Positivity of relative canonical bundles and applications

Given a family $f:\mathcal X \to S$ of canonically polarized manifolds, the unique K\"ahler-Einstein metrics on the fibers induce a hermitian metric on the relative canonical bundle $\mathcal K_{\mathcal X/S}$. We use a global elliptic equation to show that this metric is strictly positive on $\mathcal X$, unless the family is infinitesimally trivial. For degenerating families we show that the curvature form on the total space can be extended as a (semi-)positive closed current. By fiber integration it follows that the generalized Weil-Petersson form on the base possesses an extension as a positive current. We prove an extension theorem for hermitian line bundles, whose curvature forms have this property. This theorem can be applied to a determinant line bundle associated to the relative canonical bundle on the total space. As an application the quasi-projectivity of the moduli space $\mathcal M_{\text{can}}$ of canonically polarized varieties follows. The direct images $R^{n-p}f_*\Omega^p_{\mathcal X/S}(\mathcal K_{\mathcal X/S}^{\otimes m})$, $m > 0$, carry natural hermitian metrics. We prove an explicit formula for the curvature tensor of these direct images. We apply it to the morphisms $S^p \mathcal T_S \to R^pf_*\Lambda^p\mathcal T_{\mathcal X/S}$ that are induced by the Kodaira-Spencer map and obtain a differential geometric proof for hyperbolicity properties of $\mathcal M_{\text{can}}$.Comment: Supercedes arXiv:0808.3259v4 and arXiv:1002.4858v2. To appear in Invent. mat

On the monodromy of the moduli space of Calabi-Yau threefolds coming from eight planes in P3\mathbb{P}^3

It is a fundamental problem in geometry to decide which moduli spaces of polarized algebraic varieties are embedded by their period maps as Zariski open subsets of locally Hermitian symmetric domains. In the present work we prove that the moduli space of Calabi-Yau threefolds coming from eight planes in $\mathbb{P}^3$ does {\em not} have this property. We show furthermore that the monodromy group of a good family is Zariski dense in the corresponding symplectic group. Moreover, we study a natural sublocus which we call hyperelliptic locus, over which the variation of Hodge structures is naturally isomorphic to wedge product of a variation of Hodge structures of weight one. It turns out the hyperelliptic locus does not extend to a Shimura subvariety of type III (Siegel space) within the moduli space. Besides general Hodge theory, representation theory and computational commutative algebra, one of the proofs depends on a new result on the tensor product decomposition of complex polarized variations of Hodge structures.Comment: 26 page

Differential Forms on Log Canonical Spaces

The present paper is concerned with differential forms on log canonical varieties. It is shown that any p-form defined on the smooth locus of a variety with canonical or klt singularities extends regularly to any resolution of singularities. In fact, a much more general theorem for log canonical pairs is established. The proof relies on vanishing theorems for log canonical varieties and on methods of the minimal model program. In addition, a theory of differential forms on dlt pairs is developed. It is shown that many of the fundamental theorems and techniques known for sheaves of logarithmic differentials on smooth varieties also hold in the dlt setting. Immediate applications include the existence of a pull-back map for reflexive differentials, generalisations of Bogomolov-Sommese type vanishing results, and a positive answer to the Lipman-Zariski conjecture for klt spaces.Comment: 72 pages, 6 figures. A shortened version of this paper has appeared in Publications math\'ematiques de l'IH\'ES. The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co

Anti-Pluricanonical Systems On Q-Fano Threefolds

We investigate birationality of the anti-pluricanonical map $\phi_{-m}$, the rational map defined by the anti-pluricanonical system $|-mK|$, on $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano threefolds.Comment: 18 page

A characterization of varieties whose universal cover is the polydisk or a tube domain

In this article we give necessary and sufficient conditions, in terms of certain tensors called semispecial tensors, respectively slope zero tensors, in order that the universal covering of a complex projective manifold be a symmetric domain of tube type. As an application, we give precisions of a result of Kazhdan showing that a Galois conjugate of such a manifold has the same universal coverin

Small bound for birational automorphism groups of algebraic varieties (with an Appendix by Yujiro Kawamata)

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.Comment: Mathematische Annalen, to appea

Quiver GIT for varieties with tilting bundles

In the setting of a variety X admitting a tilting bundle T we consider the problem of constructing X as a quiver GIT quotient of the algebra A:=EndX(T)opA:=EndX(T)op . We prove that if the tilting equivalence restricts to a bijection between the skyscraper sheaves of X and the closed points of a quiver representation moduli functor for A=EndX(T)opA=EndX(T)op then X is indeed a fine moduli space for this moduli functor, and we prove this result without any assumptions on the singularities of X. As an application we consider varieties which are projective over an affine base such that the fibres are of dimension 1, and the derived pushforward of the structure sheaf on X is the structure sheaf on the base. In this situation there is a particular tilting bundle on X constructed by Van den Bergh, and our result allows us to reconstruct X as a quiver GIT quotient for an easy to describe stability condition and dimension vector. This result applies to flips and flops in the minimal model program, and in the situation of flops shows that both a variety and its flop appear as moduli spaces for algebras produced from different tilting bundles on the variety. We also give an application to rational surface singularities, showing that their minimal resolutions can always be constructed as quiver GIT quotients for specific dimension vectors and stability conditions. This gives a construction of minimal resolutions as moduli spaces for all rational surface singularities, generalising the G-Hilbert scheme moduli space construction which exists only for quotient singularities

Finite Generation of Canonical Ring by Analytic Method

In the 80th birthday conference for Professor LU Qikeng in June 2006 I gave a talk on the analytic approach to the finite generation of the canonical ring for a compact complex algebraic manifold of general type. This article is my contribution to the proceedings of that conference from my talk. In this article I give an overview of the analytic proof and focus on explaining how the analytic method handles the problem of infinite number of interminable blow-ups in the intuitive approach to prove the finite generation of the canonical ring. The proceedings of the LU Qikeng conference will appear as Issue No. 4 of Volume 51 of Science in China Series A: Mathematics (www.springer.com/math/applications/journal/11425)

Carbonate-Templated Self-Assembly of an Alkylthiolate-Bridged Cadmium Macrocycle

In the presence of Cd(ClO4)2 and a base, a new mixed N,S-donor alkylthiolate ligand supported both carbonate formation from atmospheric CO2 and the self-assembly of a novel bicapped puckered (CdS)6 molecular wheel. The remarkable stability of the complex was demonstrated by slow intermolecular ligand exchange on the 2J(HH) and J(111/113Cd1H) time scales at elevated temperature. Both CO2 and the base were required to convert amorphous “CdLClO4” precipitated in the absence of air to the carbonate complex. The complex shares structural features with the ζ-carbonic anhydrase class associating cadmium(II) with the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and is the first structurally characterized carbonate complex of any metal involving an alkylthiolate ligand

Overdiagnosis and overtreatment of breast cancer: Is overdiagnosis an issue for radiologists?

Overdiagnosis is diagnosis of cancers that would not present within the life of the patient and is one of the downsides of screening. This applies to low-grade ductal carcinoma in situ and some small grade 1 invasive cancers. Radiologists are responsible for cancer diagnosis, but at the time of diagnosis they cannot determine whether a particular low-grade diagnosis is one to which the definition of overdiagnosis applies. Overdiagnosis is likely to be driven by technological developments, including digital mammography, computer-aided detection and improved biopsy techniques. It is also driven by the patient's fear that cancer will be missed and the doctor's fear of litigation. It is therefore an issue of importance for radiologists, presenting them with difficult fine-tuned decisions in every assessment clinic that are ultimately counted later by those who evaluate their screening