Connected algebraic groups acting on Fano fibrations over $\mathbb{P}^1$

Abstract

Let $X/\mathbb{P}^1$ be a Mori fibre space with general fibre of Picard rank at least two. We prove that there is a proper closed subset $S\subsetneq X$, invariant by the connected component of the identity ${\rm Aut}^{\circ}(X)$ of the automorphism group of $X$, which is moreover the orbit of a section $s$ and whose intersection with a fibre is an orbit of the subgroup of ${\rm Aut}^{\circ}(X)$ acting trivially on $\mathbb{P}^1$. Such result is a tool to describe equivariant birational maps from $X/\mathbb{P}^1$ to other Mori fibre spaces and therefore finds its applications in the study of connected algebraic subgroups of ${\rm Aut}^{\circ}(X)$. This represents a first reduction step towards a possible classification of maximal connected algebraic subgroups of the Cremona group of rank $4$.