Proper \(G_a\)-actions on \(\mathbb C^4\) preserving a coordinate (Q2636537)

The paper under review concerns free actions of the additive group \(G_a=(\mathbb{C},+)\) on the affine space \(\mathbb{C}^n\). An obvious example of such an action is translation along a fixed coordinate axis. It is known that for \(n\le3\) this example is essentially unique (up to an automorphism of \(\mathbb C^n\)): this is trivial for \(n=1\), due to \textit{A. Gutwirth} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 12, 631--638 (1961; Zbl 0105.34401)] and \textit{R. Rentschler} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. A 267, 384--387 (1968; Zbl 0165.05402)] for \(n=2\), and to \textit{S. Kaliman} [Invent. Math. 156, No. 1, 163--173 (2004; Zbl 1058.14076)] for \(n=3\). For \(n=4\) \textit{J. Winkelmann} [Math. Ann. 286, No. 1--3, 593--612 (1990; Zbl 0708.32004)] constructed an example of a free triangular (with respect to a certain choice of coordinates) \(G_a\)-action such that the geometric quotient \(\mathbb C^4/G_a\) is not Hausdorff, whence this action is not equivalent to a translation action. On the other hand, a result of \textit{A. Dubouloz} et al. [Algebra Number Theory 8, No. 8, 1959--1984 (2014; Zbl 1344.14028)] states that every \textit{proper} triangular \(G_a\)-action on \(\mathbb C^n\) is equivalent to a translation action. The main result of the paper under review extends the latter result to a wider class of proper \(G_a\)-actions for \(n=4\). Namely it is proved that every proper nontrivial \(G_a\)-action on \(\mathbb C^4\) which preserves one of the coordinates is equivalent to a translation action. The proof is based on a study of categorical quotients \(\mathbb C^4/\!/G_a\) of \(G_a\)-actions on \(\mathbb C^4\). It is known, due to \textit{S. M. Bhatwadekar} and \textit{D. Daigle} [J. Algebra 322, No. 9, 2915--2926 (2009; Zbl 1234.13027)], that the categorical quotient exists in the category of affine varieties if the action preserves a coordinate on \(\mathbb C^4\). The author establishes a more precise and more general version of this theorem which, in particular, implies that, under the assumption that the action preserves a coordinate, \(\mathbb C^4\simeq\mathbb C^4/\!/G_a\times\mathbb C\) and the action is given by translation along the second factor. Furthermore, \(\mathbb C^4/\!/G_a\) is proved to be a vector bundle of rank 2 over \(\mathbb C\), whence \(\mathbb C^4/\!/G_a\simeq\mathbb C^3\), and the main result follows.