Kummer surfaces associated with group schemes (Q2664565)

Kummer surfaces in characteristic \(p\ne 2\) are realized as the minimal resolution of a quotient \(A/\{\pm 1\}\) of an abelian surface by the sign involution. However, as observed by \textit{T. Shioda} [Proc. Japan Acad. 50, 718--722 (1974; Zbl 0332.14015)] and \textit{T. Katsura} [Proc. int. Symp. on algebraic geometry, Kyoto 1977, 525--542 (1977; Zbl 0411.14010)], in characteristic \(p=2\) the minimal resolution of \(A/\{\pm 1\}\) is a \(K3\) surface if and only if \(A\) is not supersingular. It is therefore natural to ask for an explicit construction of supersingular \(K3\) surfaces in characteristic \(2\). \textit{S. Schröer} [J. Algebr. Geom. 16, No. 2, 305--346 (2007; Zbl 1120.14029)] showed that the minimal resolution of the quotient \((C\times C)/\alpha_2\) of the self-product of the rational cuspidal curve \(C\) by a suitable action of the additive group scheme \(\alpha_2\) is indeed a supersingular \(K3\) surface, with Artin invariant \(\sigma \le 2\). Moreover, each supersingular \(K3\) surface in characteristic \(2\) with \(\sigma \le 2\) can be constructed as the Kummer surface associated to \(C\times C\) with an \(\alpha_2\) group action. The main goal of this paper is to replace the group scheme \(\alpha_2\) with the multiplicative group scheme \(\mu_2\). The authors show that the quotient of \(C\times C\) by a suitable group action of \(\mu_2\) is a normal surface, whose minimal resolution is a \(K3\) surface. In this case the Artin invariant is \(\sigma \le 3\), and every supersingular \(K3\) surface in characteristic \(2\) with \(\sigma \le 3\) arises in this way. These \(K3\) surfaces are characterized by the existence of a certain configuration of thirty \((-2)\)-curves on them. It is then shown that, in analogy to the case of the complex numbers studied by \textit{J. H. Keum} [Nagoya Math. J. 118, 99--100 (1990; Zbl 0699.14047)] and the case of odd characteristic studied by \textit{J. Jang} [Math. Res. Lett. 22, No. 3, 789--802 (2015; Zbl 1326.14087)], every Kummer surface in characteristic \(2\) with \(\sigma \le 3\) admits (after contracting some suitable \((-2)\)-curves) a \(K3\)-like covering of a simply connected Enriques surface. One of the main tools for the proofs is a careful analysis of the \(\mu_2\)-actions on the self-product \(C\times C\) of the cuspidal rational curve \(C\).