Curves of degree \(r+2\) in \(\mathbb{P}^r\): Cohomological, geometric, and homological aspects (Q5945127)

It is well-known that the degree and the codimension of a non-degenerate projective variety \(X\) satisfy the inequality: \(\deg (X)\geq \operatorname {codim}(X)+1\). The classification of varieties of minimal degrees has been known for a long time. If \(\deg (X)= \operatorname {codim}(X)+2\), a study of \(X\) from the homological point of view is performed in a paper by \textit{Le Tuan Hoa, J. Stückrad} and \textit{W. Vogel} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 71, 203-231 (1991; Zbl 0749.14032)], but a geometric description has been provided only for smooth curves and surfaces. In the paper under review, the authors study the curves \(X\) with \(\deg(X)= \operatorname {codim}(X)+3\), contained in \({\mathbb P}^r\) with \(r\geq 3\). The approach is cohomological, i.e. they first classify all possible Hartshorne-Rao modules of these curves: It results that there are four different types, plus an additional type which appears only for \(r=3\). Then they study each type, obtaining the following possibilities for \(X\): It is an embedding of an arbitrary smooth curve of genus 2, or a projection of an elliptic normal curve from a point, or a projection of a rational normal curve from a line. Finally the possible minimal free resolutions of the homogeneous coordinate ring of \(X\) are studied.