On the automorphism groups of smooth Fano threefolds

Abstract

Let $\mathcal{X}$ be a smooth Fano threefold over the complex numbers of Picard rank $1$ with finite automorphism group. We give numerical restrictions on the order of the automorphism group $\mathrm{Aut}(\mathcal{X})$ provided the genus $g(\mathcal{X})\le 10$ and $\mathcal{X}$ is not an ordinary smooth Gushel-Mukai threefold. More precisely, we show that the order $|\mathrm{Aut}(\mathcal{X})|$ divides a certain explicit number depending on the genus of $\mathcal{X}$. We use a classification of Fano threefolds in terms of complete intersections in homogeneous varieties and the previous paper of A. Gorinov and the author regarding the topology of spaces of regular sections.

47 pages. Comments welcome. v2: Section 7 is reworked and minor changes in some other places