On the nilpotent subgroups of the Cremona group (Q2462265)

The Cremona group \(\text{ Bir}(\mathbb{P}^2)\) is the group of birational transformations of the complex plane. The author studies the nilpotents subgroups of this group. Recall that for a group \(G\), we write \(G^{(0)}:=G\) and \(G^{(i)}:=[G,G^{(i-1)}]\) for \(i>1\). A group \(G\) is nilpotent of length \(n\) if \(G^{(n)}\) is trivial, and is strongly nilpotent of length \(n\) if it nilpotent of length \(n\) and not virtually of length \(n-1\). The main result of the article under review is the following: Let \(N\) be a subgroup of the Cremona group which strongly nilpotent of length \(k>1\). Then, either \(N\) is virtually metabelian or \(N\) is a torsion group. A consequence of this result is that no subgroup of \(\text{ SL}(n,\mathbb Z)\) of finite index embed into \(\text{ Bir}(\mathbb{P}^2)\) if \(n\geq 5\). A more precise result (\(n\geq 4\)) was proved in [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2006, No. 11, Article ID 71701, 27 p. (2006; Zbl 1119.22007)], with more complicate methods.