We give a brief survey of the concept of birational rigidity, from its origins in the two-dimensional birational geometry, to its current state. The main ingredients of the method of maximal singularities are discussed. The principal results of the theory of birational rigidity of higher-dimensional Fano varieties and fibrations are given and certain natural conjectures are formulated.
We classify birationally rigid orbifold Fano 3-folds of index one defined by $5 \times 5$ Pfaffians. We give a sharp criterion for birational rigidity of these families based on the type of singularities that the varieties admit. Various conjectures are born out of our study, highlighting a possible approach to the classification of terminal Fano 3-folds. The birationally rigid cases are the first known rigid examples of Fanos that are not (weighted) complete intersection.
We compute global log canonical thresholds of certain birationally bi-rigid Fano 3-folds embedded in weighted projective spaces as complete intersections of codimension 2 and prove that they admit an orbifold Kähler-Einstein metric and are K-stable. As an application, we give examples of super-rigid affine Fano 4-folds.
We compute global log canonical thresholds, or equivalently alpha invariants, of birationally rigid orbifold Fano threefolds embedded in weighted projective spaces as codimension two or three. As an important application, we prove that most of them are weakly exceptional, $K$-stable and admit Kähler--Einstien metric.
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.
It is proved that a general Fano hypersurface of index 1 (in the projective space) with isolated singularities of general position is birationally rigid. Therefore it cannot be fibered into uniruled varieties of a smaller dimension by a rational map. The group of birational self-maps is either trivial or cyclic of order two.
We prove that a general Fano fibration $π\colon V\to {\mathbb P}^1$, the fiber of which is a double Fano hypersurface of index 1, is birationally superrigid provided it is sufficiently twisted over the base. In particular, on $V$ there are no other structures of a rationally connected fibration. The proof is based on the method of maximal singularities.
We prove that a smooth Fano hypersurface $V=V_M\subset{\Bbb P}^M$, $M\geq 6$, is birationally superrigid. In particular, it cannot be fibered into uniruled varieties by a non-trivial rational map and each birational map onto a minimal Fano variety of the same dimension is a biregular isomorphism. The proof is based on the method of maximal singularities combined with the connectedness principle of Shokurov and Koll\' ar.
A conjecture of Pukhlikov states that a smooth Fano variety of dimension at least four and index one is birationally rigid. We show that a general member of the linear system given by the ample generator of the Picard group of the moduli space of stable, rank two bundles with fixed determinant of odd degree on a curve of genus at least three, is not birationally rigid.
We complete the study of birational geometry of Fano fiber spaces $π\colon V\to {\mathbb P}^1$, the fiber of which is a Fano double hypersurface of index 1. For each family of these varieties we either prove birational rigidity or produce explicitly non-trivial structures of Fano fiber spaces. A new linear method of studying movable systems on Fano fiber spaces $V/{\mathbb P}^1$ is developed.
In this paper we prove birational rigidity of large classes of Fano-Mori fibre spaces over a base of arbitrary dimension, bounded from above by a constant that depends on the dimension of the fibre only. In order to do that, we first show that if every fibre of a Fano-Mori fibre space satisfies certain natural conditions, then every birational map onto another Fano-Mori fibre space is fibre-wise. After that we construct large classes of fibre spaces (into Fano double spaces of index one and into Fano hypersurfaces of index one) which satisfy those conditions. The paper is a follow up of my pre…
Iterating the procedure of making a double cover over a given variety, we construct large families of smooth higher-dimensional Fano varieties of index 1. These varieties can be realized as complete intersections in various weighted projective spaces. A generic variety in these families is proved to be birationally superrigid; in particular, it admits no non-trivial structures of a fibration into rationally connected (or uniruled) varieties, it is non-rational and its groups of birational and biregular self-maps coincide.
We continue to study birational geometry of Fano fibrations $π\colon V\to {\mathbb P}^1$ the fibers of which are Fano double hypersurfaces of index 1. For a majority of families of this type, which do not satisfy the condition of sufficient twistedness over the base, we prove birational rigidity (in particular, it means that there are no other structures of a fibration into rationally connected varieties) and compute their groups of birational self-maps. We considerably improve the principal components of the method of maximal singularities, in the first place, the technique of counting multip…
We prove that every birationally superrigid Fano variety whose alpha invariant is greater than (resp. no smaller than) $\frac{1}{2}$ is K-stable (resp. K-semistable). We also prove that the alpha invariant of a birationally superrigid Fano variety of dimension $n$ is at least $\frac{1}{n+1}$ (under mild assumptions) and that the moduli space (if exists) of birationally superrigid Fano varieties is separated.
We prove that a generic (in the sense of Zariski topology) Fano complete intersection $V$ of the type $(d_1,...,d_k)$ in ${\mathbb P}^{M+k}$, where $d_1+...+d_k=M+k$, is birationally superrigid if $M\geq 7$, $M\geq k+3$ and $\mathop{\rm max} \{d_i\}\geq 4$. In particular, on the variety $V$ there is exactly one structure of a Mori fibre space (or a rationally connected fibre space), the groups of birational and biregular self-maps coincide, $\mathop{\rm Bir} V= \mathop{\rm Aut} V$, and the variety $V$ is non-rational. This fact covers a considerably larger range of complete intersections than …
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.
This note points out a gap in the proof of the main theorem of the article "Birationally rigid hypersurfaces" published in Invent. Math. 192 (2013), 533-566, and provides a new proof of the theorem.
We prove birational superrigidity of generic Fano complete intersections $V$ of type $2^{k_1}\cdot 3^{k_2}$ in the projective space ${\mathbb P}^{2k_1+3k_2}$, under the condition that $k_2\geq 2$ and $k_1+2k_2=\mathop{\rm dim} V\geq 12$, and of a few families of Fano complete intersections of dimension 10 and 11. This is the third version: minor corrections were made, including a few typos.
We prove that in the parameter space of $M$-dimensional Fano complete intersections of index one and codimension two the locus of varieties that are not birationally superrigid has codimension at least $\frac12 (M-9)(M-10)-1$.
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 prove that a Fano complete intersection of codimension $k$ and index 1 in the complex projective space ${\mathbb P}^{M+k}$ for $k\geqslant 20$ and $M\geqslant 8k\log k$ with at most multi-quadratic singularities is birationally superrigid. The codimension of the complement to the set of birationally superrigid complete intersections in the natural parameter space is shown to be at least $\frac12 (M-5k)(M-6k)$. The proof is based on the techniques of hypertangent divisors combined with the recently discovered $4n^2$-inequality for complete intersection singularities.
We prove the birational rigidity of Fano complete intersections of index 1 with a singular point of high multiplicity, which can be close to the degree of the variety. In particular, the groups of birational and biregular automorphisms of these varieties are equal, and they are non-rational. The proof is based on the techniques of the method of maximal singularities, the generalized $4n^2$-inequality for complete intersection singularities and the technique of hypertangent divisors.
In this paper a large class of Fano double quadrics and cubics are shown to be factorial and birationally superrigid, in particular they admit no non-trivial structure of a fibration with rationally connected fibres and are therefore non-rational. This is shown using the "Method of maximal singularities" of Iskovskikh and Manin, expanded upon by Pukhlikov. In addition, an estimate of the codimension of the set of such varieties is calculated.
We study the geometry and the period map of nodal complex prime Fano threefolds with index 1 and degree 10. We show that these threefolds are birationally isomorphic to Verra solids (hypersurfaces of bidegree $(2,2)$ in $ ¶^2\times ¶^2$). Using Verra's results on the period map for these solids and on the Prym map for double étale covers of plane sextic curves, we prove that the fiber of the period map for our nodal threefolds is birationally the union of two surfaces, for which we give several descriptions. This result is the analog in the nodal case of a result obtained in arXiv:0812.3670 fo…
We prove that for N greater than or equal to 4, all smooth hypersurfaces of degree N in P^N are birationally superrigid. First discovered in the case N = 4 by Iskovskikh and Manin in a work that started this whole direction of research, this property was later conjectured to hold in general by Pukhlikov. The proof relies on the method of maximal singularities in combination with a delicate formula on restrictions of multiplier ideals.
We study a wide class of affine varieties, which we call affine Fano varieties. By analogy with birationally super-rigid Fano varieties, we define super-rigidity for affine Fano varieties, and provide many examples and non-examples of super-rigid affine Fano varieties.
In this paper we prove birational superrigidity of finite covers of degree $d$ of the $M$-dimensional projective space of index 1, where $d\geqslant 5$ and $M\geqslant 10$, with at most quadratic singularities of rank $\geqslant 7$, satisfying certain regularity conditions. Up to now, only cyclic covers were studied in this respect. The set of varieties with worse singularities or not satisfying the regularity conditions is of codimension $\geqslant\frac12(M-4)(M-5)+1$ in the natural parameter space of the family.
A Fano-Enriques threefold is a three-dimensional non-Gorenstein Fano variety of index 1 with at most canonical singularities. We study the birational geometry of Fano-Enriques threefolds with terminal cyclic quotient singularities. We investigate their rationality, and also provide an example of a Fano-Enriques threefold, whose pliability is 9, i.e. a Fano-Enriques threefold birationally equivalent to exactly 9 Mori fibre spaces in Sarkisov category.
Varieties of Fano type are very well behaved with respect to MMP, and they are known to be rationally connected. We study the relation between classes of rationally connected varieties and varieties of Fano type. We give examples of rationally connected varieties of dimension $\geqslant 3$ which are not birationally equivalent to Fano type varieties, thereby answering the question of Cascini and Gongyo.
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.
Determining when the birational automorphism group of a Fano variety is finite is an interesting and difficult problem. The main technique for studying this problem is by the Noether-Fano method. This method has been effective in studying this problem for Fano varieties of index one and two. The purpose of this paper is to give a new approach to this problem, and to show that in every positive characteristic there are Fano varieties of arbitrarily large index with finite (or even trivial) birational automorphisms. To do this we prove that these varieties admit ample and birationally equivarian…
We prove that the deformations of a smooth complex Fano threefold X with Picard number 1, index 1, and degree 10, are unobstructed. The differential of the period map has two-dimensional kernel. We construct two two-dimensional components of the fiber of the period map through X: one is isomorphic to the variety of conics in X, modulo an involution, another is birationally isomorphic to a moduli space of semistable rank-2 torsion-free sheaves on X, modulo an involution. The threefolds corresponding to points of these components are obtained from X via conic and line (birational) transformation…
In this paper we classify nodal rational non-$\mathbb{Q}$-factorial del Pezzo threefolds of degree 2 which can be $G$-birationally rigid for some subgroup $G\subset \operatorname{Aut}(X)$.
We prove that every projectively normal Fano manifold in $\mathbb{P}^{n+r}$ of index $1$, codimension $r$ and dimension $n\geq 10r$ is birationally superrigid and K-stable. This result was previously proved by Zhuang under the complete intersection assumption.
It is proved that a three-dimensional double cone is a birationally rigid variety. We also compute the group of birational automorphisms of such a variety. This work is based on the method of "untwisting" maximal singularities of linear system.
We construct an example of the birationally rigid complete intersection of a quadric and a cubic in $\PA^5$ with an ordinary double point, which under a small deformation gives a non-rigid Fano variety. Thus we show that birational rigidity is not open in moduli.
Varieties fibered into del Pezzo surfaces form a class of possible outputs of the minimal model program. It is known that del Pezzo fibrations of degrees $1$ and $2$ over the projective line with smooth total space satisfying the so-called $K^2$-condition are birationally rigid: their Mori fibre space structure is unique. This implies that they are not birational to any Fano varieties, conic bundles or other del Pezzo fibrations. In particular, they are irrational. The families of del Pezzo fibrations with smooth total space of degree $2$ are rather special, as for "most" families a general de…
We prove birational superrigidity of every hypersurface of degree N in P^N with singular locus of dimension s, under the assumption that N is at least 2s+8 and it has only quadratic singularities of rank at least N-s. Combined with the results of I. A. Chel'tsov and T. de Fernex, this completes the list of birationally superrigid singular hypersurfaces with only ordinary double points except in dimension 4 and 6. Further we impose an additional condition on the base locus of a birational map to a Mori fiber space. Then we prove conditional birational superrigidity of certain smooth Fano hypers…
Any minimal Del Pezzo G-surface S of degree smaller than 3 is G-birationally rigid. We classify those which are G-birationally superrigid and for those which fail to be so, we describe the equations of a set of generators for the infinite group of G-birational automorphisms.
It is well-known that a nonsingular minimal cubic surface is birationally rigid; the group of its birational selfmaps is generated by biregular selfmaps and birational involutions such that all relations between the latter are implied by standard relations between reflections on an elliptic curve. It is also known that a factorial nodal quartic threefold is birationally rigid and its group of birational selfmaps is generated by biregular ones and certain birational involutions. We prove that all relations between these involutions are implied by standard relations on elliptic curves, complete …
In this paper we study the connection between rigid sheaves and separable-exceptional objects on Fano varieties over arbitrary fields. We give criteria for a rigid vector bundle on a Fano variety to be the direct sum of separable-exceptional bundles and for a separable-exceptional vector bundle to be part of a full separable-exceptional collection.
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.