Rational surfaces with a large group of automorphisms
Rational surfaces with a large group of automorphisms
We classify rational surfaces $X$ for which the image of the automorphism group $\mathrm {Aut}(X)$ in the group of linear transformations of the Picard group $\mathrm {Pic}(X)$ is the largest possible. This answers a question raised by Arthur Coble in 1928, and can be rephrased in terms of periodic orbits …