Computational birational geometry of minimal rational surfaces

Abstract

The classification of minimal rational surfaces and the birational links between them by Iskovskikh, Manin and others is a well-known subject in the theory of algebraic surfaces. We explain algorithms that realise links of type II between minimal del Pezzo surfaces, one of the major classes of birational links, and we describe briefly how this fits into a large project to implement the results of Iskovskikh's programme in Magma.