Curves on a Double Surface

Abstract

Let F be a smooth surface in a smooth projective threefold T, and let X=2F be the first infinitesimal neighborhood of X in T. A locally Cohen-Macaulay curve C in X gives rise to two effective divisors on F, namely the curve part P of the intersection of C and F, and the curve R residual in C to this intersection. We show that a general deformation of R on F lifts to a deformation of C on X when a certain cohomology group vanishes. In our paper "Hilbert Schemes of Degree Four Curves" we use this result to prove the connectedness of the Hilbert schemes H(4,g) of locally Cohen-Macaulay space curves of degree four and arbitrary arithmetic genus g.