The \textit{XJC}-correspondence (Q2629835)

The paper under review establishes a correspondence between three sets of objects: {\parindent=0.7cm\begin{itemize}\item[--] \(n\)-dimensional varieties that are 3-rationally connected by cubics; \item[--] \(n\)-dimensional Jordan algebras of rank 3; and \item[--] quadro-quadric Cremona transformations of \(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}\). \end{itemize}} This correspondence respects the natural equivalence relations in the three sets. A variety \(X\) is 3-rationally connected by cubics if for all 3 general points in \(X\) there is a cubic curve contained in \(X\) passing through the points. A Jordan algebra is a commutative complex algebra \(J\) such that for all \(x,y\in J\) \[ x^2(xy)=x(x^2 y). \] The rank of \(J\) is the complex dimension of \(<x>\) for \(x\) in a Zariski open set of \(J\). A quadro-quadric Cremona transformation of \(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}\) is a birational map \[ F: \mathbb{P}^{n-1}\dasharrow \mathbb{P}^{n-1} \] such that the coordinates of \(F\) and \(F^{-1}\) are homogeneous polynomials of degree 2. The functions between the three sets are given explicitly. Previous works of the authors on the subject are [\textit{L. Pirio} and \textit{F. Russo} , Ann. Inst. Fourier 64, No. 1, 71--111 (2014; Zbl 1310.14021); Int. J. Math. 24, No. 13, Article ID 1350105, 33 p. (2013; Zbl 1311.14017)]. One of the goals of these works was giving new examples of quadro-quadric Cremona transformations. In the last section it is proved that the correspondence preserves some special properties of the objects: varieties that are Cartesian products correspond to algebras that are direct products and to elementary quadro-quadric transformations. Also, smooth varieties correspond to semisimple algebras and to semispecial Cremona transformations (that is, transformations whose base locus is smooth). Finally, some applications are given to the study of homaloidal cubic polynomials.