Deformation of Rational Curves Along Foliations

Abstract

Deformation of morphisms along leaves of foliations define the tangential foliation on the corresponding space of morphisms. We prove that codimension one fo-liations having a tangential foliation with at least one non-algebraic leaf are transversely homogeneous with structure group determined by the codimension of the non-algebraic leaf in its Zariski closure. As an application, we provide a structure theorem for degree three foliations on $P^3$ .