On Cremona transformations of prime order (Q1887019)

The Cremona group \(\text{Bir}({\mathbb P}^2)\) has been studied for a long time. Their modern treatment, using Mori theory, has been done in \textit{L. Bayle} and \textit{A. Beauville} [Asian J Math 4, 11--17 (2000; Zbl 1055.14012)] (order \(n = 2\)), \textit{D.-Q. Zhang} [J. Algebra 238, 560--589 (2001; Zbl 1057.14053)] (general \(n\)) and \textit{T. de Fernex} [Nagoya Math. J. 174, 1--28 (2004; Zbl 1062.14019)] (more general surfaces). The article under review answers a question in de Fernex's paper (page 8, theorem E) by showing that the order-5 element in [ibid., example E4] is conjugate to a linear automorphism of \({\mathbb P}^2\). Thus it is concluded that every non-linear element of order 5 in Bir\(({\mathbb P}^2)\) is conjugate to a unique element given in [ibid, example E3]. As a consequence of the de Fernex's classification and the result of the current article, it is true that a birational transformation of prime order is not conjugate to a linear automorphism if and only if it fixes an irrational curve (not true for non-prime order case).