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Let $\Pi:=\mathbb{P}(H^0(\mathbb{P}^5,\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}}(3)))$ be the space of cubic fourfolds in $\mathbb{P}^5$. It is well-known that those cubics which are pfaffian, i.e. defined by the pfaffian of a 6-by-6 skew-symmetric matrix of linear forms, form a hypersurface in $\Pi$. Does anyone know the degree of that hypersurface?

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    $\begingroup$ You are looking for the degree of $\mathcal{C}_{14}$ in Hasset's notation, right? $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 13, 2019 at 11:22
  • $\begingroup$ @Francesco Polizzi: Yes. $\endgroup$
    – abx
    Commented Feb 13, 2019 at 12:38

2 Answers 2

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According to Example 3, p. 319 of

Li, Zhiyuan; Zhang, Letao: Modular forms and special cubic fourfolds, Adv. Math. 245, 315-326 (2013). ZBL1290.11077,

the degree of $\mathcal{C}_{14}$ should be 915678.

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    $\begingroup$ Very interesting, thanks! I was totally unaware of that paper. $\endgroup$
    – abx
    Commented Feb 13, 2019 at 20:10
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Just a remark: the Pfaffian locus is not quite the $\mathcal{C}_{14}$ divisor, but rather a constructible dense subset of $\mathcal{C}_{14}$, see

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00208-018-1707-7.

The divisor $\mathcal{C}_{14}$ is rather the locus of cubic fourfolds containing a quartic rational normal scroll $T$ (or a deformation of such $T$ with $T\cdot H^2=4$ and $T\cdot T=10$).

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    $\begingroup$ Right. Of course the hypersurface I had in mind is the closure of the Pfaffian locus. $\endgroup$
    – abx
    Commented Feb 13, 2019 at 20:12

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