Algebraic Geometry Seminar

The birational automorphism group of an algebraic variety is a birational invariant which exhibits very interesting behavior in families. In this talk, we will explain the specialization homomorphism for finite order birational automorphisms. Building on previous work of Kollar and C-Stapleton, we will show that very general n-dimensional hypersurfaces of degree d≥5⌈(n+3)/6⌉ have no finite order birational automorphisms. This is joint work with Lena Ji and David Stapleton. Speaker(s): Nathan Chen (Columbia University)