James Ax conjectured that every pseudo algebraically closed field is $C_1$. We prove this conjecture in characteristic 0 by relating it to degenerations of Fano varieties.
We show that every rank one smooth Fano threefold has a weak Landau-Ginzburg model coming from a toric degeneration. The fibers of these Landau-Ginzburg models can be compactified to K3 surfaces with Picard lattice of rank 19. We also show that any smooth Fano variety of arbitrary dimension which is a complete intersection of Cartier divisors in weighted projective space has a very weak Landau-Ginzburg model coming from a toric degeneration.
For fixed degree $d\leq 12$, we study the Hilbert scheme of degree $d$ smooth Fano threefolds in their anticanonical embeddings. We use this to classify all possible degenerations of these varieties to toric Fano varieties with at most canonical Gorenstein singularities.
We construct degenerations of Mukai varieties and linear sections thereof to special unobstructed Fano Stanley-Reisner schemes corresponding to convex deltahedra. This can be used to find toric degenerations of rank one index one Fano threefolds. In the second part we find many higher dimensional unobstructed Fano and Calabi-Yau Stanley-Reisner schemes. The main result is that the Stanley-Reisner ring of the boundary complex of the dual polytope of the associahedron has trivial $T^2$.
In this paper, we give a tropical method for computing Gromov-Witten type invariants of Fano manifolds of special type. This method applies to those Fano manifolds which admit toric degenerations to toric Fano varieties with singularities allowing small resolutions. Examples include (generalized) flag manifolds of type A, and some moduli space of rank two bundles on a genus two curve.
Consider a family of Fano varieties $π: X \longrightarrow B\ni o$ over a curve germ with a smooth total space $X$. Assume that the generic fiber is smooth and the special fiber $F=π^{-1}(o)$ has simple normal crossings. Then $F$ is called a semistable degeneration of Fano varieties. We show that the dual complex of $F$ is a simplex of dimension $\leq \mathrm{dim}\ F$. Simplices of any admissible dimension can be realized for any dimension of the fiber. Using this result and the Minimal Model Program in dimension $3$ we reproduce the classification of the semistable degenerations of del Pezzo s…
We prove that K-polystable degenerations of Q-Fano varieties are unique. Furthermore, we show that the moduli stack of K-stable Q-Fano varieties is separated. Together with [Jia17,BL18], the latter result yields a separated Deligne-Mumford stack parametrizing all uniformly K-stable Q-Fano varieties of fixed dimension and volume. The result also implies that the automorphism group of a K-stable Q-Fano variety is finite.
In this Thesis, I investigate how Fano manifolds equipped with a Kahler-Einstein metric can degenerate as metric spaces (in the Gromov-Hausdorff topology) and some of the relations of this question with Algebraic Geometry, in particular in the direction of the study of moduli spaces and their compactifications.
We prove that for any $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano variety $X$, the special $\mathbb{R}$-test configuration that minimizes the $H$-functional is unique and has a K-semistable $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano central fibre $(W, ξ)$. Moreover there is a unique K-polystable degeneration of $(W, ξ)$. As an application, we confirm the conjecture of Chen-Sun-Wang about the algebraic-uniqueness for Kähler-Ricci flow limits on Fano manifolds, which implies that the Gromov-Hausdorff limit of the flow does not depend on the choice of initial Kähler metrics. The results are achieved by studying algebraic optimal degeneration prob…
In the paper "Birational geometry via moduli spaces" by I. Cheltsov, L. Katzarkov, and V. Przyjalkowski a new structure connecting toric degenerations of smooth Fano threefolds by projections was introduced; using Mirror Symmetry these connections were transferred to the side of Landau--Ginzburg models. In the paper mentioned above a nice way to connect of Picard rank one Fano threefolds was found. We apply this approach to all smooth Fano threefolds, connecting their degenerations by toric basic links. In particular, we find a lot of Gorenstein toric degenerations of smooth Fano threefolds we…
We consider the space KR(n,F) of Kahler-Ricci solitons on n-dimensional Fano manifolds with Futaki invariant bounded by F. We prove a partial C^0 estimate for KR(n,F) as a generalization of the recent work of Donaldson-Sun for Fano Kahler-Einstein manifolds. In particular, any sequence in KR(n,F) has a convergent subsequence in the Gromov-Hausdorff topology to a Kahler- Ricci soliton on a Q-Fano variety with log terminal singularities.
We establish an algebraic approach to prove the properness of moduli spaces of K-polystable Fano varieties and reduce the problem to a conjecture on destabilizations of K-unstable Fano varieties. Specifically, we prove that if the stability threshold of every K-unstable Fano variety is computed by a divisorial valuation, then such K-moduli spaces are proper. The argument relies on studying certain optimal destabilizing test configurations and constructing a Theta-stratification on the moduli stack of Fano varieties.
For an appropriate class of Fano complete intersections in toric varieties, we prove that there is a concrete relationship between degenerations to specific toric subvarieties and expressions for Givental's Landau-Ginzburg models as Laurent polynomials. As a result, we show that Fano varieties presented as complete intersections in partial flag manifolds admit degenerations to Gorenstein toric weak Fano varieties, and their Givental Landau-Ginzburg models can be expressed as corresponding Laurent polynomials. We also use this to show that all of the Laurent polynomials obtained by Coates, Kasp…
For an arbitrary smooth n-dimensional Fano variety $X$ we introduce the notion of a small toric degeneration. Using small toric degenerations of Fano n-folds $X$, we propose a general method for constructing mirrors of Calabi-Yau complete intersections in $X$. Our mirror construction is based on a generalized monomial-divisor mirror correspondence which can be used for computing Gromov-Witten invariants of rational curves via specializations of GKZ-hypergeometric series.
There exist exactly 166 4-dimensional reflexive polytopes such that the corresponding 4-dimensional Gorenstein toric Fano varieties have at worst terminal singularities in codimension 3 and their anticanonical divisor is divisible by 2. For every such a polytope, one naturally obtains a family of Fano hypersurfaces X with at worst conifold singularities. A generic 3-dimensional Fano hypersurface X can be interpreted as a flat conifold degeneration of some smooth Fano 3-folds Y whose classification up to deformation was obtained by Iskovskikh, Mori and Mukai. In this case, both Fano varieties X…
Consider a smooth log Fano variety over the function field of a curve. Suppose that the boundary has positive normal bundle. Choose an integral model over the curve. Then integral points are Zariski dense, after removing an explicit finite set of points on the base curve.
In this paper we study the geometry of toric degeneration of a Bott-Samelson-Demazure-Hansen (BSDH) variety. We give some applications to BSDH varieties. Precisely, we classify Fano, weak Fano and log Fano BSDH varieties and their toric limits in Kac-Moody setting. We prove some vanishing theorems for the cohomology of tangent bundle (and line bundles) on BSDH varieties. We also recover the results in arXiv:1604.01998, by toric methods.
We prove that a degeneration rationally connected varieties over a field of characteristic zero always contains a geometrically irreducible subvariety which is rationally connected.
In this article we exhibit certain projective degenerations of smooth $K3$ surfaces of degree $2g-2$ in $\Bbb P^g$ (whose Picard group is generated by the hyperplane class), to a union of two rational normal scrolls, and also to a union of planes. As a consequence we prove that the general hyperplane section of such $K3$ surfaces has a corank one Gaussian map, if $g=11$ or $g\geq 13$. We also prove that the general such hyperplane section lies on a unique $K3$ surface, up to projectivities. Finally we present a new approach to the classification of prime Fano threefolds of index one, which doe…
We study semi-stable degenerations of toric varieties determined by certain partitions of their moment polytopes. Analyzing their defining equations we prove a property of uniqueness.
Batyrev (et. al.) constructed a family of Calabi-Yau varieties using small toric degenerations of the full flag variety G/B. They conjecture this family to be mirror to generic anti-canonical hypersurfaces in G/B. Recently Alexeev and Brion, as a part of their work on toric degenerations of spherical varieties, have constructed many degenerations of G/B. For any such degeneration we construct a family of varieties, which we prove coincides with Batyrev's in the small case. We prove that any two such families are birational, thus proving that mirror families are independent of the choice of deg…
We study the birational boundedness of special fibers of log Calabi-Yau fibrations and Fano fibrations. We show that for a locally stable family of Fano varieties or polarised log Calabi-Yau pairs over a curve, if the general fiber satisfies some natural boundedness conditions, then every irreducible component of the special fiber is birationally bounded.
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.
A perfect PAC field containing an algebraically closed field is known to be $C_1$, i.e., every degeneration of a Fano complete intersection has a point. We prove that also every degeneration of a separably rationally connected variety has a point.
We prove a more general and precise version of the Noether-Fano inequalities for birational maps between Mori fiber spaces. This is applied to give descriptions of global canonical thresholds on Fano varieties of Picard number one.
This note constructs the flat toric degeneration of the manifold FL_n of flags in C^n from [Gonciulea-Lakshmibai 96] as an explicit GIT quotient of the Gr"obner degeneration in [Knutson-Miller 03]. This implies that Schubert varieties degenerate to reduced unions of toric varieties, associated to faces indexed by rc-graphs (reduced pipe dreams) in the Gel'fand-Cetlin polytope. Our explicit description of the toric degeneration of FL_n provides a simple explanation of how Gel'fand-Cetlin decompositions for irreducible polynomial representations of GL_n arise via geometric quantization.
We study toric degenerations of opposite Schubert and Richardson varieties inside degenerations of Grassmannians and flag varieties. These degenerations are parametrized by matching fields in the sense of Sturmfels and Zelevinsky. We construct so-called restricted matching field ideals whose generating sets are understood combinatorially through tableaux. We determine when these ideals are toric and coincide with Gröbner degenerations of Richardson varieties using the well established standard monomial theory for Grassmannians and flag varieties.
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.
We provide a construction of examples of semistable degeneration via toric geometry. The applications include a higher dimensional generalization of classical degeneration of K3 surface into 4 rational components, an algebraic geometric version of decomposing K3 as the fiber sum of two E(1)'s as well as it's higher dimensional generalizations, and many other new examples.
In this survey, we discuss the state of art about the monodromy property for Calabi-Yau varieties. We explain what is the monodromy property for Calabi-Yau varieties and then discuss some examples of Calabi-Yau varieties that satisfy this property. After this recap, we discuss a possible approach to future research in this area.
Let $(C,ι)$ be a stable curve with an involution. Following a classical construction one can define its Prym variety $P$, which in this case turns out to be a semiabelian group variety and usually not complete. In this paper we study the question whether there are ``good'' compactifications of $P$ in analogy to compactified Jacobians. The answer to this question depends on whether we consider degenerations of principally polarized Prym varieties or degenerations with the induced (non-principal) polarization. We describe degeneration data of such degenerations. The main application of our theor…
We give sufficient conditions for the semisimplicity of quantum cohomology of Fano varieties of Picard rank 1. We apply these techniques to prove new semisimplicity results for some Fano varieties of Picard rank 1 and large index. We also give examples of Fano varieties having a non semisimple small quantum cohomology but a semisimple big quantum cohomology.
We propose a refined but natural notion of toric degenerations that respect a given embedding and show that within this framework a Gorenstein Fano variety can only be degenerated to a Gorenstein Fano toric variety if it is embedded via its anticanonical embedding. This also gives a precise criterion for reflexive polytopes to appear, which might be required for applications in mirror symmetry. For the proof of this statement we will study polytopes whose polar dual is a lattice polytope. As a byproduct we generalize a connection between the number of lattice points in a rational convex polyto…
We prove a conjecture of L.Bonavero, C. Casagrande, O. Debarre and S. Druel, on the pseudo-index of smooth Fano varieties, in the special case of horospherical varieties.
The symmetric projective varieties of rank one are all smooth and Fano by a classic result of Akhiezer. We classify the locally factorial (respectively smooth) projective symmetric $G$-varieties of rank 2 which are Fano. When $G$ is semisimple we classify also the locally factorial (respectively smooth) projective symmetric $G$-varieties of rank 2 which are only quasi-Fano. Moreover, we classify the Fano symmetric $G$-varieties of rank 3 obtainable from a wonderful variety by a sequence of blow-ups along $G$-stable varieties. Finally, we classify the Fano symmetric varieties of arbitrary rank …
We develop a theory of multi-stage degenerations of toric varieties over finite rank valuation rings, extending the Mumford--Gubler theory in rank one. Such degenerations are constructed from fan-like structures over totally ordered abelian groups of finite rank. Our main theorem describes the geometry of successive special fibers in the degeneration in terms of the polyhedral geometry of a system of recession complexes associated to the fan.
We study algebraic, combinatorial and geometric aspects of weighted PBW-type degenerations of (partial) flag varieties in type $A$. These degenerations are labeled by degree functions lying in an explicitly defined polyhedral cone, which can be identified with a maximal cone in the tropical flag variety. Varying the degree function in the cone, we recover, for example, the classical flag variety, its abelian PBW degeneration, some of its linear degenerations and a particular toric degeneration.
In this paper we construct a degeneration of Bott-Samelson-Demazure-Hansen varieties to toric varieties in an algebraic family and study the geometry of the resulting toric varieties. We give a natural set of torus invariant curves that generate the Chow group of $1$-cycles of the limiting toric variety and express the ample cone of this toric variety as a sub-cone of the ample cone of the corresponding Bott-Samelson-Demazure-Hansen variety. We also give a description of Extremal and Mori rays and determine when this toric variety is Fano.
We construct closed immersions from initial degenerations of the spinor variety $\mathbb{S}_n$ to inverse limits of strata associated to even $Δ$-matroids. As an application, we prove that these initial degenerations are smooth and irreducible for $n\leq 5$ and identify the log canonical model of the Chow quotient of $\mathbb{S}_5$ by the action of the diagonal torus of $\operatorname{GL}(5)$.
In this paper, we obtain a complete classification of smooth toric Fano varieties equipped with extremal contractions which contract divisors to curves for any dimension. As an application, we obtain a complete classification of smooth projective toric varieties which can be equivariantly blown-up to Fano along curves.