We study finite $p$-subgroups of birational automorphism groups. By virtue of boundedness theorem of Fano varieties, we prove that there exists a constant $R(n)$ such that a rationally connected variety of dimension $n$ over an algebraically closed field is rational if its birational automorphism group contains a $p$-subgroups of maximal rank for $p > R(n)$. Some related applications on Jordan property are discussed.
We improve a result of Prokhorov and Shramov on the rank of finite $p$-subgroups of the birational automorphism group of a rationally connected variety. Known examples show that they are sharp in many cases.
We give an explicit description of the divisor class groups of rational trinomial varieties. As an application, we relate the iteration of Cox rings of any rational variety with torus action of complexity one to that of a Du Val surface.
We classify compact Riemann surfaces of genus $g$, where $g-1$ is a prime $p$, which have a group of automorphisms of order $rho(g-1)$ for some integer $rhoge 1$, and determine isogeny decompositions of the corresponding Jacobian varieties. This extends results of Belolipetzky and the second author for $rho>6$, and of the first and third authors for $rho=3, 4, 5$ and $6$. As a corollary we classify the orientably regular hypermaps (including maps) of genus $p+1$, together with the non-orientable regular hypermaps of characteristic $-p$, with automorphism group of order divisible by the prime $p$; this extends results of Conder, v Sirav n and Tucker for maps.
In this paper we study the existence of sections of universal bundles on rational homogeneous varieties -- called nestings -- classifying them completely in the case in which the Lie algebra of the automorphism group of the variety is simple of classical type. In particular we show that, under this hypothesis, nestings do not exist unless there exists a proper algebraic subgroup of the automorphism group acting transitively on the base variety.
We show that if a group automorphism of a Cremona group of arbitrary rank is also a homeomorphism with respect to either the Zariski or the Euclidean topology, then it is inner up to a field automorphism of the base-field. Moreover, we show that a similar result holds if we consider groups of polynomial automorphisms of affine spaces instead of Cremona groups.