally Cohen-Macaulay curves of degree \(d\) and arithmetic genus \(g\) in \(\mathbb P^3\) remains an open problem. The extremal curves (those whose higher ideal sheaf cohomology has maximum dimensions) form an irreducible component \(E \subset H_{d,g}\) [\textit{M. Martin-Deschamps} and \textit{D. Perrin}, Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 29, No. 6, 757--785 (1996; Zbl 0892.14005)], so a natural strategy consists of trying to flatly deform given curves to an extremal curve. This strategy works for \(g \geq {{d-1}\choose{2}}-1\) [\textit{S. Nollet}, Commun. Algebra 28, No. 12, 5745--5747 (2000; Zbl 0991.14002) and \textit{I. Sabadini}, Matematiche 55, No. 2, 517--531 (2000, Zbl 1165.14311)] and \(d=3\) [\textit{S. Nollet}, Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 30, No. 3, 367--384 (1997; Zbl 0892.14004)], but fails for \(d=4\), though \(H_{4,g}\) turns out to be connected by other means [\textit{S. Nollet} and \textit{E. Schlesinger}, Compos. Math. 139, No. 2, 169--196 (2003; Zbl 1053.14035)]. Moreover, Koszul curves deform to extremal curves [\textit{D. Perrin}, Collect. Math. 52, No. 3, 295-319 (2001; Zbl 1074.14500)], as do smooth rational curves, ACM curves, smooth curves with \(d \geq g+3\) [\textit{R. Hartshorne}, Commun. Algebra 28, No. 12, 6059--6077 (2000; Zbl 0994.14002)]. In this last reference Hartshorne set out a challenge to prove or disprove it for families of \(d \geq 4\) skew lines on a smooth quadric surface. The paper under review rises to this challenge, exhibiting such a deformation. Their technique is interesting, consisting of two observations. Let \(C\) be a curve consisting of \(d\) disjoint general rulings on a smooth quadric surface \(Q\). Deforming to the initial ideal of \(C\) with respect to the standard weight vector results in a curve with embedded points, but the authors show that the initial ideal of \(C\) with respect to the non-standard weight vector \(\omega = (d,2,1,1)\) takes the form \[ (x^2,xy,y^{d-1},xG-y^{d-1}F) \] where \(x,y\) are linear and \(F,G\) are forms of respective degrees \({{d-2}\choose{2}}-g, {{d-1}\choose{2}}-g\). If the lines of \(C\) are sufficiently general, this defines a curve which remarkably has no embedded points; in fact it is an extremal curve of the same degree and genus as \(C\), thereby connecting this family to the extremal component.