SINGULARITIES OF ORBIT CLOSURES IN MODULE VARIETIES AND CONES OVER RATIONAL NORMAL CURVES

Abstract

Let $N$ be a point of an orbit closure $\overline{{\mathcal O}}_M$ in a module variety such that its orbit ${\mathcal O}_N$ has codimension 2 in $\overline{{\mathcal O}}_M$. We show that under some additional conditions the pointed variety $(\overline{{\mathcal O}}_M,N)$ is smoothly equivalent to a cone over a rational normal curve.