I apologize if this is a trivial question. If $X$ is a smooth irreducible codimension two subvariety of projective space $\mathbb P^n$, then does there always exist a smooth irreducible codimension one subvariety $Y \subset \mathbb P^n$ with $X \subset Y$ ?



Smooth variety contained in another smooth variety
For $n = 3$ this is always true. It is also true when $X$ is a complete intersection.


Suppose $n ≥ 4$, and suppose that $Y$ exists; then by a well known result of Lefschetz $X$ is a hyperplane section of $Y$, and so $X$ is a complete intersection. Now, for $m = 4$ there are subvarieties of $\mathbb P^4$ that are not complete intersections (for example, the image of a generic projection $\mathbb P^2 \to \mathbb P^4$ of a quadratic Veronese embedding of $\mathbb P^2 \subseteq \mathbb P^5$), so the answer is negative for these. For $m ≥ 5$ the existence of codimension 2 subvarieties that are not complete intersections is a big open question; for $m ≥ 7$ it is a particular case of a conjecture of Hartshorne that these should not exist.


