Centralizers in the Jonquières group (Q1931925)

There is a strong dichotomy among polynomial automorphisms of the complex plane, due to \textit{S. Friedlander} and \textit{J. Milnor} [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 9, No. 1, 67--99 (1989; Zbl 0651.58027)]: if \(f\) is such an automorphism, then either \(\lambda(f)>1\) or \(\lambda(f)=1\). In the first case, \(f\) is conjugate to a product of Henon maps, and its centralizer is an extension of \(\mathbb{Z}\) by a finite group \(\mathbb{Z}/N\mathbb{Z}\), hence countable. If \(\lambda(f)=1\), \(f\) is conjugate to an elementary automorphism and its centralizer is uncountable. For birational transformations of the projective plane, the dynamical classification is due to \textit{J. Diller} and \textit{C. Favre} [Am. J. Math. 123, No. 6, 1135--1169 (2001; Zbl 1112.37308)] and goes as follows: the sequence \((\lambda(f^ n))_{n>0}\) is either asymptotically bounded, linear, quadratic or exponential. In the bounded case but for transformations of infinite order, the classification of the centralizers has been achieved by \textit{J. Blanc} and \textit{J. Déserti} [``Degree growth of birational maps of the plane'', \url{arxiv:1109.6810}]. In the quadratic case, standard considerations about elliptic surfaces allow to prove that the centralizers of such birational maps are virtually abelian. Recently, \textit{J. Blanc} and \textit{S. Cantat} [``Dynamical degrees of birational transformations of projective surfaces'', \url{arxiv:1307.0361}] proved that the centralizers of elements of exponential type were infinite and virtually cyclic (i.e., they contain \(\mathbb{Z}\) as a finite-index subgroup). The aim of the present paper is to complete the description of the centralizers of elements in the Cremona group by dealing with the linear case. Recall that birational maps with linear degree growth preserve a rational fibration. If \(\varphi\) is such a map and \(\mathrm{Ab}(\varphi)\) is the maximal abelian subgroup containing \(\varphi\) and preserving the \(\varphi\)-invariant fibration, the authors prove that the centralizer of \(\varphi\) is an extension of \(\mathrm{Ab}(\varphi)\) by a finite group. A complete classification of possible conjugacy classes of \(\varphi\) is also provided, with the corresponding centralizers.