Conic bundles in projective fourspace (Q4260733)

The paper classifies smooth conic bundles \(S\) in \({\mathbb{P}}^4\). The conic bundle \(S\) is a smooth surface \(S\) with a map to a curve \(C\) with fibres conics embedded in \({\mathbb{P}}^4\). The conic bundle is rational or elliptic according as \(C\) is of genus \(0\) or \(1\). {Theorem}. A smooth conic bundle in \({\mathbb{P}}^4\) is either rational and has degree \(4\) or \(5\), or it is elliptic and has degree \(8\). The rational conic bundles are well-known as Del Pezzo surfaces and Castelnuovo surfaces. The existence of elliptic conic bundles was proved recently by \textit{H. Abo, W. Decker} and \textit{N. Sasakura} [Math. Z. 229, No.~4, 725-741 (1998)]. A different proof of the theorem has been given by \textit{P. Ellia} and \textit{G. Sacchiero} [in: Algebraic geometry, Pap. EUROPROJ Conf., Catania 1993 and Barcelona 1994, Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math. 200, 49-62 (1998; Zbl 0940.14025)]. The authors combine the ideas of Ellia and Sacchiero with some of their results to give a new proof. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0913.00031].