We determine the automorphism group for a large class of affine quadric hypersurfaces over a field, viewed as affine algebraic varieties. In particular, we find that the group of real polynomial automorphisms of the n-sphere is just the orthogonal group O(n+1) whenever n is a power of 2. It is not known whether the same is true for arbitrary n.
The proof uses Karpenko's theorem that certain projective quadrics over a field are not ruled. That is, they are not birational over the given field to the product of any variety with the projective line. We also formulate a general result on automorphisms of affine varieties. We conclude by conjecturing a converse to Karpenko's theorem, predicting exactly which projective quadrics are ruled.
It is well-known that the Hasse principle holds for quadric hypersurfaces. The Hasse principle fails for integral points on smooth quadric hypersurfaces of dimension 2 but the failure can be completely explained by the Brauer-Manin obstruction. We investigate how often the family of quadric hypersurfaces $ax^2 + by^2 +cz^2 = n$ has a Brauer-Manin obstruction. We improve previous bounds of Mitankin.
We establish the Hardy-Littlewood property (à la Borovoi-Rudnick) for Zariski open subsets in affine quadrics of the form $q(x_1,\cdots,x_n)=m$, where $q$ is a non-degenerate integral quadratic form in $n\geqslant 3$ variables and $m$ is a non-zero integer. This gives asymptotic formulas for the density of integral points taking coprime polynomial values, which is a quantitative version of the arithmetic purity of strong approximation property off infinity for affine quadrics.
We classify three-dimensional nodal Fano varieties that are double covers of smooth quadrics branched over intersections with quartics acted on by finite simple non-abelian groups, and study their rationality.
We prove the existence of wild automorphisms on an affine quadric threefold. The method we use is an adaptation of the one used by Shestakov and Umirbaev to prove the existence of wild automorphisms on the affine three dimensional space.
In this paper we classify all potentially G-birationally rigid del Pezzo threefolds of degree 4 and their automorphism groups and prove the G-birational rigidity of one of them
It is proved that the group of birational automorphisms of a three-dimensional double quadric with a singular point arising from a double point on the branch divisor is a semidirect product of the free group generated by birational involutions of a special form and the group of regular automorphisms. The proof is based on the method of `untwisting' maximal singularities of linear systems.
We study locally transitive actions of the commutative unipotent group $\Gan$ on a nondegenerate quadric in the projective space $¶^{n+1}$. It is shown that for each $n$ such an action is unique up to isomorphism.
A fake quadric is a smooth minimal surface of general type with the same invariants as the quadric in P^3, i.e. K^2=2c_2=8 and q=p_g=0. We study here quaternionic fake quadrics i.e. fake quadrics constructed arithmetically by using some quaternion algebras over real number fields. We provide examples of quaternionic fake quadrics X with a non-trivial automorphism group and compute the invariants of the minimal desingularisation of the quotient of X by this group. In that way we obtain minimal surfaces of general type Z with q=p_g=0 and K^2=4,2 which contain the maximal number of disjoint nodal…
In a previous work, we introduced the notion of uniform generators of the Brauer group and proved that general diagonal cubic surfaces do not have such generators. In this paper, we prove that a similar non-existence result holds for affine diagonal quadrics.
In this paper we deal with compactifications of affine homology $3$-cells into quadric fibrations such that the boundary divisors contain fibers. We show that all such affine homology $3$-cells are isomorphic to the affine $3$-space $\mathbb{A}^{3}$. Moreover, we show that all such compactifications can be connected by explicit elementary links preserving $\mathbb{A}^{3}$ to the projective $3$-space $\mathbb{P}^{3}$.
We study the group Tame(SL$_2$) of tame automorphisms of a smooth affine 3-dimensional quadric, which we can view as the underlying variety of SL(2,$\mathbb{C}$). We construct a square complex on which the group admits a natural cocompact action, and we prove that the complex is CAT(0) and hyperbolic. We propose two applications of this construction: We show that any finite subgroup in Tame(SL$_2$) is linearizable, and that Tame(SL$_2$) satisfies the Tits alternative.
This article provides, over any field, infinitely many algebraic embeddings of the affine spaces $\mathbb{A}^1$ and $\mathbb{A}^2$ into smooth quadrics of dimension two and three respectively, which are pairwise non-equivalent under automorphisms of the smooth quadric. Our main tools are the study of the birational morphism $\mathrm{SL}_2 \to \mathbb{A}^3$ and the fibration $\mathrm{SL}_2 \to \mathbb{A}^3 \to \mathbb{A}^1$ obtained by projections, as well as degenerations of variables of polynomial rings, and families of $\mathbb{A}^1$-fibrations.
In this article we study the subgroup of the Picard group of Voevodsky's category of geometric motives generated by the reduced motives of affine quadrics. Our main tools here are the functors of Bachmann, but we also provide an alternative method. We show that the group in question can be described in terms of indecomposable direct summands in the motives of projective quadrics. In particular, we describe all the relations among the reduced motives of affine quadrics. We also extend the Criterion of motivic equivalence of projective quadrics.
We give a description of the Hochschild cohomology for noncommutative planes (resp. quadrics) using the automorphism groups of the elliptic triples (resp. quadruples) that classify the Artin-Schelter regular $\mathbb{Z}$-algebras used to define noncommutative planes and quadrics. For elliptic triples the description of the automorphism groups is due to Bondal-Polishchuk, for elliptic quadruples it is new.
We show that the reduced motive of a smooth affine quadric is invertible as an object of the triangulated category of motives DM(k, ZZ[1/e]) (where k is a perfect field of exponential characteristic e). We also establish a motivic version of the conjectures of Po Hu on products of certain affine Pfister quadrics. Both of these results are obtained by studying a novel conservative functor on (a subcategory of) DM(k, ZZ[1/e]), the construction of which constitutes the main part of this work.
In 2006, Kawaguchi proved a lower bound for height of h(f(P)) when f is a regular affine automorphism of A^2, and he conjectured that a similar estimate is also true for regular affine automorphisms of A^n for n>2. In this paper we prove Kawaguchi's conjecture. This implies that Kawaguchi's theory of canonical heights for regular affine automorphisms of projective space is true in all dimensions.
The quadric $\operatorname{Q}_{2n}$ is the ${\mathbb Z}$-scheme defined by the equation $\sum_{i=1}^n x_i y_i = z(1-z)$. We show that $\operatorname{Q}_{2n}$ is a homogeneous space for the split reductive group scheme $\operatorname{SO}_{2n+1}$ over ${\mathbb Z}$. The quadric $\operatorname{Q}_{2n}$ is known to have the ${\mathbb A}^1$-homotopy type of a motivic sphere and the identification as a homogeneous space allows us to give a characteristic independent affine representability statement for motivic spheres. This last observation allows us to give characteristic independent comparison re…
We prove birational rigidity and calculate the group of birational automorphisms of a nodal Q-factorial double cover $X$ of a smooth three-dimensional quadric branched over a quartic section. We also prove that $X$ is Q-factorial provided that it has at most 11 singularities; moreover, we give an example of a non-Q-factorial variety of this type with 12 simple double singularities.
It is well-known that theta characteristics on smooth plane curves over a field of characteristic different from two are in bijection with certain smooth complete intersections of three quadrics. We generalize this bijection to possibly singular hypersurfaces of any dimension over arbitrary fields including those of characteristic two. It is accomplished in terms of linear orbits of tuples of symmetric matrices instead of smooth complete intersections of quadrics. As an application of our methods, we give a description of the projective automorphism groups of complete intersections of quadrics…
We study over a number field, the iterates of automorphisms of the affine space. More precisely, we are interested in the periodic and non-periodic points; for the former the questions are similar to the ones about torsion points on abelian varieties, for the latter the questions are similar to the problems on counting rational points on varieties. In order to study this problem, we define geometric invariants, which are defined thanks to the cone of divisors associated to some varieties constructed from the automorphisms. We study, in all dimension, these invariants and bound them above for o…
We construct explicitly a family of proper subgroups of the tame automorphism group of affine three-space (in any characteristic) which are generated by the affine subgroup and a non-affine tame automorphism. One important corollary is the titular result that settles negatively the open question (in characteristic zero) of whether the affine subgroup is a maximal subgroup of the tame automorphism group. We also prove that all groups of this family have the structure of an amalgamated free product of the affine group and a finite group over their intersection.
Fix a finite group $G$. We seek to classify varieties with $G$-action equivariantly birational to a representation of $G$ on affine or projective space. Our focus is odd-dimensional smooth complete intersections of two quadrics, relating the equivariant rationality problem with analogous Diophantine questions over nonclosed fields. We explore how invariants -- both classical cohomological invariants and recent symbol constructions -- control rationality in some cases.
Let $f: \mathbb{A}^2 \to \mathbb{A}^2$ be a polynomial automorphism of dynamical degree $δ\geq 2$ over a number field $K$. (This is equivalent to say that $f$ is a polynomial automorphism that is not triangularizable.) Then we construct canonical height functions defined on $\mathbb{A}^2(\bar{K})$ associated with $f$. These functions satisfy the Northcott finiteness property, and an $\bar{K}$-valued point on $\mathbb{A}^2(\bar{K})$ is $f$-periodic if and only if its height is zero. As an application of canonical height functions, we give an estimate on the number of points with bounded height …
We will consider an explicit birational map between a quadric and the projective variety X(J) of traceless rank one elements in a simple reduced Jordan algebra J. X(J) is a homogeneous G-variety for the automorphism group G=Aut(J). We will show that the birational map is a blow up followed by a blow down. This will allow us to use the blow up formula for motives together with Vishik's work on the motives of quadrics to give a motivic decomposition of X(J).
We provide explicit families of tame automorphisms of the complex affine three-space which degenerate to wild automorphisms. This shows that the tame subgroup of the group of polynomial automorphisms of $\C^3$ is not closed, when the latter is seen as an infinite dimensional algebraic group.tomorphism group of affine three-space
In this paper we show that an affine space is determined by the abstract group structure of its group of regular automorphisms in the category of connected affine varieties. To prove this we study commutative subgroups of the group of automorphisms of affine varieties.
Let K be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. We show that if the automorphisms group of a quasi-affine variety X is infinite, then X is uniruled.
We discuss a conjecture saying that derived equivalence of simply connected smooth projective varieties implies that the difference of their classes in the Grothendieck ring of varieties is annihilated by a power of the affine line class. We support the conjecture with a number of known examples, and one new example. We consider a smooth complete intersection $X$ of three quadrics in ${\mathbf P}^5$ and the corresponding double cover $Y \to {\mathbf P}^2$ branched over a sextic curve. We show that as soon as the natural Brauer class on $Y$ vanishes, so that $X$ and $Y$ are derived equivalent, …
Let f: A^N \to A^N be a regular polynomial automorphism defined over a number field K. For each place v of K, we construct the v-adic Green functions G_{f,v} and G_{f^{-1},v} (i.e., the v-adic canonical height functions) for f and f^{-1}. Next we introduce for f the notion of good reduction at v, and using this notion, we show that the sum of v-adic Green functions over all v gives rise to a canonical height function for f that satisfies the Northcott-type finiteness property. Using previous results, we recover results on arithmetic properties of f-periodic points and non f-periodic points. We…
Three-dimensional del Pezzo varieties of degree 2 are double covers of projective space $\mathbb{P}^{3}$ branced in a quadric. In this paper we prove that if a del Pezzo variety of degree 2 has exactly 15 nodes then the corresponding quadric is a hyperplane section of the Igusa quartic or, equivalently, all such del Pezzo varieties are members of one particular linear system on the Coble fourfold. Their automorphism groups are induced from the automorphism group of Coble fourfold. Also we classify all $G$-birationally rigid varieties of such type.
This paper is dedicated to the problem of infinite transitivity for algebraically generated automorphism groups of the affine plane. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition of infinite transitivity for a large family of subgroups generated by one-parameter additive groups.
We study the possible dynamical degrees of automorphisms of the affine space $\mathbb{A}^n$. In dimension $n=3$, we determine all dynamical degrees arising from the composition of an affine automorphism with a triangular one. This generalises the easier case of shift-like automorphisms which can be studied in any dimension. We also prove that each weak Perron number is the dynamical degree of an affine-triangular automorphism of the affine space $\mathbb{A}^n$ for some $n$, and we give the best possible $n$ for quadratic integers, which is either $3$ or $4$.
Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic $p>0$ and $C \to {\mathbb P}^1_k$ a $p$-cyclic cover of the projective line ramified in exactly one point. We are interested in the $p$-part of the full automorphism group $Aut_k C$. First we prove that these groups are exactly the extra-special $p$-groups and groups G which are subgroups of an extra-special group E such that $Z(E) \subseteq G$. The paper also describes an efficient algorithm to compute the $p$-part of $\Aut_k C$ starting from an Artin-Schreier equation for the cover $C \to {\mathbb P}^1_k$. The interest for t…
We show that every automorphism of the group $\mathcal{G}_n:= \textrm{Aut}(\mathbb{A}^n)$ of polynomial automorphisms of complex affine $n$-space $\mathbb{A}^n=\mathbb{C}^n$ is inner up to field automorphisms when restricted to the subgroup $T \mathcal{G}_n$ of tame automorphisms. This generalizes a result of \textsc{Julie Deserti} who proved this in dimension $n=2$ where all automorphisms are tame: $T \mathcal{G}_2 = \mathcal{G}_2$.
We describe a family of rational affine surfaces S with huge groups of automorphisms in the following sense: the normal subgroup of Aut(S) generated by all its algebraic subgroups is not generated by any countable family of such subgroups, and the quotient of Aut(S) by this subgroup contains a free group over an uncountable set of generators.
We associate to each automorphism of the plane, a geometric construction with some properties, it is the {\it{canonical resolution}}. We study the geometry of the canonical resolution, we deduce from it an upper bound for a geometric invariant (the ample index) linked to an automorphism of the affine plane and we link the structure of the effective cone of the surface we get to values of another geometric invariant (the effective index).
We prove that, in characteristic zero, closed subgroups of the polynomial automorphisms group containing the affine group contain the whole tame group.
We describe the conjugacy classes of affine automorphisms in the group $Aut(n,\K)$ (respectively $Bir(\K^n)$) of automorphisms (respectively of birational maps) of $\K^n$. From this we deduce also the classification of conjugacy classes of automorphisms of $\Pn$ in the Cremona group $Bir(\K^n)$.
Let $G$ be a connected reductive algebraic group. In this note we prove that for a quasi-affine $G$-spherical variety the weight monoid is determined by the weights of its non-trivial $\mathbb{G}_a$-actions that are homogeneous with respect to a Borel subgroup of $G$. As an application we get that a smooth affine $G$-spherical variety that is non-isomorphic to a torus is determined by its automorphism group inside the category of smooth affine irreducible varieties.
We prove that every biregular automorphism of the affine algebraic variety ${\mathbb P}^M\setminus S$, $M\geqslant 3$, where $S\subset {\mathbb P}^M$ is a hypersurface of degree $m\geqslant M+1$ with a unique singular point of multiplicity $(m-1)$, resolved by one blow up, is a restriction of some automorphism of the projective space ${\mathbb P}^M$, preserving the hypersurface $S$; in particular, for a general hypersurface $S$ the group $\mathop{\rm Aut} ({\mathbb P}^M\setminus S)$ is trivial.
In this paper we prove that if two normal affine surfaces $S$ and $S'$ have isomorphic automorphism groups, then every connected algebraic group acting regularly and faithfully on $S$ acts also regularly and faithfully on $S'$. Moreover, if $S$ is non-toric, we show that the dynamical type of a 1-torus action is preserved in presence of an additive group action. We also show that complex affine toric surfaces are determined by the abstract group structure of their regular automorphism groups in the category of complex normal affine surfaces using properties of the Cremona group. As a generaliz…
In the group of polynomial automorphisms of the plane, the conjugacy class of an element is closed if and only if the element is diagonalisable. In this article, we show that this does not hold for the group of special automorphisms, giving then a first step towards the direction of showing that this group is not simple, as an infinite-dimensional algebraic group.
In this paper we classify three-dimensional singular cubic hypersurfaces with an action of a finite group $G$, which are not $G$-rational, are not $G$-birationally isomorphic to a quadric and have no birational structure of $G$-Mori fiber space with the base of positive dimension. Also we prove the $A_{5}$ -birational superrigidity of the Segre cubic.
Let X be an affine toric variety. The total coordinates on X provide a canonical presentation of X as a quotient of a vector space by a linear action of a quasitorus. We prove that the orbits of the connected component of the automorphism group Aut(X) on X coincide with the Luna strata defined by the canonical quotient presentation.
