Symmetries of order four on \(K3\) surfaces (Q2351870)

Let \(X\) be a \(K3\) surface over \(\mathbb C\) and let \(\sigma\in\) Aut\((X)\) an automorphism of order 4. The automorphism \(\sigma\) is called \textit{symplectic} if its action on \(H^2(X,\mathbb Z)\) is trivial, \textit{with symplectic square} if it acts as the multiplication by \(-1\) and \textit{purely non-symplectic} if it acts as multiplication by \(\pm i\). The paper deals with purely non-symplectic automorphisms of order 4 on a \(K3\) surface and it gives classification and examples of many of the possible cases of the fixed locus of it. In particular, let \(\mathrm{Fix}(\sigma)\) be the fixed locus of the purely non-symplectic automorphism of order 4 \(\sigma\) and let \(r\) (resp. \(l\)) be the rank of the eigenspace of \(\sigma^*\) in \(H^2(X,\mathbb Z)\) with eigenvalue 1 (resp. \(-1\)). It is shown in the paper that \(\mathrm{Fix}(\sigma)\) is the disjoint union of smooth curves and isolated fixed points and that the topological invariants of \(\mathrm{Fix}(\sigma)\) are related to \(r\) and \(l\). Now let \((r,k,a,g)\) be the invariants associated to \(\sigma\), where \(k\) is the number of smooth rational curves in \(\mathrm{Fix}(\sigma)\), \(g\geq 0\) is the maximum genus of curves in \(\mathrm{Fix}(\sigma)\) and \(2a\) is the number of rational curves in \(\mathrm{Fix}(\sigma^2)\) that are exchanged by \(\sigma\). The main result of the paper completely classifies the possibilities for \((r,k,a,g)\) when \(\mathrm{Fix}(\sigma)\) contains a curve of positive genus and when it contains at least a curve and all curves fixed by \(\sigma^2\) are rational. In these cases examples are provided for all the possible configurations of \(\mathrm{Fix}(\sigma)\). Moreover, the authors present the possibilities when \(\mathrm{Fix}(\sigma)\) contains only isolated fixed points and when \(l=0\) (which implies that \(a=0\)). In these hypothesis, a partial classification is provided, together with many examples. Finally, the remaining cases are illustrated with examples and partial results.