Conceptual explanation for equivariant Pfaffian representations

Identify a conceptual reason why every smooth member of the pencil generated by the Klein and Segre cubic threefolds should be equivariantly Pfaffian for the binary icosahedral group extending $\mathfrak A_5$.

Background

The paper proves that all smooth members of the pencil generated by the Klein and Segre cubic threefolds are A5\mathfrak A_5-unirational by applying a general result for finite subgroups of PGL⁡2\operatorname{PGL}_2.

The authors observe that an alternative proof would likely follow if every smooth member were equivariantly Pfaffian for the binary icosahedral group extending A5\mathfrak A_5. They regard this equivariant Pfaffian property as likely but explicitly state that they do not know a conceptual explanation for it.

References

However, we do not know a conceptual reason for why every smooth member should be equivariantly Pfaffian.

— Equivariant Unirationality of Cubic Threefolds  (2610.09962 - Ballard et al., 7 Oct 2026) in Section 4, Remark immediately after Theorem 4.2 (Theorem \ref{thm:A5pencil})