Affine lines on \(\mathbb Q\)-homology planes with logarithmic Kodaira dimension \(-\infty\) (Q882630)

Recall that a \(\mathbb{Q}\)-homology plane is a smooth complex algebraic surface \(S\) such that \(H_i(S,\mathbb{Q})=0\) for any positive integer \(i\). It is known that any \(\mathbb{Q}\)-homology plane is affine and rational. The authors study topologically contractible irreducible curves \(C\) on a \(\mathbb{Q}\)-homology plane \(S\) with logarithmic Kodaira dimension \(-\infty\). They determine such pairs \((S,C)\) that \(C\) is smooth and the complement \(S\setminus C\) has non-negative logarithmic Kodaira dimension. Moreover, it is proved that if \(C\) is not smooth, then \(C\) has exactly one singular point and the Makar-Limanov invariant of \(S\) is trivial.