A characterization of semisimple plane polynomial automorphisms (Q847143)

A general result on complex reductive algebraic groups gives that an element of the linear group \(GL_n({\mathbb C})\) is semisimple if and only if its conjugacy class is Zariski closed. The aim of the paper under review is to show that a similar result holds for the group of automorphisms of the algebra of complex polynomials in two variables. The result hides two definitions: what is a semisimple polynomial automorphism and what topology does one have on the group of polynomial automorphisms? The space \({\mathcal E}={\mathbb C}[X,Y]^2\) of polynomial endomorphisms of \({\mathbb C}[X,Y]\) is naturally an infinite dimensional variety with the topology of the inductive limit of the subspaces \({\mathcal E}_{\leq m}=\{(f_1,f_2)\mid \text{deg}f_i\leq m\}\) equipped with the Zariski topology. Following a paper by the same authors [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 211, No. 2, 445--458 (2007; Zbl 1127.14054)] a polynomial automorphism is semisimple if it admits a vanishing polynomial with single roots. In the present paper, the authors show that this is equivalent to being diagonalizable, i.e. conjugate to some diagonal automorphism \((aX,bY)\), where \(a,b\in{\mathbb C}^{\ast}\). The main result is: A complex plane polynomial automorphism is semisimple if and only if its conjugacy class is closed. As an application, the authors study automorphisms \(f\) of \({\mathbb C}[X,Y,Z]\) which are of finite order and fix the variable \(Z\). It is known that the authomorphism \(f_z\) induced by \(f\) on the plane \(Z=z\) is generically diagonalizable. Now the authors show that \(f_z\) is diagonalizable for all \(z\).