Orbits on K3 Surfaces of Markoff Type

Abstract

Let be a surface given by the vanishing of a (2, 2, 2)-form. These surfaces admit three involutions coming from the three projections , so we call them tri-involutive K3 (TIK3) surfaces. By analogy with the classical Markoff equation, we say that is of Markoff type (MK3) if it is symmetric in its three coordinates and invariant under double sign changes. An MK3 surface admits a group of automorphisms generated by the three involutions, coordinate permutations, and sign changes. In this paper we study the -orbit structure of points on TIK3 and MK3 surfaces. Over finite fields, we study fibral connectivity and the existence of large orbits, analogous to work of Bourgain, Gamburd, Sarnak and others for the classical Markoff equation. For a particular 1-parameter family of MK3 surfaces , we compute the full -orbit structure of for all primes , and we use this data as a guide to find many finite -orbits in , including a family of orbits of size 288 parameterized by a curve of genus 9.