Automorphisms of projective K3 surfaces with minimum entropy (Q2634617)

The paper deals with the dinamical properties of automorphisms of complex varieties. More concisely, it adresses the question of which are the possible values of the topological entropy of an automorphism \(F:X\to X\) where \(X\) is a compact complex surface. It is known that this entropy must be the logarithm of a Salem number. That is an algebraic integer \(\lambda>1\) such that it is conjugated to \(1/\lambda\) and such that all other conjugates of \(\lambda\) lie in the unit circle \(S^1\). It is not known in general which Salem numbers appear as entropies of surface automorphisms. In this work the author develops an algorithm to determine, given a Salem number \(\lambda\), a complex projective \(K3\) surface \(X\) endowed with an automorphism \(F:X\to X\) with topological entropy \(\log(\lambda)\). The method relies on the global Torelli theorem for \(K3\) surfaces, that is the fact that a projective \(K3\) surface \(X\) is determined by its Hodge lattice \(H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\subset H^{1,1}(X,\mathbb{C})\). Similarly, given such an \(X\), an automorphism \(F:X\to X\) is determined by its action on the Hodge lattice as well. Giving the topological entropy \(\log(\lambda)\) imposes several constraints on the possible lattices \(H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\subset H^{1,1}(X,\mathbb{C})\) and on the automorphisms \(F^*:H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\to H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\). Working with these constraints the author is able to single out suitable lattices with endomorphisms (and therefore surfaces \(X\) with endomorphisms \(F\) as wanted). He is also able to rule out numbers \(\log(\lambda)\) as entropies of automorphisms of projective \(K3\) surfaces.