Concept
Birational geometry
Related concepts (39)
Morphism of algebraic varieties
In algebraic geometry, a morphism between algebraic varieties is a function between the varieties that is given locally by polynomials. It is also called a regular map. A morphism from an algebraic variety to the affine line is also called a regular function. A regular map whose inverse is also regular is called biregular, and the biregular maps are the isomorphisms of algebraic varieties.
Ample line bundle
In mathematics, a distinctive feature of algebraic geometry is that some line bundles on a projective variety can be considered "positive", while others are "negative" (or a mixture of the two). The most important notion of positivity is that of an ample line bundle, although there are several related classes of line bundles. Roughly speaking, positivity properties of a line bundle are related to having many global sections. Understanding the ample line bundles on a given variety X amounts to understanding the different ways of mapping X into projective space.
Geometry
Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is called a geometer. Until the 19th century, geometry was almost exclusively devoted to Euclidean geometry, which includes the notions of point, line, plane, distance, angle, surface, and curve, as fundamental concepts.
Projective line
In mathematics, a projective line is, roughly speaking, the extension of a usual line by a point called a point at infinity. The statement and the proof of many theorems of geometry are simplified by the resultant elimination of special cases; for example, two distinct projective lines in a projective plane meet in exactly one point (there is no "parallel" case). There are many equivalent ways to formally define a projective line; one of the most common is to define a projective line over a field K, commonly denoted P1(K), as the set of one-dimensional subspaces of a two-dimensional K-vector space.
Blowing up
In mathematics, blowing up or blowup is a type of geometric transformation which replaces a subspace of a given space with all the directions pointing out of that subspace. For example, the blowup of a point in a plane replaces the point with the projectivized tangent space at that point. The metaphor is that of zooming in on a photograph to enlarge part of the picture, rather than referring to an explosion. Blowups are the most fundamental transformation in birational geometry, because every birational morphism between projective varieties is a blowup.
Fano variety
In algebraic geometry, a Fano variety, introduced by Gino Fano in , is a complete variety X whose anticanonical bundle KX* is ample. In this definition, one could assume that X is smooth over a field, but the minimal model program has also led to the study of Fano varieties with various types of singularities, such as terminal or klt singularities. Recently techniques in differential geometry have been applied to the study of Fano varieties over the complex numbers, and success has been found in constructing moduli spaces of Fano varieties and proving the existence of Kähler–Einstein metrics on them through the study of K-stability of Fano varieties.
Divisor (algebraic geometry)
In algebraic geometry, divisors are a generalization of codimension-1 subvarieties of algebraic varieties. Two different generalizations are in common use, Cartier divisors and Weil divisors (named for Pierre Cartier and André Weil by David Mumford). Both are derived from the notion of divisibility in the integers and algebraic number fields. Globally, every codimension-1 subvariety of projective space is defined by the vanishing of one homogeneous polynomial; by contrast, a codimension-r subvariety need not be definable by only r equations when r is greater than 1.
Function field of an algebraic variety
In algebraic geometry, the function field of an algebraic variety V consists of objects which are interpreted as rational functions on V. In classical algebraic geometry they are ratios of polynomials; in complex algebraic geometry these are meromorphic functions and their higher-dimensional analogues; in modern algebraic geometry they are elements of some quotient ring's field of fractions. In complex algebraic geometry the objects of study are complex analytic varieties, on which we have a local notion of complex analysis, through which we may define meromorphic functions.
Rational point
In number theory and algebraic geometry, a rational point of an algebraic variety is a point whose coordinates belong to a given field. If the field is not mentioned, the field of rational numbers is generally understood. If the field is the field of real numbers, a rational point is more commonly called a real point. Understanding rational points is a central goal of number theory and Diophantine geometry. For example, Fermat's Last Theorem may be restated as: for n > 2, the Fermat curve of equation has no other rational points than (1, 0), (0, 1), and, if n is even, (–1, 0) and (0, –1).
Canonical bundle
In mathematics, the canonical bundle of a non-singular algebraic variety of dimension over a field is the line bundle , which is the nth exterior power of the cotangent bundle on . Over the complex numbers, it is the determinant bundle of the holomorphic cotangent bundle . Equivalently, it is the line bundle of holomorphic n-forms on . This is the dualising object for Serre duality on . It may equally well be considered as an invertible sheaf.