Minimum positive entropy of complex Enriques surface automorphisms (Q2657467)

Determining the minimum positive entropy of automorphisms of compact Kähler surfaces in each class of the Enriques-Kodaira classification is an important problem at the intersection of algebraic geometry and complex dynamics. If \(f\) is an automorphism of a complex surface \(X\), the \textit{entropy} \(h(f)\) is a measure of the complexity of the dynamics of \(f\), and it can be computed as \(h(f)=\log{d_1(f)}\), where \(d_1(f)\) is the spectral radius of the pull-back \(f^*\) on \(H^2(X,\mathbb{C})\). \textit{C. T. McMullen} provided an answer to the problem in the case of rational surfaces [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 105, 49--89 (2007; Zbl 1143.37033)], of complex tori of dimension \(2\) [J. Reine Angew. Math. 658, 1--25 (2011; Zbl 1228.14031)] and of \(K3\) surfaces [Invent. Math. 203, No. 1, 179--215 (2016; Zbl 1364.37103)]. This article answers the problem in the only remaining case, namely for Enriques surfaces. More precisely, the authors show that the minimum positive entropy of automorphisms on Enriques surfaces is \(\log{\tau_8}\), where \(\tau_8\approx 1.58234\) is the Salem number that is a root of the polynomial \(1-x^2-2x^3-x^4+x^6\). The proof heavily uses the Torelli theorem for complex \(K3\) surfaces together with an automorphism and the theory of lattices. A key result is a new criterion to decide whether a certain isometry of the Néron-Severi lattice of a \(K3\) surface comes from an automorphism of the surface.