Finite collineation groups and birational rigidity (Q2009278)

A finite subgroup \(G\) in the automorphism group Aut\((\mathbb P^3)=\mathrm{PGL}_4(\mathbb C)\) is said to be birationnally rigid if it cannot be birationnally transformed to an automorphism group of a Mori fiber space distinct from \(\mathbb P^3\). Similarly the subgroup \(G\) is birationnally superrigid if moreover any \(G\)-birational map from \(\mathbb P^3\) to \(\mathbb P^3\) is an automorphism. The main result of this paper is a characterization of birationnally rigid subgroups \(G \subset\mathrm{PGL}_4(\mathbb C)\): such a group is birationnally rigid if and only if \(G\) is primitive and is not isomorphic to the symmetric group \(S_5\) or the alternate group \(A_5\). Here primitive refers to a classical notion in the study of finite collineation groups, and in geometric terms means that \(G\) does not fix a point, does not preserve a line or an union of two skew lines, and does not admit an orbit of size 4. The authors also obtain a characterization of birationnally superrigid subgroups, where the statement is similar with a longer list of explicit exceptions.