Non-defectivity of Grassmannian bundles over a curve

Abstract

Let [Formula: see text] be the Grassmann bundle of two-planes associated to a general bundle [Formula: see text] over a curve [Formula: see text]. We prove that an embedding of [Formula: see text] by a certain twist of the relative Plücker map is not secant defective. This yields a new and more geometric proof of the Hirschowitz-type bound on the isotropic Segre invariant for maximal isotropic sub-bundles of orthogonal bundles over [Formula: see text], analogous to those given for vector bundles and symplectic bundles in [I. Choe and G. H. Hitching, Secant varieties and Hirschowitz bound on vector bundles over a curve, Manuscripta Math. 133 (2010) 465–477, I. Choe and G. H. Hitching, Lagrangian sub-bundles of symplectic vector bundles over a curve, Math. Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc. 153 (2012) 193–214]. From the non-defectivity, we also deduce an interesting feature of a general orthogonal bundle of even rank over [Formula: see text], contrasting with the classical and symplectic cases: a general maximal isotropic sub-bundle of maximal degree intersects at least one other such sub-bundle in positive rank.