No label defined (Q4261122)

A classical problem of Halphen asks for the maximum genus \(G(d,s)\) of a reduced, irreducible curve \(C\) in \(\mathbb{P}^{3}\) of degree \(d\), not lying on a surface of degree \(< s\). This problem has received a great deal of attention over the years. A related problem is to compute \(G(d,s,\sigma)\), the maximum genus of a curve of degree \(d\) not lying on a surface of degree \(<s\) and such that the general hyperplane section does not lie on a plane curve of degree \(< \sigma\). It is clear that \(G(d,s,\sigma) \leq G(d,s)\) and that without loss of generality we may assume that \(\sigma \leq s\). The question considered in this paper is the following: Fixing \(s\) and \(\sigma\), for which \(d\) do we have \(G(d,s,\sigma) = G(d,s)\) and for which \(d\) is \(G(d,s,\sigma) < G(d,s)\)? This is solved for the cases \(s-1 \leq \sigma \leq s\). The main results are: (A) \(G(d,s,s) = G(d,s)\) if and only if \(d \geq s^2-2s+3\), which is achieved (for any \(d\)) precisely by the arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay curves of degree \(d\) with maximal Hilbert function; and (B) \(G(d,s,s-1) = G(d,s)\) if and only if \(d \geq s^2-6s+15\). A broad range of tools are used to obtain these results.