Del Pezzo surfaces of degree 6 (Q1774279)

A del Pezzo surface over a field \(k\) is a smooth rational surface \(X\) with anticanonical sheaf \(\omega_{X}^{-1}\) ample. The degree of a del Pezzo surface \(X\) is the positive integer \(d=\omega_{X} \cdot \omega_{X}\). It is well known that \(1\leq d\leq 9\). A surface \(X\) over a field \(L\) is said a Severi-Brauer surface if \(X\) becomes isomorphic to the projective plane over an algebraic closure of \(L\). The main result of the paper under review gives a way to describe del Pezzo surfaces of degree \(6\) over a field of characteristic \(0\), via a correspondence with Severi-Brauer surfaces which can be understood in an explicit way if \(k\) is e.g. a number field. Specifically, the author proves the following Theorem. Giving a del Pezzo surface of degree 6 over a field \(k\) of characteristic zero is equivalent to giving the following data: 1) an étale algebra \(L\) of degree 2 over \(k\); 2) a Severi-Brauer surface \(X\) over \(L\) such \({}^{\sigma}X=X^{\text{op}}\), where \(\sigma\) generates Gal\((L/k)\), \(X^{\text{op}}\) is the variety corresponding to the central simple algebra opposite to the one corresponding to \(X\); 3) a subscheme \(P\) of \(X\) consisting of three geometric non-collinear points. Moreover, two del Pezzo surfaces \(S_{i}\) corresponding to \(L_{i}\), \(X_{i}\), and \(P_{i}\) (i=1,2) are isomorphic if and only if \(L_{1}\cong L_{2}\) and there is an isomorphism \(X_{1} \to X_{2}\) such that \(P_{1}\) maps isomorphically onto \(P_{2}\).