Automorphism groups of cubic fivefolds and fourfolds

Abstract In this paper, we introduce notions of partitionability and characteristic sets of homogeneous polynomials and give a complete classification of groups faithfully acting on smooth cubic fivefolds. Specifically, we prove that there exist 20 maximal ones among all such groups. As an application, we classify all possible subgroups of the automorphism groups of smooth cubic fourfolds.