Beauville structures in finite \(p\)-groups (Q504312)

A Beauville surface (of unmixed type) is a surface \(S\) isogenous to a higher product of curves which is rigid: \(S\) is isomorphic to a quotient \( (C_1 \times C_2)/G\) where \(C_1\) and \(C_2\) are smooth curves of genera at least two, \(G\) is a finite group acting diagonally and freely on \(C_1 \times C_2\), so that the covering \(C_i \to C_i/G\cong \mathbb P^1\) has three branch points, \(i=1,2\). The group \(G\) is said to be a Beauville group. There is a pure group theoretical condition which characterizes the Beauville groups: the existence of a Beauville structure: a finite group \(G\) admits a(n unmixed) Beauville structure if there exist two generating sets \((x_1 ,y_1)\) and \((x_2 ,y_2)\) for \(G\) such that \(\Sigma(x_1 ,y_1)\cap \Sigma(x_2 ,y_2 )=\{1_G\}\), where, \(\Sigma(x,y)\) (for \(x,y\in G\)) is the union of conjugacy classes of all powers of \(x\), all powers of \(y\), and all powers of \(xy\). \textit{F. Catanese} [Am. J. Math. 122, No. 1, 1--44, (2000; Zbl 0983.14013)] showed that a finite abelian group is a Beauville group if and only if it is the direct product \(\mathbb{Z}_n\times \mathbb{Z}_n\) of two cyclic groups of order \(n>1\), with \(\gcd(n,6)=1\). \textit{B. Fairbairn} et al. [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 107, No. 4, 744--798 (2013; Zbl 1286.20013); corrigendum ibid. 107, No. 5, 1220 (2013; Zbl 1286.20013)] showed that all finite quasisimple groups have a Beauville structure, with the exception of \(A_5\) and \(\mathrm{SL}_2 (5)\). In the paper under review, the authors study the existence of (unmixed) Beauville structures in finite \(p\)-groups, for \(p\) prime. In the first part of the paper, they prove the following generalisation of Catanese's characterisation of abelian Beauville groups. Let \(G\) be a \(2\)-generator finite \(p\)-group of exponent \(p^e\) which satisfies one of the following conditions: (i) For \(x, y \in G\), we have \(x^{p^{e-1}} = y^{p^{e-1}}\) if and only if \((xy^{-1})^{p^{e-1}}= 1\); (ii) \(G\) is a potent \(p\)-group. Then \(G\) is a Beauville group if and only if \(p \geq 5\) and \(|G^{p^{e-1}}|\geq p^2\). In the second part of the paper, they characterise the quotients of the Nottingham group over \(\mathbb F_p\) (\(p\) odd prime) which are Beauville groups. As a consequence, they give the first explicit infinite family of Beauville 3-groups, showing that there are Beauville 3-groups of order \(3^n\) for every \(n \geq 5\).