Let $X$ be a smooth contractible affine algebraic threefold with a nontrivial algebraic ${\bf C}_+$-action on it. We show that $X$ is rational and the algebraic quotient $X//{\bf C}_+$ is a smooth contractible surface $S$ which is isomorphic to ${\bf C}^2$ in the case when $X$ admits a dominant morphism from a threefold of form $C \times {\bf C}^2$. Furthermore, if the action is free then $X$ is isomorphic to $S \times {\bf C}$ and the action is induced by translation on the second factor. In particular, we have the following criterion: if a smooth contractible affine algebraic threefold $X$ with a free algebraic ${\bf C}_+$-action admits a dominant morphism from $C\times {\bf C}^2$ then $X$ is isomorphic to ${\bf C}^3$.
We construct two non isomorphic contractible affine threefolds X and Y with isomorphic cylinders, showing that the generalized Cancellation Problem has a negative answer in general for contractible affine threefolds. We also establish that X and Y are actually biholomorphic as complex analytic varieties, providing the first example of a pair of biholomorphic but not isomorphic exotic affine 3-spaces.
We provide families of affine threefolds which are contractible in the unstable $\mathbb A^1$-homotopy category of Morel-Voevodsky and pairwise non-isomorphic, thus answering a question of A. Asok and B. Doran. As a particular case, we show that the Koras-Russell threefolds of the first kind are contractible, extending results of M. Hoyois, A. Krishna and P. A. Ostvaer.
The aim of this note is to give an alternative proof of a theorem of Koras and Russell, that is, a characterization of smooth contractible affine varieties endowed with a hyperbolic action of the group $\mathbb{G}_{m}\simeq\mathbb{C}^{\text{*}}$, using the language of polyhedral divisors developed by Altmann and Hausen as generalization of $\mathbb{Q}$-divisors.
The Russell cubic is a smooth contractible affine complex threefold which is not isomorphic to affine three-space. In previous articles, we discussed the structure of the automorphism group of this variety. Here we review some consequences of this structure and generalize some results to other hypersurfaces which arise as deformations of Koras-Russell threefolds.
The Koras-Russell threefold is the hypersurface X of the complex affine four-space defined by the equation x^2y+z^2+t^3+x=0. It is well-known that X is smooth contractible and rational but that it is not algebraically isomorphic to affine three-space. The main result of this article is to show that there exists another hypersurface Y of the affine four-space, which is isomorphic to X as an abstract variety, but such that there exists no algebraic automorphism of the ambient space which restricts to an isomorphism between X and Y. In other words, the two hypersurfaces are inequivalent. The proo…
We classify the non-toric, $\mathbb Q$-factorial, Gorenstein, log terminal Fano threefolds of Picard number one that admit an effective action of a two-dimensional algebraic torus.
Motivated by the enhanced gauge symmetry phenomenon of the physics literature and mirror symmetry, this paper constructs an action of an Artin group on the derived category of coherent sheaves of a smooth quasiprojective threefold containing a configuration of ruled surfaces described by a finite type Dynkin diagram. The action extends over deformations of the threefold via a compatible action of the corresponding reflection group on the base of its deformation space. All finite type Dynkin diagrams are realized.
We address the following question: When an affine cone over a smooth Fano threefold admits an effective action of the additive group? In this paper we deal with Fano threefolds of index 1 and Picard number 1. Our approach is based on a geometric criterion from our previous paper, which relates the existence of an additive group action on the cone over a smooth projective variety X with the existence of an open polar cylinder in X. Non-trivial families of Fano threefolds carrying a cylinder were found in loc. cit. Here we provide new such examples.
We construct algebraic families of exotic affine 3-spheres, that is, smooth affine threefolds diffeomorphic to a non-degenerate smooth complex affine quadric of dimension 3 but non algebraically isomorphic to it. We show in particular that for every smooth topologically contractible affine surface S with trivial automorphism group, there exists a canonical smooth family of pairwise non isomorphic exotic affine 3-spheres parametrized by the closed points of S.
Following the work of Altmann and Hausen we give a combinatorial description in terms for smooth Fano threefolds admitting a 2-torus action. We show that a whole variety of properties and invariants can be read off from this description. As an application we prove and disprove the existence of Kahler-Einstein metrics for some of these Fano threefolds, calculate their Cox rings and some of their toric canonical degenerations.
We study three-dimensional Fano varieties with $\mathbb{C}^*$-action. Complementing recent results [13], we give classification results in the canonical case, where the maximal orbit quotient is $\mathbb{P}_2$ having a line arrangement of five lines in special position as its critical values.
We classify the canonical threefold singularities that allow an effective two-torus action. This extends classification results of Mori on terminal threefold singularities and of Ishida and Iwashita on toric canonical threefold singularities. Our classification relies on lattice point emptiness of certain polytopal complexes with rational vertices. Scaling the polytopes by the least common multiple $k$ of the respective denominators, we investigate $k$-emptiness of polytopes with integer vertices. We show that two dimensional $k$-empty polytopes either are sporadic or come in series given by F…
In this paper we study Fano threefolds with a torsion divisor (Fano--Enriques). Due to this torsion divisor, they can be described as quotients of Fano threefolds by a finite abelian group action. We start from lists of Fano threefolds by Reid, Fletcher and Altınok and check which of them admit such an action with a Fano--Enriques quotient.
We prove that any `finite-type' component of a stability space of a triangulated category is contractible. The motivating example of such a component is the stability space of the Calabi--Yau-$N$ category $\mathcal{D}(Γ_N Q)$ associated to an ADE Dynkin quiver. In addition to showing that this is contractible we prove that the braid group $\operatorname{Br}(Q)$ acts freely upon it by spherical twists, in particular that the spherical twist group $\operatorname{Br}(Γ_N Q)$ is isomorphic to $\operatorname{Br}(Q)$. This generalises Brav-Thomas' result for the $N=2$ case. Other classes of triangul…
Extending well-known results on surfaces, we give bounds on the cohomological action of automorphisms of compact Kähler threefolds. More precisely, if the action is virtually unipotent we prove that the norm of $(f^n)^*$ grows at most as $cn^4$; in the general case, we give a description of the spectrum of $f^*$, and bounds on the possible conjugates over $\mathbb Q$ of the dynamical degrees $λ_1(f),λ_2(f)$. Examples on complex tori show the optimality of the results.
Affine varieties of dimension greater than two can be explored their structures with the help of fibrations by the affine line or plane and quotient morphisms by $\mathbb{G}_a$-actions. We consider $\mathbb{G}_a$-actions on affine threefolds and discuss the structure and the singularities of the quotient surface as well as the singular fibers of the quotient morphism. Relative $\mathbb{G}_a$ and $\mathbb{G}_m$-actions on $\mathbb{A}^4$ or on an affine 4-fold having $\mathbb{A}^3$-fibrations over $\mathbb{A}^1$ are discussed when the actions leave one variable invariant or the fibration invaria…
The affine cancellation problem, which asks whether complex affine varieties with isomorphic cylinders are themselves isomorphic, has a positive solution for two dimensional varieties whose coordinate rings are unique factorization domains, in particular for the affine plane, but counterexamples are found within normal surfaces Danielewski surfaces and factorial threefolds of logarithmic Kodaira dimension equal to 1. The latter are therefore remote from the affine three-space, the first unknown case where the base of one cylinder is an affine space. Locally trivial Ga-actions play a significan…
In this paper, we establish two results concerning algebraic $(\mathbb{C},+)$-actions on $\mathbb{C}^n$. First let $ϕ$ be an algebraic $(\mathbb{C},+)$-action on $\mathbb{C}^3$. By a result of Miyanishi, its ring of invariants is isomorphic to $\mathbb{C}[t_1,t_2]$. If $f_1,f_2$ generate this ring, the quotient map of $ϕ$ is the map $F:\mathbb{C}^3\to \mathbb{C}^2$, $x\mapsto (f_1(x),f_2(x))$. By using some topological arguments, we prove that $F$ is always surjective. Second, we are interested in dominant polynomial maps $F:\mathbb{C}^n\to \mathbb{C}^{n-1}$ whose connected components of their…
We study Fano threefolds with~terminal singularities admitting a "minimal" action of a finite group. We prove that under certain additional assumptions such a variety does not contain planes. We also obtain an upper bounds of the number of singular points of certain Fano threefolds with~terminal factorial singularities.
We introduce the notion of symmetric obstruction theory and study symmetric obstruction theories which are compatible with C*-actions. We prove that the contribution of an isolated fixed point under a C*-action to equivariant Donaldson-Thomas type invariants is +/- 1. As an application, we compute weighted Euler characteristics of all Hilbert schemes of points on any 3-fold. Moreover, we calculate the zero-dimensional Donaldson-Thomas invariants of any projective Calabi-Yau 3-fold. This proves a conjecture of Maulik-Nekrasov-Okounkov-Pandharipande.
Let $X$ be a Fano threefold and $\C ^* \times X\rightarrow X$ an algebraic action. Then $X$ has a $S^1$-invariant Kähler structure and the corresponding $S^1$-action admits an equivariant moment map which is at the same time a perfect Bott-Morse function. We will initiate a program to classify the Fano threefolds with semi-free ${\mathbb C}^*$-actions using Morse theory and the holomorphic Lefschetz fixed point formula as the main tools. In this paper we give a complete list of all possible Fano threefolds without "interior isolated fixed points" for any semi-free ${\mathbb C}^*$-action. For t…
We investigate geometric invariants of the one parameter family of Mukai threefolds that admit $\mathbb C^{*}$ action. In particular we find the invariant divisors in the anticanonical system, and thus establish a bound on the log canonical thresholds. Furthermore we find an explicit description of such threefolds in terms of the quartic associated to the variety-of-sum-of-powers construction. This yields that any such threefold admits an additional symmetry which anticommutes with the $\mathbb C^{*}$ action, a fact that was previously observed near the Mukai-Umemura threefold by Rollin, Siman…
We prove the $K$-polystability of all smooth complex Fano threefolds admitting an effective action of $\text{SL}_2$ but not of a 2-torus or 3-torus. In particular, the existence of Kähler-Einstein metrics on varieties in the families (1.10), (1.15), (1.16), (1.17), (2.21), (2.27), (2.32), (3.13), (3.17), (3.25) and (4.6) of the Mori-Mukai classification of smooth Fano threefolds is proved.
Let X' be a smooth contractible three-dimensional affine algebraic variety with a free algebraic C_+ -action on it such that S =X'// C_+ is smooth. We prove that X' is isomorphic to $S \times \C$ and the action is induced by a translation on the second factor. As a consequence we show that any free algebraic C_+ -action on C^3 is a translation in a suitable coordinate system.
In this note, we study the normal compact Kähler (possibly singular) threefold $X$ admitting the action of a free abelian group $G$ of maximal rank, all the non-trivial elements of which are of positive entropy. If such $X$ is further assumed to have only terminal singularities, then we prove that it is either a rationally connected projective threefold or bimeromorphic to a quasi-étale quotient of a complex $3$-torus.
To smooth schemes equipped with a smooth affine group scheme action, we associate an equivariant motivic homotopy category. Underlying our construction is the choice of an `equivariant Nisnevich topology' induced by a complete, regular, and bounded $cd$-structure. We show equivariant $K$-theory of smooth schemes is represented in the equivariant motivic homotopy category. This is used to characterize equivariantly contractible smooth affine curves and equivariant vector bundles on such curves. Generalizations of the purity and blow-up theorems in motivic homotopy theory are shown for actions o…
The automorphism groups of certain factorial complex affine threefolds admitting locally trivial actions of the additive group are determined. As a consequence new counterexamples to a generalized cancellation problem are obtained.
We study the action of the Klein simple group G consisting of 168 elements on two rational threefolds: the three-dimensional projective space and a smooth Fano threefold X of anticanonical degree 22 and index 1. We show that the Cremona group of rank three has at least three non-conjugate subgroups isomorphic to G. As a by-product, we prove that X admits a Kahler-Einstein metric, and we construct a smooth polarized K3 surface of degree 22 with an action of the group G.
We continue the classification of terminal Fano threefolds with an effective two-torus action. In earlier work we settled the Q-factorial case with Picard number one. Here we treat the larger class of varieties that do not admit any contraction of a prime divisor; these are called combinatorially minimal.
We study the problem of existence of Kähler--Einstein metrics on smooth Fano threefolds of Picard rank one and anticanonical degree $22$ that admit a faithful action of the multiplicative group $\mathbb{C}^\ast$. We prove that, except possibly two explicitly described cases, all such smooth Fano threefolds are Kähler--Einstein.
A W-algebra action is constructed on the equivariant Borel-Moore homology of the Hilbert scheme of points on a nonreduced plane in three dimensional affine space, identifying it to the vacuum W-module. This is based on a generalization of the ADHM construction as well as the W-action on the equivariant Borel-Moore homology of the moduli space of instantons constructed by Schiffmann and Vasserot.
Over a field $k$, we study rational UFDs of finite transcendence degree $n$ over $k$. We classify such UFDs $B$ when $n=2$, $k$ is algebraically closed, and $B$ admits a positive $\mathbb{Z}$-grading, showing in particular that $B$ is affine over $k$. We also consider the Russell cubic threefold over $\mathbb{C}$, and the Asanuma threefolds over a field of positive characterstic, showing that these threefolds admit no elliptic $\mathbb{G}_m$-action. Finally, we show that, if $X$ is an affine $k$-variety and $X\times\mathbb{A}^m_k\cong_k\mathbb{A}^{n+m}_k$, then $X\cong_k\mathbb{A}^n_k$ if and …
We construct a $14$-dimensional affine variety $Σ^{14}_{\mathbb{A}}$ with a $\rm{GL}_3$- and a $(\mathbb{C}^*)^6$-actions. We denote by $Σ^{13}_{\mathbb{A}}$ the affine variety obtained from $Σ^{14}_{\mathbb{A}}$ by setting one specified variable to $1$ (we refer the precise definition to Definition 1.1 of the paper). We show that several weighted projectivizations of $Σ^{13}_{\mathbb{A}}$ and $Σ^{14}_{\mathbb{A}}$ produce, as weighted complete intersections, examples of prime $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano threefolds of codimension four belonging to $24$ classes of the graded ring database. Except No.360 …
Motivated by the study of the structure of algebraic actions the additive group on affine threefolds X, we consider a special class of such varieties whose algebraic quotient morphisms X $\rightarrow$ X//Ga restrict to principal homogeneous bundles over the complement of a smooth point of the quotient. We establish basic general properties of these varieties and construct families of examples illustrating their rich geometry. In particular, we give a complete classification of a natural subclass consisting of threefolds X endowed with proper Ga-actions, whose algebraic quotient morphisms $π$ :…
The paper contains a fundamental defect in its framework of using the gauge action to study the rigidity problem. As a result, the calculations leading to the main formula is also incorrect.
