Homogeneous locally nilpotent derivations of \(k[X,Y,Z]\) (Q1295526)

Let \(k\) be a field of characteristic zero and let \(A\) be the polynomial ring \(k[X,Y,Z]\), equipped with an \(\mathbb{N}\)-grading in which \(\deg X=a\), \(\deg Y=b\) and \(\deg Z=c\) for some \(a,b,c\in \mathbb{N}\) with \(\text{gcd}(a,b,c)=1\). The author classifies the homogeneous locally nilpotent derivations of \(A\). The kernel \(K\) of such a derivation \(D\) is known to be of the form \(k[f,g]\), where \(f,g\in A\) are homogeneous and algebraically independent, and, by an earlier result of the author [\textit{D. Daigle}, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 114, No. 3, 221-230 (1997; Zbl 0885.13003)], \(D=a\Delta\) for some nonzero \(a\in K\), where, for \(b\in A\), \(\Delta(b)\) is the Jacobian determinant \(|\partial(f,g,b)/\partial(X,Y,Z)|\). The main result of the present paper establishes the following necessary and sufficient condition on two homogeneous polynomials \(f,g\in A\) for \(k[f,g]\) to be the kernel of a homogeneous locally nilpotent derivation: \(f,g\) are irreducible and the algebraic surface \({\mathbb P}^2\backslash V(fg)\) is isomorphic to \({\mathbb P}^2\) minus two lines, where \(V(fg)\) is the union of the curves \(f=0\) and \(g=0\) in \({\mathbb P}^2\). An infinite family of examples, in which \(\deg f=2\leq \deg g\), is discussed without proof. For these examples, the derivation \(D\) has rank \(3\) in the sense of \textit{G. Freudenburg} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 105, No. 3, 267-275 (1995; Zbl 0857.14024)]. In other words, there is no coordinate system \(X_1,X_2,X_3\) for \(A\) in which \(D(X_3)=0\).