Automorphisms of Fermat-like varieties (Q1598151)

Let \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^r\) be a projective algebraic variety, defined over an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(p \geq 0\), and let \(\text{Aut}(X)\) be the group of automorphisms of \(X\). In this paper, the author studies \(\text{Aut}(X)\), where \(X\) is a Fermat-like variety. Among its main results, we may cite the following. If \(X\) is the projective hypersurface defined by an irreducible homogeneous polynomial of the form \(\sum_{i = 1} ^r X_{i}^{n_{i}} X_{0}^{n_0 - n_{i}} + X_{0}^{n_0}\), where \(n_{i} > 1\) and \(p\) does not divide \(n_{i}\) for all \(i = 0, \ldots , r\), then the author proves that \(\text{Aut}(X)\) is a direct sum of groups, where each summand is either the identity, or a finite cyclic group, or the semidirect product of a finite cyclic group by a symmetric group, or a projective unitary group; all of these groups being determined in the text. If \(X\) is the intersection of two hypersurfaces defined by polynomials of the type \(\sum_{i = 0}^r X_{i}^m\) then \(\text{Aut}(X)\) is the intersection of the automorphism groups of the two hypersurfaces, provided that the degree of each hypersurface is not a multiple of \(p\) and \(r > 4\) (or, if \(r = 4\), provided also that the sum of the degrees of the hypersurfaces is not five). The author also studies \(\text{Aut}(X)\) in other cases, e.g. when \(X\) is defined by a polynomial of the type \(\sum_{\rho, \lambda} a_{\rho \lambda} X_{\rho} X^q_{\lambda}\), where \(q\) is a power of the characteristic and \((a_{\rho \lambda})\) is a \((r + 1)\times(r+1)\) matrix with entries in the base field.