Self maps of homogeneous spaces (Q911682)

The problem is the following: suppose that G is a semisimple algebraic group over \({\mathbb{C}}\), \(P\subset G\) a maximal parabolic subgroup and \(Y=G/P\). Let f: \(Y\to X\) be a finite surjective morphism of degree \( >1\) to a smooth variety X; then is X isomorphic to the n-dimensional projective space \({\mathbb{P}}^ n\) with \(n=\dim(X)?\) In this paper, the authors prove that: if \(Y:=G/P\) is as above and if \(f: Y\to Y\) is a finite self map of degree \(>1,\) then Y is isomorphic to \({\mathbb{P}}^ n\) and the following more general theorem is obtained: Let G be a simply connected semisimple algebraic group over \({\mathbb{C}}\). Let \(P\subset G\) be a parabolic subgroup and let \(Y=G/P\) be the homogeneous space. Let \(f: Y\to Y\) be a generically finite morphism. Then there exist parabolic subgroups \(P_ 0,P_ 1,...,P_ m\) of G containing P, and a permutation \(\sigma\) of \(\{\) 1,2,...,m\(\}\) such that (i) there are isomorphisms \(G/P_ i\simeq {\mathbb{P}}^{n_ i}\), such that \(n_{\sigma (i)}=n_ i\) for all i; (ii) there is a finite morphism \(\pi_ i: {\mathbb{P}}^{n_ i}\to {\mathbb{P}}^{n_ i}\) for all \(i>0;\) (iii) the natural morphism \(Y\to G/P_ 0\times G/P_ 1\times...\times G/P_ m\) is an isomorphism under which f: \(Y\to Y\) corresponds to the product \(f_ 0\times f_ 1\times...\times f_ m\) where \(f_ 0: G/P_ 0\to G/P_ 0\) is an isomorphism and \(f_ i\) the composite \(G/P_{\sigma (i)}\simeq {\mathbb{P}}^{n_ i}\to {\mathbb{P}}^{n_ i}\simeq G/P_ i.\) The authors solve the problem when Y is a smooth quadric hypersurface of dimension \(\geq 3;\) this includes the case of Grassmannian \(Y=G(4,2)\). They also prove: Let \(k\leq n\), \(2\leq \ell \leq m\) be integers, such that there exists a finite surjective morphism between Grassmann varieties f: G(k,k\(+n)\to G(\ell,\ell +m)\). Then \(k=\ell\) and \(m=n\) and f is an isomorphism.