In this paper, we will prove that any $\mathbb{A}^{3}$-form over a field $k$ of characteristic zero is trivial provided it has a locally nilpotent derivation satisfying certain properties. We will also show that the result of Kambayashi on the triviality of separable $\mathbb{A}^{2}$-forms over a field $k$ extends to $\mathbb{A}^{2}$-forms over any one-dimensional Noetherian domain containing $\mathbb{Q}$.

We show that the generic fiber of a family $f:X\rightarrow S$ of smooth $\mathbb{A}^{1}$-ruled affine surfaces always carries an $\mathbb{A}^{1}$-fibration, possibly after a finite extension of the base $S$. In the particular case where the general fibers of the family are irrational surfaces, we establish that up to shrinking $S$, such a family actually factors through an $\mathbb{A}^{1}$-fibration $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}:X\rightarrow Y$ over a certain $S$-scheme $Y\rightarrow S$ induced by the MRC-fibration of a relative smooth projective model of $X$ over $S$. For affine threefolds $X$ equipped with a fibration $f:X\rightarrow B$ by irrational $\mathbb{A}^{1}$-ruled surfaces over a smooth curve $B$, the induced $\mathbb{A}^{1}$-fibration $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}:X\rightarrow Y$ can also be recovered from a relative minimal model program applied to a smooth projective model of $X$ over $B$.

Let $k$ be a field and $\mathbb{V}$ the affine threefold in $\mathbb{A}^4_k$ defined by $x^m y=F(x, z, t)$, $m \ge 2$. In this paper, we show that $\mathbb{V} \cong \mathbb{A}^3_k$ if and only if $f(z, t): = F(0, z, t)$ is a coordinate of $k[z, t]$. In particular, when $k$ is a field of positive characteristic and $f$ defines a non-trivial line in the affine plane $\mathbb{A}^2_k$ (we shall call such a $\mathbb{V}$ as an Asanuma threefold), then $\mathbb{V}\ncong \mathbb{A}^3_k$ although $\mathbb{V} \times \mathbb{A}^1_k \cong \mathbb{A}^4_k$, thereby providing a family of counter-examples to Zariski’s cancellation conjecture for the affine 3-space in positive characteristic. Our main result also proves a special case of the embedding conjecture of Abhyankar–Sathaye in arbitrary characteristic.

We strengthen certain results concerning actions of $\left( \mathbb{C},\,+ \right)$ on ${{\mathbb{C}}^{3}}$ and embeddings of ${{\mathbb{C}}^{2}}$ in ${{\mathbb{C}}^{3}}$, and show that these results are in fact valid over any field of characteristic zero.

The Abhyankar–Sathaye Embedded Hyperplane Problem asks whether any hypersurface of ${{\mathbb{C}}^{n}}$ isomorphic to ${{\mathbb{C}}^{n-1}}$ is rectifiable, i.e., equivalent to a linear hyperplane up to an automorphism of ${{\mathbb{C}}^{n}}$. Generalizing the approach adopted by Kaliman, Vénéreau, and Zaidenberg, which consists in using almost nothing but the acyclicity of ${{\mathbb{C}}^{n-1}}$, we solve this problem for hypersurfaces given by polynomials of $\mathbb{C}\left[ x,y,{{z}_{1}},...,{{z}_{k}} \right]$ as in the title.