The real plane Cremona group is an amalgamated product (Q2115467)

Let \(k\) be any field. The group \(\mathrm{Cr}_n(k)\) is the group of birational automorphisms of \(\mathbb{P}^n_k\) or equivalently the group of \(k\)-isomorphisms of the function field \(k(x_1,\ldots, x_n)\). \(\mathrm{Cr}_k(1)\) is the group or automorphisms of \(\mathbb{P}_k^1\) and hence isomorphic to \(\mathrm{PGL}(2,k)\). \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(k)\) has been extensively studied over \(k=\mathbb{C}\) but is still not well understood. For \(n\geq 3\), very little is known about \(\mathrm{Cr}_n(k)\). If \(k=\mathbb{C}\), then by a theorem of Noether-Castelnuovo, \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(\mathbb{C})\) is generated by \(\mathrm{Aut}(\mathbb{P}^2)\) and the quadratic transformation \(\tau\) given by \(\tau([x,y,z])=[yz,xz,xy]\). In this paper the authors study the real Cremona group \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(\mathbb{R})\). Let \(\mathcal{J}_{\ast}\) be the subgroup of \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(\mathbb{R})\) consisting of the birational automorphisms of \(\mathbb{P}^2_{\mathbb{R}}\) preserving the pencil of lines through the point \([0,0,1]\) and \(\mathcal{J}_0\) be the the subgroup of \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(\mathbb{R})\) consisting of the birational automorphisms of \(\mathbb{P}^2_{\mathbb{R}}\) preserving the pencil of conics through the points \(p_1, \bar{p}_1,p_2,\bar{p}_2\), where \(p_1=[1,i,0]\) and \(p_2=[0,1,i]\). Then by [\textit{J. Blanc} and \textit{F. Mangolte}, Springer Proc. Math. Stat. 79, 35--58 (2014; Zbl 1327.14067)], \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(\mathbb{R})\) is generated by \(\mathrm{Aut}(\mathbb{P}^2)\), \(\mathcal{J}_{\ast}\) and \(\mathcal{J}_0\). The main result of this paper is the following. Let \(G_1\) be the subgroup of \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(\mathbb{R})\) generated by \(\mathrm{Aut}(\mathbb{P}^2_{\mathbb{R}})\) and \(\mathcal{J}_{\ast}\) and \(G_2\) be the subgroup of \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(\mathbb{R})\) generated by \(\mathrm{Aut}(\mathbb{P}^2_{\mathbb{R}})\) and \(\mathcal{J}_{0}\). Let \(H\) be the subgroup of \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(\mathbb{R})\) generated by \(\mathrm{Aut}(\mathbb{P}^2_{\mathbb{R}})\) and the involution \([x,y,z]\mapsto [xz,yz,x^2+y^2]\). Then \(\mathrm{Cr}_2(\mathbb{R})\) is the amalgamated product \(G_1\ast_H G_2\). The proof of the main theorems rely on the description from [\textit{S. Lamy} and \textit{S. Zimmermann}, J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 22, No. 10, 3133--3173 (2020; Zbl 1456.14019)] of elementary relations among so-called Sarkisov links, into which any real birational map of \(\mathbb{P}^2_{\mathbb{R}}\) decomposes.