Plane rational quartics and \(K3\) surfaces (Q511443)

This paper studies the action of the symmetric group \(S_4\) of degree \(4\) on \(K3\) surfaces that satisfy the following condition \(\bigstar\): There exists an equivariant birational contraction \(\bar{c}: X\to\overline{X}\) to a \(K3\) surface \(\overline{X}\) with ADE singularities such that the quotient space \(\overline{X}/S_4\) is isomorphic to the projective plane \(\mathbb{P}^2\). The main result of the paper is formulated in the following theorem. Theorem: Up to equivariant deformations of \(S_4\)-surfaces, there exist exactly \(15\) different actions of the symmetric group \(S_4\) on \(K3\) surfaces that satisfy \(\bigstar\). These actions are in one-to-one correspondence with the quasi-equisingular strata of the variety of plane rational quartics that have singularities of class \(I\) (that is, that do not have singularities of types \(A_4, A_6\) and \(E_6\)). The proof consists of three parts. First, it is shown that for any action of \(S_4\) on a \(K3\) surface \(X\) which satisfies \(\bigstar\), the branch cover \(\overline{B}\) of the quotient covering \(\overline{X}\to \overline{X}/S_4\simeq \mathbb{P}^2\) is a generalized dual curve to some plane rational quartic \(C\) with singularities of class \(I\). Second, for any generalized dual curve \(\overline{B}\), a Galois covering \(\overline{X}\to \mathbb{P}^2\) with Galois group \(S_4\) is constructed such that this covering is branched along \(\overline{B}\) and \(\overline{X}\) is a \(K3\) surface with ADE singularities. Third, it is shown that for any curve \(\overline{B}\) such that a Galois covering is unique and that the induced actions of \(S_4\) on the minimal resolutions of singularities \(X_1\) and \(X_2\) of the surfaces \(\overline{X}_1\) and \(\overline{X}_2\) are equivariantly deformation equivalent if and only if the branch curves \(\overline{B}_i\) of the covering \(\overline{X}_i\to \mathbb{P}^2\) (\(i=1,2)\) are generalized dual curves to curves \(C_i\) that belong to the same stratum of the quasi-equisingular stratification of the variety of plane rational quartics with singularities of class \(I\).