Generalized Mukai conjecture for special Fano varieties
Let X be a Fano variety of dimension n, pseudoindex i X and Picard number ρX. A generalization of a conjecture of Mukai says that ρX(i X−1)≤n. We prove that the conjecture holds for a variety X of pseudoindex i X≥n+3/3 if X admits an unsplit covering family of rational curves; we also prove that this condition is satisfied if ρX> and either X has a fiber type extremal contraction or has not small extremal contractions. Finally we prove that the conjecture holds if X has dimension five.