Real forms of some Gizatullin surfaces and Koras-Russell threefolds (Q6165226)

In the paper under review, the authors study the real forms of two families of varieties: \begin{itemize} \item Danielewski surfaces, which have equation of the form \(xy-p(z)=0\) in \(\mathbb A^3_{\mathbb C}\) \item Koras-Russel threefolds, which have equation of the form \(x^d y+z^k+x+t^{\ell}=0\) in \(\mathbb A^4_{\mathbb C}\) for \(d\geq 2\), \(2\leq k<\ell\), \(k,\ell\) relatively prime. \end{itemize} A \textit{real form} of a complex algebraic variety is a real algebraic variety \(Y\) whose complexification is isomorphic to \(X\). A complex algebraic variety can admit non-isomorphic real form. An easy example, treated in the paper, is the one of \(\mathbb A^1_{\mathbb C}\setminus\{0\}\), which has three non-isomorphic real forms: \[ \Gamma_1=\{xy-1=0\}\quad \Gamma_2=\{x^2+y^2-1=0\}\quad \Gamma_3=\{x^2+y^2+1=0\} \] whose real loci are \(\Gamma_1(\mathbb R)\cong \mathbb A^1_{\mathbb R}\setminus\{0\}\), \(\Gamma_2(\mathbb R)\cong S^1\) and \(\Gamma_3(\mathbb R)=\emptyset\). Concerning Danielewski surfaces, the authors prove that they can have either 2, 3, 4, or 6 non-isomorphic real forms, and exhibit a representative for each class. This result fills a gap in the study of Gizatullin surfaces. A Gizatullin surface is an affine surface \(S\) whose boundary divisor \(\overline S\setminus S\) is a chain of \(r+1\) rational curves. If \(r=0\), the only possibility is \(\mathbb A^2_{\mathbb C}\). Danielewski surfaces correspond to \(r=1\). The second-named author proved that there are Gizatullin surfaces with \(r=2\) and uncountably many non-isomorphic real forms. In the second part of the paper, the authors prove that Koras-Russel threefolds have a unique real form modulo isomorphism.