Flexible bundles over rigid affine surfaces (Q2339706)

A complex affine variety \(X\) is rigid if it does not admit a non-trivial algebraic action of \(G_a= (\mathbb{C}, +)\). In this paper the author constructs an example of a smooth rational rigid affine surface \(S\) such that \(S\times\mathbb{A}^2\) has \(G_a\) actions apart from the obvious ones. \(S\) is a suitable open subset of a smooth cubic surface in \(\mathbb{P}^3\). The cylinder \(S\times\mathbb{A}^2\) has the further property that at every point \(x\) outside a codimension 2 closed subvariety, the tangent space of \(S\times\mathbb{A}^2\) is generated by tangents to \(G_a\) orbits passing through \(x\) for various \(G_a\) actions on \(S\times\mathbb{A}^2\). If the cubic surface is chosen general enough then \(\Aut(S)\) is \(\mathbb{Z}/(2)\), but \(\Aut(S\times\mathbb{A}^2)\) acts infinitely transitively outside a codimension two subvariety of \(S\times\mathbb{A}^2\).