This is the Foreword to the book ``Explicit birational geometry of 3-folds'', edited by A. Corti and M. Reid, CUP Jun 2000, ISBN: 0 521 63641 8, with papers by K. Altmann, A. Corti, A.R. Iano-Fletcher, J. Kollár, A.V. Pukhlikov and M. Reid.
One of the main achievements of algebraic geometry over the last 20 years is the work of Mori and others extending minimal models and the Enriques--Kodaira classification to 3-folds. This book is an integrated suite of papers centred around applications of Mori theory to birational geometry. Four of the papers (those by Pukhlikov, Fletcher, Corti, and the long joint paper Corti, Pukhlikov and Reid) work out in detail the theory of birational rigidity of Fano 3-folds; these contributions work for the first time with a representative class of Fano varieties, 3-fold hypersurfaces in weighted projective space, and include an attractive introductory treatment and a wealth of detailed computation of special cases.
We determine birational superrigidity for a quasi-smooth prime Fano 3-fold of codimension 4 with no projection centers. In particular we prove birational superrigidity for Fano 3-folds of codimension 4 with no projection centers which are recently constructed by Coughlan and Ducat. We also pose some questions and a conjecture regarding the classification of birationally superrigid Fano 3-folds.
We show that 3-fold terminal flips and divisorial contractions may be factored into a sequence of flops, blow-downs to a smooth curve in a smooth 3-fold or divisorial contractions to points with minimal discrepancies.
This is the unabridged web version of the paper that will be published on the American Journal of Mathematics. In this paper, we study the birational geometry of certain examples of mildly singular quartic 3-folds. A quartic 3-fold is an example of a Fano variety, that is, a variety $X$ with ample anticanonical sheaf $Ø_X(-K_X)$. From the point of view of birational geometry they basically fall within two classes: either $X$ is ``close to being rational'', and then it has very many biregularly distinct birational models as a Fano 3-fold, or, at the other extreme, $X$ has a unique model and it …
This is a continuation of a series of papers studying the birational Mori fiber structures of anticanonically embedded $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano $3$-fold weighted complete intersections of codimension $2$. We have proved that $19$ families consists of birationally rigid varieties and $14$ families consists of birationally birigid varieties. The aim of this paper is to continue the work systematically and prove that, among the remaining $52$ families, $21$ families consist of birationally birigid varieties.
In this paper we study 14 families among 85 families of anticanonically embedded Q-Fano threefolds weighted complete intersections of codimension 2 and show that every quasismooth member is birationally birigid, that is, it is birational to another Q-Fano threefold but not birational to any other Mori fiber space.
This paper contains some applications of Bridgeland-Douglas stability conditions on triangulated categories, and Joyce's work on counting invariants of semistable objects, to the study of birational geometry. We introduce the notion of motivic Gopakumar-Vafa invariants as counting invariants of D2-branes, and show that they are invariant under birational transformations between Calabi-Yau 3-folds. The result is similar to the fact that birational Calabi-Yau 3-folds have the same betti numbers or Hodge numbers.
Few explicit families of 3-folds are known for which the computation of the canonical ring is accessible and the birational geometry non-trivial. In this note we investigate a family of determinantal 3-folds in $\mathbb P^2 \times \mathbb P^3$ where this is the case.
We prove that a birational morphism of projective 3-folds, over a field of characteristic zero, can be made toroidal by performing a sequence of blow ups of points and nonsingular curves above the domain and target.
The paper explores the birational geometry of terminal quartic 3-folds. In doing this I develop a new approach to study maximal singularities with positive dimensional centers. This allows to determine the pliability of a Q-factorial quartic with ordinary double points, and it shows the importance of Q-factoriality in the context of birational geometry of uniruled 3-folds
In this paper we consider Q-Fano 3-fold weighted complete intersections of codimension 2 in the 85 families listed in the Iano-Fletcher's list and determine which cycle is a maximal center or not. For each maximal center, we construct either a birational involution which untwists the maximal singularity or a Sarkisov link centered at the cycle to an another explicitly described Mori fiber space. As a consequence, 19 families are proved to be birationally rigid and the remaining 66 families are proved to be birationally nonrigid.
We highlight a relation between the existence of Sarkisov links and the finite generation of (certain) Cox rings. We introduce explicit methods to use this relation in order to prove birational rigidity statements. To illustrate, we complete the birational rigidity results of Okada for Fano complete intersection 3-folds in singular weighted projective spaces.
There is two group actions on the Fano scheme of lines such that the quotient becomes an irreducible symplectic manifold. We showed that both quotients are birational to the generalized Kummer variety or the 2-points Hilbert scheme of a K3 surface.
We announce a factorization result for equivariant birational morphisms between toric 4-folds whose source is Fano: such a morphism is always a composite of blow-ups along smooth invariant centers. Moreover, we show with a counterexample that, differently from the 3-dimensional case, even if both source and target are Fano, the intermediate varieties can not be chosen Fano.
We study the geography and birational geometry of 3-fold conic bundles over P^2 and cubic del Pezzo fibrations over P^1. We discuss many explicit examples and raise several open questions. This paper was submitted to the proceedings of the "Fano conference" held in Torino in October 2002.
We prove that rationally connected Calabi--Yau 3-folds with kawamata log terminal (klt) singularities form a birationally bounded family, or more generally, rationally connected $3$-folds of $ε$-CY type form a birationally bounded family for $ε>0$. Moreover, we show that the set of $ε$-lc log Calabi--Yau pairs $(X, B)$ with coefficients of $B$ bounded away from zero is log bounded modulo flops. As a consequence, we deduce that rationally connected klt Calabi--Yau $3$-folds with mld bounded away from $1$ are bounded modulo flops.
In this paper we prove strong toroidalization of birational morphisms of 3-folds. Suppose that f:X\to Y is a birational morphism of nonsingular complete 3-folds, and D_Y, D_X are simple normal crossings divisors on Y and X such that f^{-1}(D_Y)=D_X and D_X contains the singular locus of the morphism f. We prove that there exist morphisms Φ:X_1\to X and Ψ:Y_1\to Y which are products of blow ups of points and nonsingular curves which are supported in the preimage of D_Y and make simple normal crossings with this preimage, such that f_1=Ψ_1^{-1}\circ f\circ Φ_1 is a toroidal morphism. This theore…
Nonsingular projective 3-folds $V$ of general type can be naturally classified into 18 families according to the {\it pluricanonical section index} $δ(V):=\text{min}\{m|P_m\geq 2\}$ since $1\leq δ(V)\leq 18$ due to our previous series (I, II). Based on our further classification to 3-folds with $δ(V)\geq 13$ and an intensive geometrical investigation to those with $δ(V)\leq 12$, we prove that $\text{Vol}(V) \geq \frac{1}{1680}$ and that the pluricanonical map $Φ_{m}$ is birational for all $m \geq 61$, which greatly improves known results. An optimal birationality of $Φ_m$ for the case $δ(V)=2$…
The notion of d-critical loci was introduced by Joyce in order to give classical shadows of $(-1)$-shifted symplectic derived schemes. In this paper, we discuss birational geometry for d-critical loci, by introducing notions such as `d-critical flips', `d-critical flops', etc. They are not birational maps of the underlying spaces, but rather should be understood as virtual birational maps. We show that several wall-crossing phenomena of moduli spaces of stable objects on Calabi-Yau 3-folds are described in terms of d-critical birational geometry. Among them, we show that wall-crossing diagrams…
A complete classification is presented of elliptic and K3 fibrations birational to certain mildly singular complex Fano 3-folds. Detailed proofs are given for one example case, namely that of a general hypersurface X of degree 30 in weighted P^4 with weights 1,4,5,6,15; but our methods apply more generally. For constructing birational maps from X to elliptic and K3 fibrations we use Kawamata blowups and Mori theory to compute anticanonical rings; to exclude other possible fibrations we make a close examination of the strictly canonical singularities of (X,(1/n)H), where H is the linear system …
The theorem referred to in the title is a technical result that is needed for the classification of elliptic and K3 fibrations birational to Fano 3-fold hypersurfaces in weighted projective space. We present a complete proof of the Curve Exclusion Theorem, which first appeared in the author's unpublished PhD thesis [Ry02] and has since been relied upon in solutions to many cases of the fibration classification problem. We give examples of these solutions and discuss them briefly.
Let $V$ be a complex nonsingular projective 3-fold of general type. We prove $P_{12}(V):=\text{dim} H^0(V, 12K_V)>0$ and $P_{m_0}(V)>1$ for some positive integer $m_0\leq 24$. A direct consequence is the birationality of the pluricanonical map $φ_m$ for all $m\geq 126$. Besides, the canonical volume $\text{Vol}(V)$ has a universal lower bound $ν(3)\geq \frac{1}{63\cdot 126^2}$.
In this note we present two equivalent definitions for the genus of a birational map X --> Y between smooth complex projective 3-folds. The first one is the definition introduced in 1973 by M. A. Frumkin, the second one was recently suggested to me by S. Cantat. By focusing first on proving that these two definitions are equivalent, one can obtain all the results of the paper of Frumkin in a much shorter way. In particular, the genus of an automorphism of $\mathbb{C}^3$, view as a birational self-map of the projective space, will easily be proved to be 0.
This paper aims to improve a theorem of Janos Kollar. For a given Complex projective threefold X of general type, suppose the plurigenus p_k(X)\ge 2, Kollar proved that the (11k+5)-canonical map is birational. Here we show that either the (7k+3)-canonical map or the (7k+5)-canonical map is birational and that the m-canonical map is stably birational for m\ge 13k+6. If P_k(X)\ge 3, then the m-canonical map is stably birational for m\ge 10k+8. In particular, the 12-canonical map is birational when p_g(X)\ge 2 and the 11-canonical map is birational when p_g(X)\ge 3.
We study the birational geometry of a Fano 4-fold X from the point of view of Mori dream spaces; more precisely, we study rational contractions of X. Here a rational contraction is a rational map f: X-->Y, where Y is normal and projective, which factors as a finite sequence of flips, followed by a surjective morphism with connected fibers. Such f is called elementary if the difference of the Picard numbers of X and Y is 1. We first give a characterization of non-movable prime divisors in X, when X has Picard number at least 6; this is related to the study of birational and divisorial elementar…
The Grassmannian Gr(2,5) is embedded in $\Bbb{P}^9$ via the Plücker embedding. The intersection of two general PGL(10)-translates of Gr(2,5) is a Calabi-Yau 3-fold X, and the intersection of the projective duals of the two translates is another Calabi-Yau 3-fold Y, deformation equivalent to X. Applying results of Kuznetsov and Jiang-Leung-Xie shows that X and Y are derived equivalent, which by a result of Addington implies that their third cohomology groups are isomorphic as polarised Hodge structures. We show that X and Y provide counterexamples to a certain "birational" Torelli statement for…
Bernardi and Tirabassi show the existence of full strong exceptional collections consisting of line bundles on smooth toric Fano $3$-folds under assuming Bondal's conjecture, which states that the Frobenius push-forward of the structure sheaf $\mc O_X$ generates the derived category $D^b(X)$ for smooth projective toric varieties $X$. In this article, we show Bondal's conjecture for smooth toric Fano $3$-folds and also improve their result, using birational geometry.
Let X and Y be two smooth projective n-dimensional algebraic varieties X and Y over C with trivial canonical line bundles. We use methods of p-adic analysis on algebraic varieties over local number fields to prove that if X and Y are birational, they have the same Betti numbers.
Let $V$ be a complex nonsingular projective 3-fold of general type. We prove $P_{12}(V)>0$ and $P_{24}(V)>1$ (which answers an open problem of J. Kollar and S. Mori). We also prove that the canonical volume has an universal lower bound $\text{Vol}(V) \geq 1/2660$ and that the pluri-canonical map $Φ_m$ is birational onto its image for all $m\geq 77$. As an application of our method, we prove Fletcher's conjecture on weighted hyper-surface 3-folds with terminal quotient singularities. Another featured result is the optimal lower bound $\text{Vol}(V)\geq {1/420}$ among all those 3-folds $V$ with …
Let $V$ be a complex nonsingular projective 3-fold of general type. We shall give a detailed classification up to baskets of singularities on a minimal model of $V$. We show that the $m$-canonical map of $V$ is birational for all $m\geq 73$ and that the canonical volume $\text{Vol}(V)\geq {1/2660}$. When $χ(\mathcal{O}_V)\leq 1$, our result is $\text{Vol}(V)\geq {1/420}$, which is optimal. Other effective results are also included in the paper.
For a general Fano $3$-fold of index $1$ in the weighted projective space $\mathbb{P}(1,1,1,1,2,2,3)$ we construct $2$ new birational models that are Mori fibre spaces, in the framework of the so-called Sarkisov program. We highlight a relation between the corresponding birational maps, as a circle of Sarkisov links, visualising the notion of relations (due to Kaloghiros) in Sarkisov program.
We give an effective upper bound of |Bir(X)| for the birational automorphism group of an irregular n-fold (with n = 3) of general type in terms of the volume V = V(X) under an ''albanese smoothness and simplicity'' condition. To be precise, |Bir(X)| < d_3 V^{10}. An optimum linear bound |Bir(X)|-1 < (1/3)(42)^3 V is obtained for those 3-folds with non-maximal albanese dimension. For all n > 2, a bound |Bir(X)| < d_n V^{10} is obtained when alb_X is generically finite, alb(X) is smooth and Alb(X) is simple.
We show that for any smooth Calabi-Yau threefold $X$ of Picard number $2$ with infinite birational automorphism group, the numerical dimension $κ_σ$ of the extremal rays of the movable cone of $X$ is $\frac{3}{2}$. Furthermore, we provide new examples of Calabi-Yau threefolds of Picard number $2$ with infinite birational automorphism group.
We study the canonical stability of a smooth projective 3-fold $V$ of general type. We prove that (1) $|5K_V|$ gives a birational map onto its image provided the geometric genus $p_g\geq 4$; (2) $|6K_V|$ gives a birational map provided $p_g=3$. Known examples show that both are optimal. This fact can be viewed as parallel to surface case, though people know very little on 3-folds of general type with $p_g\leq 1$.
For a $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano 3-fold $X$ on which $K_X$ is a canonical divisor, we investigate the geometry induced from the linear system $|-mK_X|$ in this paper and prove that the anti-$m$-canonical map $φ_{-m}$ is birational onto its image for all $m\geq 39$. By a weak $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano 3-fold $X$ we mean a projective one with at worst terminal singularities on which $-K_X$ is $\mathbb{Q}$-Cartier, nef and big. For weak $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano 3-folds, we prove that $φ_{-m}$ is birational onto its image for all $m\geq 97$.
We complete the analysis on the birational rigidity of quasismooth Fano 3-fold deformation families appearing in the Graded Ring Database as a complete intersection. When such a deformation family $X$ has Fano index at least 2 and is minimally embedded in a weighted projective space in codimension 2, we determine which cyclic quotient singularity is a maximal centre. If a cyclic quotient singularity is a maximal centre, we construct a Sarkisov link to a non-isomorphic Mori fibre space or a birational involution. This allows, in particular, the construction of new examples of Fano 3-folds of co…
Given a natural number $l$ and a weak Fano $n$-fold $X$ with $\operatorname{dim}\overline{φ_{-lK_X}(X)}\geq n-1$, we study the lower bound of the anti-canonical volume and the upper bound of the anti-canonical stability index. The method can also be used to give similar bounds for polarised Calabi-Yau varieties.
By a canonical (resp. terminal) weak $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano $3$-fold we mean a normal projective one with at worst canonical (resp. terminal) singularities on which the anti-canonical divisor is $\mathbb{Q}$-Cartier, nef and big. For a canonical weak $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano $3$-fold $V$, we show that there exists a terminal weak $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano $3$-fold $X$, being birational to $V$, such that the $m$-th anti-canonical map defined by $|-mK_{X}|$ is birational for all $m\geq 52$. As an intermediate result, we show that for any $K$-Mori fiber space $Y$ of a canonical weak $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano $3$-fold, the $…
The 2-dimensional Lyness map is a 5-periodic birational map of the plane which may famously be resolved to give an automorphism of a log Calabi-Yau surface, given by the complement of an anticanonical pentagon of $(-1)$-curves in a del Pezzo surface of degree 5. This surface has many remarkable properties and, in particular, it is mirror to itself. We construct the 3-dimensional big brother of this surface by considering the 3-dimensional Lyness map, which is an 8-periodic birational map. The variety we obtain is a special (non-$\mathbb Q$-factorial) affine Fano 3-fold of type $V_{12}$, and we…
For a minimal $3$-fold $X$ with $K_X\equiv 0$ and a nef and big Weil divisor $L$ on $X$, we investigate the birational geometry inspired by $L$. We prove that $|mL|$ and $|K_X+mL|$ give birational maps for all $m\geq 17$. The result remains true under weaker assumption that $L$ is big and has no stable base components.
The notion of a holomorphically symplectic manifold can be generalized to the singular one. This paper studies the birational contraction maps between symplectic varieties, and then describes the deformation of a symplectic variety which has a symplectic resolution. Some examples are also included.
Explicit birational geometry of 3-folds represents a second phase of Mori theory, going beyond the foundational work of the 1980s. This paper is a tutorial and colloquial introduction to the explicit classification of Fano 3-folds (Q-Fano 3-folds), a subject that we hope is nearing completion. With the intention of remaining accessible to beginners in algebraic geometry, we include examples of elementary calculations of graded rings over curves and K3 surfaces. For us, K3 surfaces have at worst Du Val singularities and are polarised by an ample Weil divisor; they occur as the general elephant …
In this paper, we classify projective toric birational morphisms from Gorenstein toric 3-folds onto the 3-dimensional affine space with relatively ample anti-canonical divisors.
For a general birational projection of a smooth nondegenerate projective $n$-fold from $\mathbb P^{n+c}$ to $\mathbb P^m$, $n<m\leq(n+c)/2$, all fibres have total length asymptotically bounded by $2^{\sqrt{n}+1} $ and the fibres are locally defined by linear and quadratic equations.
This paper proves that the 5-canonical map of a smooth minimal 3-fold is birational when the geometric genus is bigger than 2. A combination of the results in this paper and that of Ein-Lazarsfeld-Lee, the possible exceptional cases are very limited. Unfortunately, no counter examples have been found up to now.
We study symplectic geometry of rationally connected $3$-folds. The first result shows that rationally connectedness is a symplectic deformation invariant in dimension $3$. If a rationally connected $3$-fold $X$ is Fano or $b_2(X)=2$, we prove that it is symplectic rationally connected, i.e. there is a non-zero Gromov-Witten invariant with two insertions being the class of a point. Finally we prove that many rationally connected $3$-folds are birational to a symplectic rationally connected variety.
Building on the work of Mukai, we explore the birational geometry of the moduli spaces M_{S,L} of semistable rank two torsion-free sheaves, with c_1=-K_S and c_2=2, on a polarized degree one del Pezzo surface (S,L); this is related to the birational geometry of the blow-up X of P^4 in 8 points. Our analysis is explicit and is obtained by looking at the variation of stability conditions. Then we provide a careful investigation of the blow-up X and of the moduli space Y=M_{S,-K_S}, which is a remarkable family of smooth Fano 4-folds. In particular we describe the relevant cones of divisors of Y,…
