We study pencils of curves on a germ of complex reduced surface $(S,0)$. These are families of curves parametrized by $ \mathbb{P}^1 $ having 0 as the unique common point. We prove that for $w\in \mathbb{P}^1$, the corresponding curve of the pencil does not have the generic topology if and only if either the corresponding curve of the pulled-back pencil to the normalized surface has a non generic topology or w is a limit value for the function $ f/g $ along the singular locus of $(S,0)$, where f and g are generators of the pencil.

Kähler–Einstein currents, also known as singular Kähler–Einstein metrics, have been introduced and constructed a little over a decade ago. These currents live on mildly singular compact Kähler spaces X and their two defining properties are the following: They are genuine Kähler–Einstein metrics on $X_{\mathrm {reg}}$, and they admit local bounded potentials near the singularities of X. In this note, we show that these currents dominate a Kähler form near the singular locus, when either X admits a global smoothing, or when X has isolated smoothable singularities. Our results apply to klt pairs and allow us to show that if X is any compact Kähler space of dimension three with log terminal singularities, then any singular Kähler–Einstein metric of nonpositive curvature dominates a Kähler form.

We prove a criterion for the constancy of the Hilbert–Samuel function for locally Noetherian schemes such that the local rings are excellent at every point. More precisely, we show that the Hilbert–Samuel function is locally constant on such a scheme if and only if the scheme is normally flat along its reduction and the reduction itself is regular. Regularity of the underlying reduced scheme is a significant new property.

We prove that the multiplicity of a filtration of a local ring satisfies various convexity properties. In particular, we show the multiplicity is convex along geodesics. As a consequence, we prove that the volume of a valuation is log convex on simplices of quasi-monomial valuations and give a new proof of a theorem of Xu and Zhuang on the uniqueness of normalized volume minimizers. In another direction, we generalize a theorem of Rees on multiplicities of ideals to filtrations and characterize when the Minkowski inequality for filtrations is an equality under mild assumptions.

We study a pair consisting of a smooth 3-fold defined over an algebraically closed field and a “general” ${\Bbb R}$-ideal. We show that the minimal log discrepancy (“mld” for short) of every such a pair is computed by a prime divisor obtained by at most two weighted blow-ups. This bound is regarded as a weighted blow-up version of Mustaţă–Nakamura’s conjecture. We also show that if the mld of such a pair is not less than 1, then it is computed by at most one weighted blow-up. As a consequence, ACC of mld holds for such pairs.

We give a variant of Artin algebraization along closed subschemes and closed substacks. Our main application is the existence of étale, smooth or syntomic neighborhoods of closed subschemes and closed substacks. In particular, we prove local structure theorems for stacks and their derived counterparts and the existence of henselizations along linearly fundamental closed substacks. These results establish the existence of Ferrand pushouts, which answers positively a question of Temkin–Tyomkin.

We characterize the finite codimension sub-${\mathbf {k}}$-algebras of ${\mathbf {k}}[\![t]\!]$ as the solutions of a computable finite family of higher differential operators. For this end, we establish a duality between such a sub-algebras and the finite codimension ${\mathbf {k}}$-vector spaces of ${\mathbf {k}}[u]$, this ring acts on ${\mathbf {k}}[\![t]\!]$ by differentiation.

In this article, we establish the Grothendieck–Serre conjecture over valuation rings: for a reductive group scheme $G$ over a valuation ring $V$ with fraction field $K$, a $G$-torsor over $V$ is trivial if it is trivial over $K$. This result is predicted by the original Grothendieck–Serre conjecture and the resolution of singularities. The novelty of our proof lies in overcoming subtleties brought by general nondiscrete valuation rings. By using flasque resolutions and inducting with local cohomology, we prove a non-Noetherian counterpart of Colliot-Thélène–Sansuc's case of tori. Then, taking advantage of techniques in algebraization, we obtain the passage to the Henselian rank-one case. Finally, we induct on Levi subgroups and use the integrality of rational points of anisotropic groups to reduce to the semisimple anisotropic case, in which we appeal to properties of parahoric subgroups in Bruhat–Tits theory to conclude. In the last section, by using extension properties of reflexive sheaves on formal power series over valuation rings and patching of torsors, we prove a variant of Nisnevich's purity conjecture.

Valuation rings and perfectoid rings are examples of (usually non-Noetherian) rings that behave in some sense like regular rings. We give and study an extension of the concept of regular local rings to non-Noetherian rings so that it includes valuation and perfectoid rings and it is related to Grothendieck’s definition of formal smoothness as in the Noetherian case. For that, we have to take into account the topologies. We prove a descent theorem for regularity along flat homomorphisms (in fact for homomorphisms of finite flat dimension), extending some known results from the Noetherian to the non-Noetherian case, as well as generalizing some recent results in the non-Noetherian case, such as the descent of regularity from perfectoid rings by B. Bhatt, S. Iyengar and L. Ma.

Let $f_0$ and $f_1$ be two homogeneous polynomials of degree d in three complex variables $z_1,z_2,z_3$. We show that the Lê–Yomdin surface singularities defined by $g_0:=f_0+z_i^{d+m}$ and $g_1:=f_1+z_i^{d+m}$ have the same abstract topology, the same monodromy zeta-function, the same $\mu ^*$-invariant, but lie in distinct path-connected components of the $\mu ^*$-constant stratum if their projective tangent cones (defined by $f_0$ and $f_1$, respectively) make a Zariski pair of curves in $\mathbb {P}^2$, the singularities of which are Newton non-degenerate. In this case, we say that $V(g_0):=g_0^{-1}(0)$ and $V(g_1):=g_1^{-1}(0)$ make a $\mu ^*$-Zariski pair of surface singularities. Being such a pair is a necessary condition for the germs $V(g_0)$ and $V(g_1)$ to have distinct embedded topologies.

We consider a corank 1, finitely determined, quasi-homogeneous map germ f from $(\mathbb{C}^2,0)$ to $(\mathbb{C}^3,0)$. We describe the embedded topological type of a generic hyperplane section of $f(\mathbb{C}^2)$, denoted by $\gamma_f$, in terms of the weights and degrees of f. As a consequence, a necessary condition for a corank 1 finitely determined map germ $g\,{:}\,(\mathbb{C}^2,0)\rightarrow (\mathbb{C}^3,0)$ to be quasi-homogeneous is that the plane curve $\gamma_g$ has either two or three characteristic exponents. As an application of our main result, we also show that any one-parameter unfolding $F=(f_t,t)$ of f which adds only terms of the same degrees as the degrees of f is Whitney equisingular.

Consider a reductive linear algebraic group G acting linearly on a polynomial ring S over an infinite field; key examples are the general linear group, the symplectic group, the orthogonal group, and the special linear group, with the classical representations as in Weyl’s book: For the general linear group, consider a direct sum of copies of the standard representation and copies of the dual; in the other cases, take copies of the standard representation. The invariant rings in the respective cases are determinantal rings, rings defined by Pfaffians of alternating matrices, symmetric determinantal rings and the Plücker coordinate rings of Grassmannians; these are the classical invariant rings of the title, with $S^G\subseteq S$ being the natural embedding.

Over a field of characteristic zero, a reductive group is linearly reductive, and it follows that the invariant ring $S^G$ is a pure subring of S, equivalently, $S^G$ is a direct summand of S as an $S^G$-module. Over fields of positive characteristic, reductive groups are typically no longer linearly reductive. We determine, in the positive characteristic case, precisely when the inclusion $S^G\subseteq S$ is pure. It turns out that if $S^G\subseteq S$ is pure, then either the invariant ring $S^G$ is regular or the group G is linearly reductive.

Given a resolution of rational singularities $\pi \colon {\tilde {X}} \to X$ over a field of characteristic zero, we use a Hodge-theoretic argument to prove that the image of the functor ${\mathbf {R}}\pi _*\colon {\mathbf {D}}^{\mathrm {b}}({\tilde {X}}) \to {\mathbf {D}}^{\mathrm {b}}(X)$ between bounded derived categories of coherent sheaves generates ${\mathbf {D}}^{\mathrm {b}}(X)$ as a triangulated category. This gives a weak version of the Bondal–Orlov localization conjecture [BO02], answering a question from [PS21]. The same result is established more generally for proper (not necessarily birational) morphisms $\pi \colon {\tilde {X}} \to X$, with ${\tilde {X}}$ smooth, satisfying ${\mathbf {R}}\pi _*({\mathcal {O}}_{\tilde {X}}) = {\mathcal {O}}_X$.

Let f be an isolated singularity at the origin of $\mathbb {C}^n$. One of many invariants that can be associated with f is its Łojasiewicz exponent $\mathcal {L}_0 (f)$, which measures, to some extent, the topology of f. We give, for generic surface singularities f, an effective formula for $\mathcal {L}_0 (f)$ in terms of the Newton polyhedron of f. This is a realization of one of Arnold’s postulates.

In this paper, we prove that klt singularities are invariant under deformations if the generic fiber is $\mathbb {Q}$-Gorenstein. We also obtain a similar result for slc singularities. These are generalizations of results of Esnault-Viehweg [Math. Ann. 271 (1985), 439–449] and S. Ishii [Math. Ann. 275 (1986), 139–148; Singularities (Iowa City, IA, 1986) Contemporary Mathematics, vol. 90 (American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1989), 135–145].

Let $ {\mathcal C} $ be an algebraic curve and c be an analytically irreducible singular point of ${\mathcal C}$. The set ${\mathscr {L}_{\infty }}({\mathcal C})^c$ of arcs with origin c is an irreducible closed subset of the space of arcs on ${\mathcal C}$. We obtain a presentation of the formal neighborhood of the generic point of this set which can be interpreted in terms of deformations of the generic arc defined by this point. This allows us to deduce a strong connection between the aforementioned formal neighborhood and the formal neighborhood in the arc space of any primitive parametrization of the singularity c. This may be interpreted as the fact that analytically along ${\mathscr {L}_{\infty }}({\mathcal C})^c$ the arc space is a product of a finite dimensional singularity and an infinite dimensional affine space.

Let $(X\ni x,B)$ be an lc surface germ. If $X\ni x$ is klt, we show that there exists a divisor computing the minimal log discrepancy of $(X\ni x,B)$ that is a Kollár component of $X\ni x$. If $B\not=0$ or $X\ni x$ is not Du Val, we show that any divisor computing the minimal log discrepancy of $(X\ni x,B)$ is a potential lc place of $X\ni x$. This extends a result of Blum and Kawakita who independently showed that any divisor computing the minimal log discrepancy on a smooth surface is a potential lc place.

Using Cohen’s classification of symplectic reflection groups, we prove that the parabolic subgroups, that is, stabilizer subgroups, of a finite symplectic reflection group, are themselves symplectic reflection groups. This is the symplectic analog of Steinberg’s Theorem for complex reflection groups.

Using computational results required in the proof, we show the nonexistence of symplectic resolutions for symplectic quotient singularities corresponding to three exceptional symplectic reflection groups, thus reducing further the number of cases for which the existence question remains open.

Another immediate consequence of our result is that the singular locus of the symplectic quotient singularity associated to a symplectic reflection group is pure of codimension two.

Hilbert–Kunz multiplicity and F-signature are numerical invariants of commutative rings in positive characteristic that measure severity of singularities: for a regular ring both invariants are equal to one and the converse holds under mild assumptions. A natural question is for what singular rings these invariants are closest to one. For Hilbert–Kunz multiplicity this question was first considered by the last two authors and attracted significant attention. In this paper, we study this question, i.e., an upper bound, for F-signature and revisit lower bounds on Hilbert–Kunzmultiplicity.

Utilizing ultraproducts, Schoutens constructed a big Cohen–Macaulay (BCM) algebra $\mathcal {B}(R)$ over a local domain R essentially of finite type over $\mathbb {C}$. We show that if R is normal and $\Delta $ is an effective $\mathbb {Q}$-Weil divisor on $\operatorname {Spec} R$ such that $K_R+\Delta $ is $\mathbb {Q}$-Cartier, then the BCM test ideal $\tau _{\widehat {\mathcal {B}(R)}}(\widehat {R},\widehat {\Delta })$ of $(\widehat {R},\widehat {\Delta })$ with respect to $\widehat {\mathcal {B}(R)}$ coincides with the multiplier ideal $\mathcal {J}(\widehat {R},\widehat {\Delta })$ of $(\widehat {R},\widehat {\Delta })$, where $\widehat {R}$ and $\widehat {\mathcal {B}(R)}$ are the $\mathfrak {m}$-adic completions of R and $\mathcal {B}(R)$, respectively, and $\widehat {\Delta }$ is the flat pullback of $\Delta $ by the canonical morphism $\operatorname {Spec} \widehat {R}\to \operatorname {Spec} R$. As an application, we obtain a result on the behavior of multiplier ideals under pure ring extensions.