Geometry of webs of algebraic curves

Abstract

A family of algebraic curves covering a projective variety $X$ is called a web of curves on $X$ if it has only finitely many members through a general point of $X$. A web of curves on $X$ induces a web-structure, in the sense of local differential geometry, in a neighborhood of a general point of $X$. We study how the local differential geometry of the web-structure affects the global algebraic geometry of $X$. Under two geometric assumptions on the web-structure, the pairwise non-integrability condition and the bracket-generating condition, we prove that the local differential geometry determines the global algebraic geometry of $X$, up to generically finite algebraic correspondences. The two geometric assumptions are satisfied, for example, when $X \subset {\bf P}^N$ is a Fano submanifold of Picard number 1, and the family of lines covering $X$ becomes a web. In this special case, we have a stronger result that the local differential geometry of the web-structure determines $X$ up to biregular equivalences. As an application, we show that if $X, X' \subset {\bf P}^N, \dim X' \geq 3,$ are two such Fano manifolds of Picard number 1, then any surjective morphism $f: X \to X'$ is an isomorphism.