Group theoretical characterizations of rationality (Q6937075)

The article addresses a natural problem in algebraic geometry, which consists of investigating which properties of an algebraic variety \(X\) over a field \(k\) are determined by the knowledge of its group of algebraic automorphisms \(\mathrm{Aut}(X)\) or its group of birational transformations \(\mathrm{Bir}(X)\), viewed as abstract groups. One of the striking results of the paper is that when \(k\) is an uncountable algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, the group \(\mathrm{Bir}(X)\) is an invariant that detects the rationality of \(X\): specifically, \(X\) is birational to a projective space \(\mathbb{P}^n\) of dimension \(n = \dim X\) if and only if \(\mathrm{Bir}(X)\) is isomorphic as an abstract group to the Cremona group \(\mathrm{Bir}(\mathbb{P}^n)\). A similar characterization is also obtained for \(\mathbb{P}^1\)-ruled varieties.\N\NThe proofs rely on several intermediate results of independent interest, such as the construction of `Rosenlicht quotients' for algebraically generated subgroups of birational transformations and the study of the derived length of Borel subgroups within the birational transformation groups of a variety \(X\). One of the conclusions of this study is that this length is bounded above by \(2\dim X\), with equality occurring if and only if \(X\) is rational and the corresponding Borel subgroup is conjugate to the subgroup of triangular transformations of \(\mathbb{A}^{\dim X}\).