On the existence of birational surjective parametrizations of affine surfaces (Q1703212)

A rational parametrization of an algebraic variety \(V\) is a rational generic point for the corresponding prime ideal. So it is a birational map between a full space and the variety. If such a birational map exists, the variety \(V\) is called rational. A birational map need not be surjective or injective at every point, but at almost every point; i.e. we allow for an exceptional locus of lower dimension. The variety \(V\) is the Zariski closure of the image of the birational map. In this paper, the authors consider the case of a complex surface \(S\) whose projective closure is smooth. It turns out that a necessary condition for \(S\) to admit a birational surjective parametrization from an open subset of the affine complex plane is that the intersection of \(S\) with the plane at infinity must contain at least one rational component. The study of rational surfaces and also the decision of rationality have important consequences for instance in computer aided geometric design and the symbolic solution of algebraic differential equations.