A supersingular K3 surface in characteristic 2 and the Leech lattice

Abstract

We construct a K3 surface over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 2 which contains two sets of 21 disjoint smooth rational curves such that each curve from one set intersects exactly 5 curves from the other set. This configuration is isomorphic to the configuration of points and lines on the projective plane over the finite field of 4 elements. The surface admits a finite automorphism group which contains the group of automorphisms of the plane which acts on the configuration of each set of 21 smooth rational curves, and the additional element of order 2 which interchanges the two sets. The Picard lattice of the surface is a reflective sublattice of an even unimodular lattice of signatuire (1,25) and the classes of the 42 curves correspond to some Leech roots in this lattice.