Rational curves on hypersurfaces of low degree, II

Abstract

This is the second in a sequence of papers on the geometry of spaces of rational curves of degree e on a general hypersurface $X \subset\mathbb{P}^n$ of degree d. In Part I (J. reine angew. Math. 571 (2004), 73–106) it is proved that, if $d<({n+1})/{2}$, then for each e the space of rational curves is irreducible, reduced and has the expected dimension. In this paper it is proved that, if $d^2 + d + 1 \leq n$, then for each e the space of rational curves is a rationally connected variety; in particular it has negative Kodaira dimension.