On embedding of linear hypersurfaces

Abstract: Linear hypersurfaces over a field $k$ have been playing a central role in the study of some of the challenging problems on affine spaces. Breakthroughs on such problems have occurred by examining two difficult questions on linear polynomials of the form $H:=\alpha(X_1,\dots,X_m)Y - F(X_1,\dots, X_m,Z,T)\in D:=k[X_1,\ldots,X_m, Y,Z,T]$: (i) Whether $H$ defines a closed embedding of $\mathbb{A}^{m+2}$ into $\mathbb{A}^{m+3}$, i.e., whether the affine variety $\mathbb{V}\subseteq \mathbb{A}^{m+3}_k$ defined by $H$ is isomorphic to $\mathbb{A}^{m+2}_k$. (ii) If $H$ defines a closed embedding $\mathbb{A}^{m+2}\hookrightarrow \mathbb{A}^{m+3}$ then whether $H$ is a coordinate in $D$. Question (i) connects to the Characterization Problem of identifying affine spaces among affine varieties; Question (ii) is a special case of the formidable Embedding Problem for affine spaces. In their earlier work the first two authors had addressed these questions when $\alpha$ is a monomial of the form $\alpha(X_1,\ldots,X_m) = X_1^{r_1}\dots X_m^{r_m}$; $r_i>1, 1 \leqslant i \leqslant m$ and $F$ is of a certain type. In this paper, using $K$-theory and $\mathbb{G}_a$-actions, we address these questions for a wider family of linear varieties. In particular, we obtain certain families of higher dimensional hyperplanes $H$ satisfying the Abhyankar Sathaye conjecture on the Embedding problem. For instance, we show that when the characteristic of $k$ is zero, $F \in k[Z,T]$ and $H$ defines a hyperplane, then $H$ is a coordinate in $D$ along with $X_1, X_2, \dots, X_m$. Our results in arbitrary characteristic yield counterexamples to the Zariski Cancellation Problem in positive characteristic.