Rational real algebraic models of topological surfaces (Q2469676)

A real algebraic model \(X\) of a smooth differentiable manifold \(M\) is a nonsingular real algebraic variety whose set of real points \(X(\mathbb{R})\) is diffeomorphic to \(M\). Two such models \(X\) and \(Y\) of the same \(M\) are isomorphic if and only if there exists a birational map \(X \dasharrow Y\), defined over \(\mathbb{R}\), whose restriction \(X(\mathbb{R}) \to Y(\mathbb{R})\) is a diffeomorphism. The paper under review proved that any rational real algebraic surface admits a unique rational real algebraic model up to isomorphism. This fact was known before only for the projective plane, the sphere and the torus (classical) and was proved for the Klein bottle by the reviewer [Adv. Geom. 6, 199--213 (2006; Zbl 1097.14045)]. The proof is based mainly on Theorem 5.4. Let \(X=\mathbb{P}^1\times\mathbb{P}^1\), the group of algebraic automorphisms of \(X(\mathbb{R})\) (denoted by \(\text{Diff}_{\mathrm{alg}}\) in the paper) acts \(n\)-transitively on \(X(\mathbb{R})\) for any \(n\). However, Conjecture 1.4 asserts that for any rational real algebraic surface \(X\), the group \(\text{Diff}_{\mathrm{alg}}(X(\mathbb{R}))\) acts \(n\)-transitively on \(X(\mathbb{R})\) for all \(n\). This conjecture is now proved [\textit{J. Huisman} and the reviewer, The group of automorphisms of a real rational surface is \(n\)-transitive, to appear], where a shorter proof of the unicity of rational real algebraic models is also given.