A remark on the geometry of elliptic scrolls and bielliptic surfaces

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Abstract: The union of two quintic elliptic scrolls in P^4 intersecting transversally along an elliptic normal quintic curve is a singular surface Z which behaves numerically like a bielliptic surface. In the appendix to the paper [W. Decker et al.: Syzygies of abelian and bielliptic surfaces in P^4, alg-geom/9606013] where the equations of this singular surface were computed, we proved that Z defines a smooth point in the appropriate Hilbert scheme and that Z cannot be smoothed in P^4. Here we consider the analogous situation in higher dimensional projective spaces P^{n-1}, where, to our surprise, the answer depends on the dimension n-1. If n is odd the union of two scrolls cannot be smoothed, whereas it can be smoothed if n is even. We construct an explicit smoothing.


The authors study the union of two elliptic scrolls in projective spaces \(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}\). The results depend on the dimension \(n-1\). Namely, they prove the following: Theorem 2.4 (Rigidity). Let \(Z= X_i\cup X_j\) be the union of two degree \(n\) elliptic scrolls in \(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}\) (\(n\geq 5\), odd). The component of the Hilbert scheme of surfaces containing \(Z\) is smooth of dimension \(n^2\) at \([Z]\). Every small deformation of \(Z\) is again the union of two degree \(n\) elliptic scrolls intersecting transversally along an elliptic normal curve; and Theorem 3.2 (Smoothing). Let \(Z= X_i\cup X_j\) be the union of two degree \(n\) elliptic scrolls in \(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}\) (\(n\geq 6\), even). Then there exists a flat family of surfaces \((Z_t)_{t\in T}\) in \(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}\) such that \(Z_0= Z\) and \(Z_t\) for \(t\neq 0\) is a linearly normal smooth bielliptic surface of degree \(2n\).











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