Intersection cohomology and Severi's varieties

Abstract

Let $X^{2n}\subseteq \mathbb{P} ^N$ be a smooth projective variety. Consider the intersection cohomology complex of the local system $R^{2n-1}\pi{_*}\mathbb{Q}$, where $\pi$ denotes the projection from the universal hyperplane family of $X^{2n}$ to ${(\mathbb{P} ^N)}^{\vee}$. We investigate the cohomology of the intersection cohomology complex $IC(R^{2n-1}\pi{_*}\mathbb{Q})$ over the points of a Severi's variety, parametrizing nodal hypersurfaces, whose nodes impose independent conditions on the very ample linear system giving the embedding in $\mathbb{P} ^N$.