Quotients of cubic surfaces

Abstract

Let $\Bbbk$ be any field of characteristic zero, $X$ be a cubic surface in $\mathbb{P}^3_{\Bbbk}$ and $G$ be a group acting on $X$. We show that if $X(\Bbbk) \ne \varnothing$ and $G$ is not trivial and not a group of order $3$ acting in a special way then the quotient surface $X / G$ is rational over $\Bbbk$. For the group $G$ of order $3$ we construct examples of both rational and nonrational quotients of both rational and nonrational $G$-minimal cubic surfaces over $\Bbbk$.