Normal functions, Picard-Fuchs equations, and elliptic fibrations on \(K3\) surfaces (Q346742)

The first part of the paper is focused on the existence, construction and detection of indecomposable algebraic \(K_1\)-cycle classes on \(K3\) surfaces and their self-products. Using Gauss-Manin derivatives of generalized normal functions, the truncated transcendental regulator for \(K_1\) is shown to be nonzero for a very general \(K3\) surface. The second part of the paper takes up the questing of how to use geometry of polarized \(K3\) surfaces with high Picard rank to construct indecomposable cycles. An explicit family of \(K_1\)-cycles on \(H\oplus E_8\oplus E_8\)-polarized \(K3\) surfaces is constructed and is shown that they are indecomposable by a direct evaluation of the real regulator. Important and crucial ingredients in these investigations are elliptic fibrations, hypersurface normal functions and an explicit parametrization by modular functions.