Deformations of rational curves in positive characteristic (Q827408)

The paper contains a sufficient criterion for a smooth and proper surface or a higher-dimensional variety over an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(p>0\) to be separably uniruled, in particular, to have a negative Kodaira dimension. In the case of surfaces, the sufficient condition is the existence of a non-rigid rational curve whose closed singular points either have \(\delta\)-invariants less than \(\frac{p-1}{2}\), or Milnor (Jacobian) numbers less than \(p\). The authors show by an example that the strict upper bound \(\frac{p-1}{2}\) for the \(\delta\)-invariants is sharp. In the higher-dimensional case, the sufficient condition for the main statement amounts to the existence of a rational curve, whose singular points satisfy the bounds as above and which gives rise to a dominating family of rational curves, as well as to an extra requirement, which roughly speaking means that the field of functions on the family of rational curves is separable over the field of functions on the variety. The latter condition, in particular, prevents the existence of fibrations between smooth varieties, whose geometric generic fiber is not reduced. Moreover, the authors show that this separability condition cannot be removed by demonstrating examples of varieties that are not separably uniruled, but are dominated by a family of rational curves with a smooth member (where the family fails to satisfy the aforementioned separabiliy condition).