Collections of hypersurfaces containing a curve

Abstract

We consider the closed locus of $r$-tuples of hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{P}^r$ with positive dimensional intersection, and show in a large range of degrees that its largest component is the locus of $r$-tuples of hypersurfaces whose intersection contains a line. We then apply our methods to obtain new results on the largest components of the locus of hypersurfaces with positive dimensional singular loci and the locus of smooth hypersurfaces with a higher dimensional family of lines through a point than expected.