Special Colloquium: Stable degenerations of singularities

Around 10 years ago, Donaldson and Sun discovered that metric limits of Ricci positive Kähler–Einstein manifolds are algebraic varieties, and their metric tangent cones also underlie some algebraic structure. I will talk about a general algebraic geometry theory behind this phenomenon. In particular, I will survey the recent solution of Li-Xu’s Stable Degeneration Conjecture, which predicts that every mild singularity on a complex algebraic variety has a canonical degeneration that shares many features of the metric tangent cones.

Talk at 3 pm in Science Center 507; Tea at 4 pm in the Math Common Room