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Automorphism groups of endomorphisms of $\mathbb{P}^1 (\bar{\mathbb{F}}_p)$

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2022

Julia Cai
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
Benjamin Hutz*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63103, USA
Leo Mayer
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI 54911, USA
Max Weinreich
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: benjamin.hutz@slu.edu

Abstract

For any algebraically closed field K and any endomorphism f of $\mathbb{P}^1(K)$ of degree at least 2, the automorphisms of f are the Möbius transformations that commute with f, and these form a finite subgroup of $\operatorname{PGL}_2(K)$ . In the moduli space of complex dynamical systems, the locus of maps with nontrivial automorphisms has been studied in detail and there are techniques for constructing maps with prescribed automorphism groups that date back to Klein. We study the corresponding questions when K is the algebraic closure $\bar{\mathbb{F}}_p$ of a finite field. We use the classification of finite subgroups of $\operatorname{PGL}_2(\bar{\mathbb{F}}_p)$ to show that every finite subgroup is realizable as an automorphism group. To construct examples, we use methods from modular invariant theory. Then, we calculate the locus of maps over $\bar{\mathbb{F}}_p$ of degree 2 with nontrivial automorphisms, showing how the geometry and possible automorphism groups depend on the prime p.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Glasgow Mathematical Journal Trust

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Footnotes

Max Weinreich was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. 2040433.