Lines on cubic threefolds and fourfolds containing a plane

Abstract

We describe the Fano scheme of lines on a general cubic threefold containing a plane over a field $k$ of characteristic different from 2. Then, we use the Fano scheme to characterize rationality for such cubic threefolds over nonclosed fields and to construct a Lagrangian fibration from the Fano variety of lines on a cubic fourfold containing a plane explicitly.