On orbits of the automorphism group on an affine toric variety (Q386371): Difference between revisions

Let \(X\) be an affine toric variety. The automorphism group \(\text{Aut}(X)\) is in general an infinite-dimensional algebraic group. One may define its connected part \(\text{Aut}^0(X)\) as the union of algebraic families of automorphisms based over a rational curve and containing the identity map. It turns out that \(\text{Aut}^0(X)\) is the kernel of the action of \(\text{Aut}(X)\) on \(\text{Cl}(X)\). If \(X\) is non-degenerate, i.e., there are no non-constant invertible regular functions on \(X\), then the Cox ring \(R(X)\) is a polynomial ring [\textit{D. A. Cox}, J. Algebr. Geom. 4, No. 1, 17--50 (1995; Zbl 0846.14032); erratum ibid. 23, No. 2, 393--398 (2014; Zbl 1285.14055)] and there is a canonical quotient presentation \(\pi_H:V:=\text{Spec}R(X)\to V/\!\!/H:=\text{Spec}R(X)^H\simeq X\), where \(H=\text{Hom}(\text{Cl}(X),\mathbb{K}^{\times})\) is the Néron--Severi quasitorus [\textit{I. Arzhantsev} et al., Cox rings. Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics 144. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2015; Zbl 1360.14001)] acting linearly on the vector space \(V\). (The degenerate case is easily reduced to the non-degenerate one.) The quotient variety \(X=V/\!\!/H\) carries on Luna's stratification by the orbit type of the unique closed orbit in a fiber of \(\pi_H\) [\textit{D. Luna}, Bull. Soc. Math. Fr., Suppl., Mém. 33, 81--105 (1973; Zbl 0286.14014)]. The main result of the article states that the Luna strata on \(X\) coincide with the orbits of \(\text{Aut}^0(X)\), i.e., Luna's stratification is intrinsic in this case [\textit{J. Kuttler} and \textit{Z. Reichstein}, Ann. Inst. Fourier 58, No. 2, 689--721 (2008; Zbl 1145.14047)]. The proof is based on an observation that, for any \(x\in X\), the set of characters of \(H\) equal to \(1\) on the stabilizer of the closed orbit in \(\pi_H^{-1}(x)\) is identified with the subgroup \(\text{Cl}_x(X)\subset\text{Cl}(X)\) consisting of divisor classes which can be moved apart from \(x\). It then follows that \(\text{Aut}^0(X)\) preserves the Luna strata. On the other hand, if \(\text{Cl}_x(X)=\text{Cl}_y(X)\), then one can show that \(x\) and \(y\) are in one and the same orbit of a subgroup in \(\text{Aut}^0(X)\) generated by the acting torus and the one-parameter unipotent subgroups corresponding to the Demazure roots [\textit{I. Bazhov}, Beitr. Algebra Geom. 54, No. 2, 471--481 (2013; Zbl 1327.14224)]. This completes the proof. In particular, the principal stratum of \(X\) coincides with the smooth locus \(X^{\text{reg}}\) and is a single orbit of \(\text{Aut}^0(X)\). An example shows that, even if the singular locus \(X^{\text{sing}}\) is smooth itself, \(\text{Aut}^0(X)\) may have several orbits on \(X^{\text{sing}}\).