The genus of curves in \(\mathbb{P}^4\) and \(\mathbb{P}^5\) not contained in quadrics (Q6159175)

For fixed positive integers \(r,d,s\), Castelnuovo-Halphen theory gives a sharp upper bound on the arithmetic genus \(p_a (C)\) of non-degenerate integral curves \(C \subset \mathbb P^r\) of degree \(d\) which are not contained in a surface of degree \(< s\) [\textit{L. Chiantini} et al., Duke Math. J. 70, No. 2, 229--245 (1993; Zbl 0799.14011); \textit{J. Harris}, Curves in projective space. With the collaboration of David Eisenbud. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Les Presses de l'Universite de Montreal (1982; Zbl 0511.14014); \textit{L. Gruson} and \textit{C. Peskine}, Lect. Notes Math. 687, 31--59 (1978; Zbl 0412.14011)]. The paper under review addresses genus bounds on integral curves \(C \subset \mathbb P^r, r \geq 4\) which do not lie \textit{hypersurfaces} of degree \(2\) or \(3\). For integral curves \(C \subset \mathbb P^4_{\mathbb C}\) of degree \(d > 16\) not contained in a quadric hypersurface, the author proves that \(p_a (C) \leq \frac{1}{8} d(d-6)+1\) with equality if and only if \(d\) is even and \(C\) is contained in an isomorphic projection in \(\mathbb P^4\) of the Veronese surface in \(\mathbb P^5\). For \(d > 143\) odd, it is shown that \(p_a (C) \leq \frac{d^2}{10} - \frac{d}{2} - \frac{1}{10}(\epsilon - 4)(\epsilon + 1) + {\binom{\epsilon}{4}} + 1\) where \(\epsilon = (d-1) \mod 5\), so the asymptotic bound depends on the parity of \(d\). The latter bound also holds for ACM curves and is sharp by example. For integral curves \(C \subset \mathbb P^5\) of degree \(d > 215\), the author proves that \(p_a (C) \leq 6 {\binom{m}{2}}+m \epsilon\), where \(d-1 = 6m + \epsilon\) with \(0 \leq \epsilon \leq 4\). The extremal examples are necessarily not ACM, but contained in a flag \(S \subset T \subset \mathbb P^5\) where \(T\) is a cubic hypersurface and \(S\) is a degree \(6\) surface uniquely determined by \(C\) of sectional genus \(\pi = 0\). Sharp examples are constructed as projections of a general Castelnuovo curve in \(\mathbb P^7\). For integral curves in higher dimensional projective spaces \(\mathbb P^r, r>5\), the following sharp asymptotic results are given for curves not lying on quadric and cubic hypersurfaces. For \(r \geq 7\) and \(s\) an integer with \({\binom{r+2}{2}} = 3 (s+1)\) (thus \(r \not \equiv 0 \mod 3\)), let \(C \subset \mathbb P^r\) be an integral curve of degree \(d\) sufficiently large having maximal genus with respect to not lying on a quadric hypersurface. Then \(p_a (C) \leq \frac{d^2}{2s} - \frac{d}{2s} (s+2) + O (1)\) with \(0 < O (1) \leq \frac{s^3}{r-2}\), \(C\) is not ACM, and \(C\) is contained in a flag \(S \subset T \subset \mathbb P^r\) where \(T\) is a cubic hypersurface and \(S\) is a degree \(s\) surface of sectional genus \(\pi = 0\) which is uniquely determined by \(C\). Similarly for \(r \geq 9\) such that \(s = \frac{1}{6} \lceil {{\binom{r+3}{3}} - 4} \rceil\) is an integer (only possible for certain \(r \mod 36\)), let \(C \subset \mathbb P^r\) be an integral curve of degree \(d\) sufficiently large having maximal genus with respect to not lying on a cubic hypersurface. The author proves that \(p_a (C) \leq \frac{d^2}{2s} - \frac{d}{2s} (s+2) + O (1)\) with \(0 < O (1) \leq \frac{s^3}{r-2}\), \(C\) is not ACM, and \(C\) is contained in a flag \(S \subset T \subset \mathbb P^r\) where \(T\) is a quartic hypersurface and \(S\) is a degree \(s\) surface of sectional genus \(\pi = 0\) which is uniquely determined by \(C\).