Rational homogeneous spaces as geometric realizations of birational transformations (Q6170894)

Let \(X\) be a normal irreducible complex projective variety, and a \({\mathbb C}^*\)-action on \(X\). A linearization of this \({\mathbb C}^*\)-action on an ample line bundle \(L\) over \(X\) provides a weight decomposition of the vector space of global sections of \(L\), and finally a finite set of geometric quotients \({\mathcal G}X_i\) and birational maps \({\mathcal G}X_1 - \to \dots - \to {\mathcal G}X_r\). On the other hand, one can construct the sink \(Y_{-}\), resp. the source \(Y_{+}\), of the action, that is, the fixed components of the action containing the limits of \(tx\), \(t \in {\mathbb C}^*\), \(x \in X\) general, when \(t \to \infty\), resp. \(t \to 0\). It can be shown that, when \(X\) is smooth and the sink and source are codimension one varieties (\(B\)-type action), \({\mathcal G} X_1\) (resp. \({\mathcal G} X_r\)) parametrizes the \(1\)-dimensional orbits converging to the sink (resp. to the source) and, consequently, \(\psi: {\mathcal G} X_1-\to {\mathcal G} X_r\) is called the birational map associated to the \({\mathbb C}^*\)-action. One can say, reciprocally, that \(X\) and the \({\mathbb C}^*\)-action is a geometric realization of \(\psi\). Several previous works provide geometric realizations of certain birational transformations (see the Introduction of the paper under review and references therein). In this paper the authors choose the other way round: start with some class of \({\mathbb C}^*\)-actions and describe the \({\mathbb C}^*\)-invariant subvarieties and their corresponding birational maps. In particular, \({\mathbb C}^*\)-actions on rational homogenous varieties of Picard number one, which are equalized (the action has no proper non-trivial isotropic groups), and whose sink or source are isolated points (see Table 2 and 3 in Section 3). These actions, after an adequate blow-up, realize interesting birational transformations, like the so called special transformation of type \((2,1)\) (from the projective space to a smooth Picard number one variety, defined by quadrics, the inverse of degree one, and whose base locus is irreducible and smooth), inversion of matrices or special quadro-quadric Cremona transformations.