Smooth hypersurface sections containing a given subscheme over a finite field (Q935870)

\textit{O. Gabber} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 11, No. 6, 1192--1200 (2001; Zbl 1072.14513)] and the author [Ann. Math. (2) 160, No. 3, 1099--1127 (2004; Zbl 1084.14026)] independently proved the following version of Bertini's theorem over finite fields. Let \({\mathbb F}_q\) be the finite field of \(q\) elements (where \(q\) is any prime power) and let \(X\) be a quasi-projective subscheme of \({\mathbb P}^n\) of dimension \(m\geq 0\) defined over \({\mathbb F}_q\). Then there is a hypersurface \(H\) in \({\mathbb P}^n\) such that \(X\cap H\) is smooth of dimension \(m-1\). In fact, the author obtained a refined quantitative result which implies that a positive fraction of these hypersurfaces \(H\) has this property. In the present paper, the author extends his result to hypersurfaces \(H\) which contain a prescribed closed subscheme \(Z\) of \({\mathbb P}^n\). We explain his result. Let \(S\) be the polynomial ring \({\mathbb F}_q[x_0,\ldots , x_n]\) and \(S_d\) the \({\mathbb F}_q\)-vector space consisting of all homogeneous polynomials of degree \(d\) in \(S\). For \(f\in S_d\), let \(H_f\) be the subscheme \(\text{Proj}(S/(f))\subseteq {\mathbb P}^n\). Given a closed subscheme \(Z\) of \({\mathbb P}^n\), denote by \(I_d\) the \({\mathbb F}_q\)-vector space of \(f\in S_d\) which vanish identically on \(Z\) and put \(I_{\text{homog}}:=\cup_{d\geq 0} I_d\). Then the density of a subset \({\mathcal P}\) of \(I_{\text{homog}}\) is given by \(\mu_Z({\mathcal P}):=\lim_{d\to\infty} \# ({\mathcal P}\cap I_d)/\# I_d\), provided the limit exists. Next, the zeta function associated with a scheme \(X\) of finite type over \({\mathbb F}_q\) is defined by \(\zeta_X(s):=\prod_P (1-q^{-s\deg P})^{-1}\), where the product is taken over all closed points of \(X\). This product converges for \(s\in{\mathbb C}\) with \(\text{Re}\, s >\dim X\). Then the author's result states the following: Let \(X\) be a smooth quasi-projective subscheme of \({\mathbb P}^n\) of dimension \(m\geq 0\) over \({\mathbb F}_q\) and \(Z\) a closed subscheme of \({\mathbb P}^n\) such that the scheme-theoretic intersection \(V:= X\cap Z\) is smooth of dimension \(l\) (taking \(l=-1\) if \(V=\emptyset\)). Let \({\mathcal P}\) be the set of \(f\in I_{\text{homog}}\) such that \(X\cap H_f\) is smooth of dimension \(m-1\). Then \[ \mu_Z({\mathcal P})={\zeta_V(m+1)\over \zeta_V(m-l)\zeta_X(m+1)}\;\mathit{if}\,\, m>2l,\;\;\mu_Z({\mathcal P})=0\;\text\textit{if}\,\, m\leq 2l. \] The author claims that with extra work the condition that \(X\cap Z\) be smooth could be removed. The proof consists of two parts: first it is shown that for every fixed \(r\), the set of \(f\in I_{\text{homog}}\) such that \(X\cap H_f\) does not have singular points of degree \(<r\) over \({\mathbb F}_q\) has density as in the above theorem; second it is shown that the density of those \(f\) such that \(X\cap H_f\) has singular points of degree \(\geq r\) tends to \(0\) as \(r\to\infty\).