Cubic surfaces with a Galois invariant double-six (Q607430)

The authors start with the discussion of the Segre cubic in \(\mathbb{P}^5\) and derive the well-known hexahedral form of cubic surfaces which is due to L.\ Cremona. The configuration of lines on the cubic surface as well as the notion of the double-six is revisited. Then the authors define the discriminant locus (Coble quartic) and the singularities of the cubic surface. The investigation of tri-tangent planes prepares the definition of the Galois descent. Further they study the Galois operation on the descent variety. The relation to the classification of cubic surfaces carrying 27, fifteen, seven, or three real lines is highlighted. Finally some explicit examples are given in order to demonstrate the method. Reviewer's remark: The verification of the results is mainly based computations which should (for sake of simplicity) be done with a computer algebra system.