Gonality of a general ACM curve in \(\mathbb P^3\) (Q635668)

The gonality \(\mathrm{gon}(C)\) of a smooth projective curve \(C\) is the minimum degree of a surjective morphism from \(C\) to \(\mathbb P^1\). It was stated by Max Noether that, if \(C\) is contained in \(\mathbb P^2\), then \(\mathrm{gon}(C)=d-1\), where \(d\geq 3\) is the degree of \(C\), and that any morphism \(C\to \mathbb P^1\) of degree \(d-1\) is the projection from one of its points (see [\textit{C. Ciliberto}, ``Some applications of a classical method of Castelnuovo'', Semin. Geom., Univ. Studi Bologna 1982-1983, 17--43 (1984; Zbl 0612.14028)] and [\textit{R. Hartshorne}, ``Generalized divisors on Gorenstein curves and a theorem of Noether'', J. Math. Kyoto Univ. 26, 375--386 (1986; Zbl 0613.14008)] for modern proofs). The problem of determining the gonality of a smooth curve contained in a projective space of dimension larger than two is still open. Let's assume that \(C\subset \mathbb P^3\). The natural question if \(\mathrm{gon}(C)\) is computed by multisecants, i.e., if it is equal to \(d-l(C)\), where \(l(C)=\max\{\deg(C\cap L\mid L \text{ a line of } \mathbb P^3 \}\), has negative answer if \(C\) is a general curve of genus \(g\). In this interesting article the authors restrict their attention to non-planar arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay curves (\(ACM\) for short) in \(\mathbb P^3\) over the complex field. Their main result is that \(\mathrm{gon}(C)\) is computed by multisecants if \(C\) is general in its Hilbert scheme. This answers to a question posed by Peskine, previously solved by Martens and Ballico for curves contained in a smooth quadric or in a smooth cubic surface. More precisely, let \(h\) denote the \(h\)-vector of \(C\), i.e., the second difference of its Hilbert function, \(s\) the least degree of a surface containing \(C\), \(g\) its genus. The Hilbert scheme \(A(h)\) of \(ACM\) curves having \(h\)-vector \(h\) is smooth and irreducible, by a result of Ellingsrud. Then, except perhaps for a list of nine triples \((s,d,g)\), \(\mathrm{gon}(C)=d-l(C)\) if \(C\) is general in \(A(h)\). Moreover, if \(s\geq 4\), the authors compute the value of \(l(C)\), finding that in most cases it is \(l(C)=4\). The proof makes use of a variety of techniques, as for instance Lazarsfeld's construction of a vector bundle on a smooth surface containing \(C\), associated to a base-point-free \(g_k^1\) on \(C\), a Noether-Lefschetz type theorem, biliaison, bounds on the genus of an \(ACM\) curve.