Fano manifolds obtained by blowing up along curves with maximal Picard number (Q967654)

Let \(Y\) be a smooth projective variety of dimension \(n\geq 4\) defined over the field of complex numbers, \(C\) a smooth curve on \(Y\), and \(X\) the blow up of \(Y\) along \(C\). If \(X\) is a Fano manifold, i.e., the anticanonical divisor \(-K_X\) is ample, then Casagrande shows that the Picard number of \(X\) is at most 5. In this note, the author shows that the Picard number of \(X\) is exactly 5 if and only if \(X\) is the blow up of the projective space whose center consists of two points, the strict transform of the line joining them and a linear subspace or a hyperquadric of codimension 2. The proof is based on classification of special types of Fano manifolds.