Rational curves on hypersurfaces (Q5920126)

This article studies rational curves in a mildly singular hypersurface \(D\) of a projective variety \(X\) according to the negativity of the adjoint canonical class \(K_X+D\). If the pair \((X,D)\) has plt singularities, and if \(-(K_X+D)\) is ample, then by adjunction formula, we see that \(D\) is a log Fano variety, and hence is rationally connected. However, if we relax the ampleness condition just a little, the rational connectedness of \(D\) may fail. There are examples such that \(-(K_X+D)\) is big and semiample and that \(D\) is even not uniruled. This paper first shows the following result. If \((X,D)\) is plt, if \(K_X+D\) is not pseudoeffective, and if general fibers of the maximal rationally connected (MRC) fibration of \(X\) has dimension at least \(2\), then \(D\) is uniruled. The author then proposes the following question. If \((X,D)\) is plt, if \(-(K_X+D)\) is big and semiample, and if \(X\) is rationally connected, is then \(D\) also rationally connected? The paper gives a positive answer in the cases when \(X\) has dimension at most \(3\) or when \(X\) is a toric variety.