An arithmetic integrability result for codimension-one foliations on complex projective spaces

Abstract

Let $\F$ be a codimension-one holomorphic foliation of degree $d$ on $\PP^n$, $n\geq3$, admitting an invariant hyperplane $H$. We study the extremal situation in which $S=(H\cap\Sing(\F))_{\rm red}$ is an irreducible hypersurface of $H$ of degree $d+1$. When $d+1$ is a power of a prime, we prove that, in suitable homogeneous coordinates with $H=(t=0)$, \[ \Omega=Q\,dt-\frac{t}{d+1}\,dQ , \] where $Q$ is homogeneous of degree $d+1$. Thus $Q/t^{d+1}$ is a rational first integral. The proof reduces the Frobenius equation to a twisted closedness equation on a plane section and uses Zariski's theorem on the Alexander polynomial of an irreducible plane curve. We also prove a complementary rigidity theorem for an arbitrary smooth invariant hypersurface $D\subset\PP^n$: if the reduced singular divisor on $D$ is smooth, irreducible, and of maximal degree, then the same normal-form phenomenon holds, with no arithmetic hypothesis on its degree; in the low-weight range the smoothness assumption on the singular divisor can be dropped. Finally, we show that the principal hypotheses are sharp. Dropping the maximal-degree condition yields a family with irreducible reduced singular support and no non-constant rational first integral. For every $d+1$ which is not a prime power we construct a global counterexample with irreducible maximal-degree singular support, and a final family shows that irreducibility of the reduced support is also genuinely necessary.