On the periods of Enriques surfaces. I (Q1239201)

An Enriques surface \(S\) (over \(\mathbb C\)) admits a \(K3\) surface \(T\) as its universal covering, and \(T\) is 2-sheeted over \(S\). Hence, \(S\) can be identified with a pair \((T,I)\), where \(I\) is an involution on \(T\) without fixed point. Integrating a non-zero 2-form \(\omega\) on \(T\) over 2-cycles on \(T\), we obtain the period of \(T\). This is considered the period \(\lambda(S)\) of \(S\). The existence of \(I\) implies that the integrals vanish for 10 independent cycles among 22 of them. In view of Riemann-Hodge's bilinear relation, the period can be identified with a point of a bounded symmetric domain \(D\) modulo the action of an arithmetic group \(\Gamma\) acting on \(D\). More precisely, let \(\Lambda=H_2(T,Z)\) and let \(\tau\) be the involution induced on \(\Lambda\) by \(I\). Then (-1)-eigenspace \(\Lambda(-1)\) of \(\tau\) is a lattice of rank 12 together with a quadratic form of signature \((2,10)\). The above \(D\) is the hermitian symmetric domain associated to the orthogonal group of \(\Lambda(-1)\), while \(\Gamma\) is the group of automorphisms of \(\Lambda(-1)\) which are induced by those automorphisms of \(\Lambda\) commuting with \(\tau\). The main theorem of the present paper under review is that the isomorphism class of the Enriques surface \(S\) is uniquely determined by its period \(\lambda(S)\). The proof uses the analogous result of \textit{I. I. Piatetski-Shapiro} and \textit{I. R. Shafarevich} [Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Mat. 35, 530--572 (1971; Zbl 0219.14021)]