Let X be a smooth threefold over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic. We prove that an arbitrary flop of X is smooth. To this end, we study Gorenstein curves of genus one and two-dimensional elliptic singularities defined over imperfect fields.

Given a general polarized $K3$ surface $S\subset \mathbb P^g$ of genus $g\le 14$, we study projections of minimal degree and their variational structure. In particular, we prove that the degree of irrationality of all such surfaces is at most $4$, and that for $g=7,8,9,11$ there are no rational maps of degree $3$ induced by the primitive linear system. Our methods combine vector bundle techniques à la Lazarsfeld with derived category tools and also make use of the rich theory of singular curves on $K3$ surfaces.

We describe the structure of regular codimension $1$ foliations with numerically projectively flat tangent bundle on complex projective manifolds of dimension at least $4$. Along the way, we prove that either the normal bundle of a regular codimension $1$ foliation is pseudo-effective, or its conormal bundle is nef.

This work presents a range of triangulated characterizations for important classes of singularities such as derived splinters, rational singularities, and Du Bois singularities. An invariant called “level” in a triangulated category can be used to measure the failure of a variety to have a prescribed singularity type. We provide explicit computations of this invariant for reduced Nagata schemes of Krull dimension one and for affine cones over smooth projective hypersurfaces. Furthermore, these computations are utilized to produce upper bounds for Rouquier dimension on the respective bounded derived categories.

This article describes local normal forms of functions in noncommuting variables, up to equivalence generated by isomorphism of noncommutative Jacobi algebras, extending singularity theory in the style of Arnold’s commutative local normal forms into the noncommutative realm. This generalisation unveils many new phenomena, including an ADE classification when the Jacobi ring has dimension zero and, by taking suitable limits, a further ADE classification in dimension one. These are natural generalisations of the simple singularities and those with infinite multiplicity in Arnold’s classification. We obtain normal forms away from some exceptional Type E cases. Remarkably, these normal forms have no continuous parameters, and the key new feature is that the noncommutative world affords larger families.

This theory has a range of immediate consequences to the birational geometry of 3-folds. The normal forms of dimension zero are the analytic classification of smooth 3-fold flops, and one outcome of NC singularity theory is the first list of all Type D flopping germs, generalising Reid’s famous pagoda classification of Type A, with variants covering Type E. The normal forms of dimension one have further applications to divisorial contractions to a curve. In addition, the general techniques also give strong evidence towards new contractibility criteria for rational curves.

We study the relation between the coregularity, the index of log Calabi–Yau pairs and the complements of Fano varieties. We show that the index of a log Calabi–Yau pair $(X,B)$ of coregularity $1$ is at most $120\lambda ^2$, where $\lambda $ is the Weil index of $K_X+B$. This extends a recent result due to Filipazzi, Mauri and Moraga. We prove that a Fano variety of absolute coregularity $0$ admits either a $1$-complement or a $2$-complement. In the case of Fano varieties of absolute coregularity $1$, we show that they admit an N-complement with N at most 6. Applying the previous results, we prove that a klt singularity of absolute coregularity $0$ admits either a $1$-complement or $2$-complement. Furthermore, a klt singularity of absolute coregularity $1$ admits an N-complement with N at most 6. This extends the classic classification of $A,D,E$-type klt surface singularities to arbitrary dimensions. Similar results are proved in the case of coregularity $2$. In the course of the proof, we prove a novel canonical bundle formula for pairs with bounded relative coregularity. In the case of coregularity at least $3$, we establish analogous statements under the assumption of the index conjecture and the boundedness of B-representations.

Given an irreducible projective variety X, the covering gonality of X is the least gonality of an irreducible curve $E\subset X$ passing through a general point of X. In this paper, we study the covering gonality of the k-fold symmetric product $C^{(k)}$ of a smooth complex projective curve C of genus $g\geq k+1$. It follows from a previous work of the first author that the covering gonality of the second symmetric product of C equals the gonality of C. Using a similar approach, we prove the same for the $3$-fold and the $4$-fold symmetric product of C.

A crucial point in the proof is the study of the Cayley–Bacharach condition on Grassmannians. In particular, we describe the geometry of linear subspaces of $\mathbb {P}^n$ satisfying this condition, and we prove a result bounding the dimension of their linear span.

We study linearizability of actions of finite groups on singular cubic threefolds, using cohomological tools, intermediate Jacobians, Burnside invariants, and the equivariant Minimal Model Program.

A famous theorem of Shokurov states that a general anticanonical divisor of a smooth Fano threefold is a smooth K3 surface. This is quite surprising since there are several examples where the base locus of the anticanonical system has codimension two. In this paper, we show that for four-dimensional Fano manifolds the behaviour is completely opposite: if the base locus is a normal surface, and hence has codimension two, all the anticanonical divisors are singular.

Let $(X, \Delta )$ be a klt threefold pair with nef anti-log canonical divisor $-(K_X+\Delta )$. We show that $\kappa (X, -(K_X+\Delta ))\geq 0$. To do so, we prove a more general equivariant non-vanishing result for anti-log canonical bundles, which is valid in any dimension.

In this paper, we study the positivity property of the tangent bundle $T_X$ of a Fano threefold X with Picard number $2$. We determine the bigness of the tangent bundle of the whole $36$ deformation types. Our result shows that $T_X$ is big if and only if $(-K_X)^3\ge 34$. As a corollary, we prove that the tangent bundle is not big when X has a standard conic bundle structure with non-empty discriminant. Our main methods are to produce irreducible effective divisors on ${\mathbb {P}}(T_X)$ constructed from the total dual VMRT associated to a family of rational curves. Additionally, we present some criteria to determine the bigness of $T_X$.

We establish a McKay correspondence for finite and linearly reductive subgroup schemes of ${\mathbf {SL}}_2$ in positive characteristic. As an application, we obtain a McKay correspondence for all rational double point singularities in characteristic $p\geq 7$. We discuss linearly reductive quotient singularities and canonical lifts over the ring of Witt vectors. In dimension 2, we establish simultaneous resolutions of singularities of these canonical lifts via G-Hilbert schemes. In the appendix, we discuss several approaches towards the notion of conjugacy classes for finite group schemes: This is an ingredient in McKay correspondences, but also of independent interest.

Fujino gave a proof for the semi-ampleness of the moduli part in the canonical bundle formula in the case when the general fibers are K3 surfaces or abelian varieties. We show a similar statement when the general fibers are primitive symplectic varieties. This answers a question of Fujino raised in the same article. Moreover, using the structure theory of varieties with trivial first Chern class, we reduce the question of semi-ampleness in the case of families of K-trivial varieties to a question when the general fibers satisfy a slightly weaker Calabi–Yau condition.

We show the properness of the moduli stack of stable surfaces over $\mathbb{Z}\left[ {1/30} \right]$, assuming the locally-stable reduction conjecture for stable surfaces. This relies on a local Kawamata–Viehweg vanishing theorem for 3-dimensional log canonical singularities at closed point of characteristic $p \ne 2,3$ and $5$, which are not log canonical centres.

In the study of plane curves, one of the problems is to classify the embedded topology of plane curves in the complex projective plane that have a given fixed combinatorial type, where the combinatorial type of a plane curve is data equivalent to the embedded topology in its tubular neighborhood. A pair of plane curves with the same combinatorial type but distinct embedded topology is called a Zariski pair. In this paper, we consider Zariski pairs consisting of conic-line arrangements that arise from Poncelet’s closure theorem. We study unramified double covers of the union of two conics that are induced by a $2m$-sided Poncelet transverse. As an application, we show the existence of families of Zariski pairs of degree $2m+6$ for $m\geq 2$ that consist of reducible curves having two conics and $2m+2$ lines as irreducible components.

In this paper, we prove the birational rigidity of Fano-Mori fibre spaces $\pi \colon V\to S$, every fibre of which is a Fano complete intersection of index 1 and codimension $k\geqslant 3$ in the projective space ${\mathbb P}^{M+k}$ for M sufficiently high, satisfying certain natural conditions of general position, in the assumption that the fibre space $V/S$ is sufficiently twisted over the base. The dimension of the base S is bounded from above by a constant, depending only on the dimension M of the fibre (as the dimension of the fibre M grows, this constant grows as $\frac 12 M^2$).

The embedded Nash problem for a hypersurface in a smooth algebraic variety is to characterize geometrically the maximal irreducible families of arcs with fixed order of contact along the hypersurface. We show that divisors on minimal models of the pair contribute with such families. We solve the problem for unibranch plane curve germs, in terms of the resolution graph. These are embedded analogs of known results for the classical Nash problem on singular varieties.

We prove several boundedness statements for geometrically integral normal del Pezzo surfaces X over arbitrary fields. We give an explicit sharp bound on the irregularity if X is canonical or regular. In particular, we show that wild canonical del Pezzo surfaces exist only in characteristic $2$. As an application, we deduce that canonical del Pezzo surfaces form a bounded family over $\mathbb {Z}$, generalising work of Tanaka. More generally, we prove the BAB conjecture on the boundedness of $\varepsilon $-klt del Pezzo surfaces over arbitrary fields of characteristic different from $2, 3$ and $5$.

Sextic double solids, double covers of $\mathbb P^3$ branched along a sextic surface, are the lowest degree Gorenstein terminal Fano 3-folds, hence are expected to behave very rigidly in terms of birational geometry. Smooth sextic double solids, and those which are $\mathbb Q$-factorial with ordinary double points, are known to be birationally rigid. In this paper, we study sextic double solids with an isolated compound $A_n$ singularity. We prove a sharp bound $n \leq 8$, describe models for each n explicitly, and prove that sextic double solids with $n> 3$ are birationally nonrigid.

For $2 \leq d \leq 5$, we show that the class of the Hurwitz space of smooth degree $d$, genus $g$ covers of $\mathbb {P}^1$ stabilizes in the Grothendieck ring of stacks as $g \to \infty$, and we give a formula for the limit. We also verify this stabilization when one imposes ramification conditions on the covers, and obtain a particularly simple answer for this limit when one restricts to simply branched covers.