Project Euclid

Exploring Bass' Triangulability Problem on unipotent algebraic subgroups of the affine Cremona groups, we prove a triangulability criterion, the existence of nontriangulable connected solvable affine algebraic subgroups of the Cremona groups, and stable triangulability of such subgroups; in particular, in the stable range we answer Bass' Triangulability Problem in the affirmative. To this end we prove a theorem on invariant subfields of 1-extensions. We also obtain a general construction of all rationally triangulable subgroups of the Cremona groups and, as an application, classify rationally triangulable connected one-dimensional unipotent affine algebraic subgroups of the Cremona groups up to conjugacy.