Coble fourfold, \(\mathfrak{S}_6\)-invariant quartic threefolds, and Wiman-Edge sextics (Q2305970)

The authors construct two small resolutions of singularities of the Coble fourfold which is the double cover of the four dimensional projective space branched over the Igusa quartic. One small resolution is the blowing-up of the product of two projective planes at four general points and another one is a \(\mathbb{P}^2\)-bundle over the quintic del Pezzo surface. They use them to show that all \(\mathcal{S}_6\)-invariant three-dimensional quartics are birational to conic bundles over the quintic del Pezzo surface with the discriminant curves from the Wiman-Edge pencil. Moreover, they obtain new proofs of rationality of four special quartics defined by \[ \sum_{i=1}^6 x_i^4-t(\sum_{i=1}^6 x_i^2)^2=0,~ t=1/2, 1/4, 1/6, 7/10, \] by showing that the conic bundle can be transformed birationally into the product of quintic del Pezzo surface with \(\mathbb{P}^1\), and irrationality of the other \(t\)'s by the description of the intermediate Jacobian of a resolution of singularities via the Prym variety arising from the conic bundle. Those methods are different from \textit{A. Beauville}'s original ones [Rend. Semin. Mat., Univ. Politec. Torino 71, No. 3--4, 385--388 (2013; Zbl 1327.14220)].