Automorphism groups of Beauville surfaces (Q2865895)

In the paper under review, the author studies the automorphism group \(\mathrm{Aut}(S)\) of a Beauville surface \(S\) of unmixed type. A surface \(S\) is said to be a Beauville surface of unmixed type, if it is isomorphic to the quotient \((C_1\times C_2)/G\), where \(C_1\) and \(C_2\) are curves of genus at least two, and \(G\) is a finite group action freely on the product \(C_1\times C_2\), such that \(G\) preserves the factors \(C_i\), \(C_i/G\) is rational and the covering map \(C_i\to C_i/G\) is ramified over three points.NEWLINENEWLINELet \(S\) be such a surface. Then any automorphism of \(S\) can be lifted to be an automorphism of \(C_1\times C_2\) [\textit{F. Catanese}, Am. J. Math. 122, No. 1, 1--44 (2000; Zbl 0983.14013)]. An automorphism of \(S\) is said to be an direct or indirect one if its lift preserves or transposes the two factors \(C_i\). The direct automorphisms form a subgroup \(\mathrm{Aut}^0(S)\) of index at most two in \(\mathrm{Aut}(S)\).NEWLINENEWLINEThe following theorems are proved:NEWLINENEWLINE (a) \(\mathrm{Aut}^0(S)\) and \(\mathrm{Aut}(S)\) have an abelian normal subgroup \(\mathrm{I}(S)\), which is isomorphic to the center \(\mathrm{Z}(G)\) of \(G\);NEWLINENEWLINE (b) The quotient \(\mathrm{Aut}^0(S)/\mathrm{I}(S)\) and \(\mathrm{Aut}(S)/\mathrm{I}(S)\) are isomorphic to a subgroup of \(S_3\times S_3\) and the wreath \(S_3\wr S_2\) respectively, where \(S_n\) is the symmetric group of degree \(n\). In particular, \(\mathrm{Aut}^0(S)\) and \(\mathrm{Aut}(S)\) are solvable and they have order dividing \(36|\mathrm{Z}(G)|\) and \(72|\mathrm{Z}(G)|\) respectively;NEWLINENEWLINE (c) Every finite abelian group is isomorphic to \(\mathrm{Aut}(S)\) for some Beauville surface \(S\);NEWLINENEWLINE (d) Every finite generalized dihedral group is isomorphic to \(\mathrm{Aut}(S)\) for some Beauville surface \(S\) with an indirect automorphism.NEWLINENEWLINEThe author obtains these results by using the explicit description of \(S\) and results of \textit{D. Singerman} [J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 6, 29--38 (1972; Zbl 0251.20052)] on inclusions between triangle groups and \textit{A. Lucchini} [Arch. Math. 73, No. 4, 241--248 (1999; Zbl 0944.20030)] on generators of special linear groups.