Flip (mathematics)In algebraic geometry, flips and flops are codimension-2 surgery operations arising in the minimal model program, given by blowing up along a relative canonical ring. In dimension 3 flips are used to construct minimal models, and any two birationally equivalent minimal models are connected by a sequence of flops. It is conjectured that the same is true in higher dimensions. Minimal model program The minimal model program can be summarised very briefly as follows: given a variety , we construct a sequence of contractions , each of which contracts some curves on which the canonical divisor is negative.
Minimal model programIn algebraic geometry, the minimal model program is part of the birational classification of algebraic varieties. Its goal is to construct a birational model of any complex projective variety which is as simple as possible. The subject has its origins in the classical birational geometry of surfaces studied by the Italian school, and is currently an active research area within algebraic geometry. The basic idea of the theory is to simplify the birational classification of varieties by finding, in each birational equivalence class, a variety which is "as simple as possible".
Canonical bundleIn 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.
Géométrie birationnellethumb|right|Le cercle est birationnellement équivalent à la droite. Un exemple d'application birationnelle est la projection stéréographique, représentée ici ; avec les notations du texte, P a pour abscisse 1/t. En mathématiques, la géométrie birationnelle est un domaine de la géométrie algébrique dont l'objectif est de déterminer si deux variétés algébriques sont isomorphes, à un ensemble négligeable près. Cela revient à étudier des applications définies par des fonctions rationnelles plutôt que par des polynômes, ces applications n'étant pas définies aux pôles des fonctions.
