Projective surfaces of maximal sectional regularity

Abstract: We study projective surfaces

X s u b s e t m a t h b b P^{r}

(with

r g e q 5

) of maximal sectional regularity and degree

d > r

, hence surfaces for which the Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity

e g (C)

of a general hyperplane section curve

C = X c a p m a t h b b P^{r - 1}

takes the maximally possible value

d - r + 3

. We show that each of these surfaces is either a cone over a curve

C s u b s e t m a t h b b P^{r - 1}

of maximal regularity or else a birational outer linear projection of a smooth rational surface scroll

w i d e t i l d e X s u b s e t m a t h b b P^{d + 1}

. We prove that the Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity of these surfaces satisfies the equality

e g (X) = d - r + 3

and we compute or estimate various of their cohomological invariants as well as their Betti numbers. We study the the extremal variety

m a t h b b F (X)

of these surfaces

X

, that is the closed union of the extremal secant lines of all smooth hyperplane section curves of

X

. We show that

m a t h b b F (X)

is either a plane or that otherwise

r = 5

and

m a t h b b F (X)

is a rational smooth threefold scroll

S (1, 1, 1) s u b s e t m a t h b b P^{5}

.

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