Geometry of the Wiman-Edge pencil. I: Algebro-geometric aspects (Q1999429)

In the early 1980s \textit{W. L. Edge} constructed a pencil of plane sextic curves admitting an \(A_5\) action [Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 89, 413--421 (1981; Zbl 0466.51020); Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 90, 239--249 (1981; Zbl 0469.14014)], one of whose members is a plane sextic admitting an \(S_5\) action due to \textit{A. Wiman} [Math. Ann. 48, 195--240 (1897; JFM 30.0600.01)]. The pencil \(C_{\lambda}: \lambda P + Q=0\) is defined by the highly symmetric equations \(P=\Pi_{i=0}^2 (x_i^2-x_{i+1(\text{mod} 3)}^2)\) and \(Q = \sum x_i^6 + (\sum x_i^2)(\sum x_i^4) - 12 \Pi x_i^2\): Wiman's sextic is given by \(\lambda=0\). While Edge's study of this pencil is written in the style of 19th century mathematics with explicit equations, the paper under review is the first of two exploring the surprising geometry of the Wiman-Edge pencil from a modern perspective, using algebraic geometry, representation theory, hyperbolic and conformal geometry. The pencil \(C_{\lambda}\) has basepoints \((0:0:1),(0:1:0),(0:0:1),(1:1:1)\). Letting \(\pi:S \to \mathbb P^2\) be the blow up at these points, Edge viewed the pencil in the resulting degree 5 del Pezzo surface \(S\). Thus in section 2 the authors collect results on quintic del Pezzo surfaces, including the isomorphism \(\text{Aut} S \cong S_5\), the \(10\) lines on \(S\) (whose incidence is given by the Peterson graph), the modular interpretation of \(S\) as the Deligne-Mumford moduli space \(\overline {\mathfrak M}_{0,5}\) of stable rational 5-pointed curves, the representation spaces of \(S_5\), and the Plücker embedding of \(S\) into the Grassmann variety of lines in \(\mathbb P^4\). In section 3 they introduce the Edge-Wiman pencil, showing that its smooth fibers define the universal family of genus \(6\) curves endowed with a faithful \(A_5\) action. There are exactly five singular fibers: (a) the union of the 10 lines on \(S\); (b) two curves, each of which is a union of 5 conics with complete incidence graph; (c) two curves, each of which is rational with six nodes. They also describe the \(S_5\) orbits in \(\overline {\mathfrak M}_{0,5}\), recovering a list of \textit{A. B. Coble} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 9, 396--424 (1908; JFM 39.0165.01)] and explain the connection to the lines on the Dwork pencil of Calabi-Yau quintic threefolds [\textit{D. Zagier}, J. Differ. Geom. 97, 177--189 (2014; Zbl 1328.14069)]. The next two sections investigate a problem of \textit{J. Rauschning} and \textit{P. Slodowy} [Can. Math. Bull. 45, No. 4, 686--696 (2002; Zbl 1060.14064)], namely the description of an \(A_5\)-equivariant projection of the Wiman-Edge pencil to the Klein plane realizing an irreducible 2-dimensional projective representation of \(A_5\). Thus in section 4 they examine global aspects of two \(A_5\)-equivariant projections \(p:S \to P\) and \(p^\prime: S \to P^\prime\) to Klein planes, explaining a relation between the pencil and symmetries of the icosahedron seen in work of \textit{F. Klein} [Vorlesungen über das Ikosaeder und die Auflösung der Gleichungen vom fünften Grade. Leipzig: Teubner (1884; JFM 16.0061.01)]. They use the Thom-Boardman polynomial for cusp singularities [\textit{R. Rimányi}, Invent. Math. 143, No. 3, 499--521 (2001; Zbl 0985.32012)] to show that the ramification curve of \(p\) is one of the singular irreducible members of the Wiman-Edge pencil. In section 5 they examine projections of special members of the pencil under the projection, for example the \textit{Klein decimic} and the \textit{Winger decimic} [\textit{R. M. Winger}, Math. Ann. 93, 210--216 (1925; JFM 51.0120.01)]. In the last section they connect the \(S_5\) orbit space of \({\overline {\mathfrak M}}_{0,5}\) to the associated invariant theory.