The automorphism group of certain factorial threefolds and a cancellation problem (Q926430)

In the paper under review, new counterexamples to the generalized cancellation problem are provided. Let \(X,Y\) be two smooth complex affine varieties. The generalized cancellation problem asks whether an isomorphism \(X\times \mathbb C \cong Y\times \mathbb C \) implies that \(X\cong Y.\) The general answer is negative. The famous counterexamples are so-called Danielewski surfaces \(S_n=\{x^2y=z^2-1\}\subset \mathbb C^3.\) It is known that \(S_n\times \mathbb C \cong S_m\times \mathbb C\) for all \(n,m\) and \(S_n\not \cong S_m\) if \(n\neq m.\) The coordinate ring of a Danielewski surface is not an UFD, which is essential in two-dimensional case. Three-dimensional smooth varieties with UFD coordinate rings are described in the paper. Namely, let \(m,n,a,b,c\) be positive numbers. Let \(a,b,c,\) be pairwise prime and \(\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c}<1.\) Define \(X_{n,m}\subset \mathbb C^5\) by the following equations: \[ X^a+Y^b+Z^c=0, \quad X^mU-Y^nV-1=0. \] It is proved that \(X_{n,m}\times \mathbb C \cong X_{n',m'}\times \mathbb C\) but \(X_{n,m}\cong X_{n',m'}\) implies \((n,m)=(n',m').\) Thus they are counterexamples to the generalized cancellation problem. Also, the automorphism groups of that varieties are computed explicitly.