Surfaces of general type with q=2 are rigidified

Let S be a minimal smooth projective surface of general type with irregularity q = 2. We show that, if S has a nontrivial holomorphic automorphism acting trivially on the cohomology with rational coefficients, then it is a surface isogenous to a product. As a consequence of this geometric characterization, one infers that no nontrivial automorphism of surfaces of general type with q = 2 (which are not necessarily minimal) can be homotopic to the identity. In particular, such surfaces are rigidified in the sense of Fabrizio Catanese.