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Ruadhaí Dervan

Publications and source records attributed to Ruadhaí Dervan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

The constant scalar curvature Kähler condition is very general

Recent work of Trusiani implies that the existence of a constant scalar curvature Kähler metric on a smooth polarised variety with discrete automorphism group is equivalent to uniform arc K-stability. We prove that uniform arc K-stability is essentially algebraic in flat families of polarised varieties. When the polarised varieties are further smooth and have discrete automorphism group, combining these two results implies that the constant scalar curvature Kähler locus is very general. We use this result to give the first examples of constant scalar curvature Kähler metrics whose existence only follows from the recent solution of the Yau--Tian--Donaldson conjecture. Our technique is to prove a general result stating that stability of a pair in the sense of Paul is essentially an algebraic property in families, and to employ prior work with Reboulet relating uniform arc K-stability to stability of an associated pair.

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arXiv2026

A birational version of K-stability for big classes

We introduce a theory of uniform K-stability for big line bundles on smooth projective varieties. This extends the existing theory both for varieties with ample line bundles, and for varieties with big anticanonical class. Our main result gives a valuative characterisation of uniform K-stability, through finite collections of divisorial valuations. We further prove that uniform K-stability is preserved under pullbacks and certain pushforwards, which implies that uniform K-stability is well-defined at the level of b-divisors.

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arXiv2026

The universal structure of moment maps in complex geometry

We introduce a geometric approach to the construction of moment maps in finite and infinite-dimensional complex geometry. We apply this to two settings: Kähler manifolds and holomorphic vector bundles. Our new approach exploits the existence of universal families and the theory of equivariant differential forms. For Kähler manifolds we give a new, geometric proof of Donaldson-Fujiki's moment map interpretation of the scalar curvature. Associated to arbitrary products of Chern classes of the manifold - namely to a central charge - we further introduce a geometric PDE determining a $Z$-critical Kähler metric, and show that these general equations also satisfy moment map properties. For holomorphic vector bundles, using a similar strategy we give a geometric proof of Atiyah-Bott's moment map interpretation of the Hermitian Yang-Mills condition. We then go on to give a new, geometric proof that the PDE determining a $Z$-critical connection - again associated to a choice of central charge - can be viewed as a moment map; deformed Hermitian Yang-Mills connections are a special case, in which our work gives a geometric proof of a result of Collins-Yau. Our main assertion is that this is the canonical way of producing moment maps in complex geometry - associated to any geometric problem along with a choice of stability condition - and hence that this accomplishes one of the main steps towards producing PDE counterparts to stability conditions in large generality.

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arXiv2026

Twisted scalar curvature as a moment map

We develop the moment map theory of the twisted scalar curvature of a Kähler metric. Primarily, we introduce a coupled system of equations on a holomorphic submersion intertwining the twisted scalar curvature of a Kähler metric on the base and the fibrewise scalar curvature of a relatively Kähler metric on the total space. This resulting system can be viewed as producing the natural coupled metric geometry of holomorphic submersions, and we show that this system appears canonically as a moment map. The approach generalises to foliations, where we prove similar results.

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arXiv2025

The birational geometry of GIT quotients

Geometric Invariant Theory (GIT) produces quotients of algebraic varieties by reductive groups. If the variety is projective, this quotient depends on a choice of polarisation; by work of Dolgachev-Hu and Thaddeus, it is known that two quotients of the same variety using different polarisations are related by birational transformations. Only finitely many birational varieties arise in this way: variation of GIT fails to capture the entirety of the birational geometry of GIT quotients. We construct a space parametrising all possible GIT quotients of all birational models of the variety in a simple and natural way, which captures the entirety of the birational geometry of GIT quotients in a precise sense. It yields in particular a compactification of a birational analogue of the set of stable orbits of the variety.

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arXiv2024

Stability conditions in geometric invariant theory

We explain how structures analogous to those appearing in the theory of stability conditions on abelian and triangulated categories arise in geometric invariant theory. This leads to an axiomatic notion of a central charge on a scheme with a group action, and ultimately to a notion of a stability condition on a stack analogous to that on an abelian category. We use these ideas to introduce an axiomatic notion of a stability condition for polarised schemes, defined in such a way that K-stability is a special case. In the setting of axiomatic geometric invariant theory on a smooth projective variety, we produce an analytic counterpart to stability and explain the role of the Kempf-Ness theorem. This clarifies many of the structures involved in the study of deformed Hermitian Yang-Mills connections, Z-critical connections and Z-critical Kähler metrics.

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arXiv2024

Extremal Kähler metrics on blowups

Consider a compact Kähler manifold which either admits an extremal Kähler metric, or is a small deformation of such a manifold. We show that the blowup of the manifold at a point admits an extremal Kähler metric in Kähler classes making the exceptional divisor sufficiently small if and only if it is relatively K-stable, as predicted by the Yau-Tian-Donaldson conjecture. We also give a geometric interpretation of what relative K-stability means in this case in terms of finite dimensional geometric invariant theory. This gives a complete solution to a problem introduced and solved by Arezzo, Pacard, Singer and Székelyhidi for constant scalar curvature Kähler metrics in dimension at least three.

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arXiv2024

Arcs, stability of pairs and the Mabuchi functional

We prove various results involving arcs - which generalise test configurations - within the theory of K-stability. Our main result characterises coercivity of the Mabuchi functional on spaces of Fubini-Study metrics in terms of uniform K-polystability with respect to arcs, thereby proving a version of a conjecture of Tian. The main new tool is an arc version of a numerical criterion for Paul's theory of stability of pairs, for which we also provide a suitable generalisation applicable to pairs with nontrivial stabiliser. We give two applications. Firstly, we give a new proof of a version of the Yau-Tian-Donaldson conjecture for Fano manifolds, along the lines originally envisaged by Tian - allowing us to reduce the general Yau-Tian-Donaldson conjecture to an analogue of the partial C^0-estimate. Secondly, for a (possibly singular) polarised variety which is uniformly K-polystable with respect to arcs, we show that the associated Cartan subgroup of its automorphism group is reductive. In particular, uniform K-stability with respect to arcs implies finiteness of the automorphism group. This generalises work of Blum-Xu for Fano varieties.

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arXiv2024

Ding stability and Kähler-Einstein metrics on manifolds with big anticanonical class

We introduce a notion of uniform Ding stability for a projective manifold with big anticanonical class, and prove that the existence of a unique Kähler-Einstein metric on such a manifold implies uniform Ding stability. The main new techniques are to develop a general theory of Deligne functionals - and corresponding slope formulas - for singular metrics, and to prove a slope formula for the Ding functional in the big setting. This extends work of Berman in the Fano situation, when the anticanonical class is actually ample, and proves one direction of the analogue of the Yau-Tian-Donaldson conjecture in this setting. We also speculate about the relevance of uniform Ding stability and K-stability to moduli in the big setting.

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arXiv2024

On divisorial stability of finite covers

Divisorial stability of a polarised variety is a stronger - but conjecturally equivalent - variant of uniform K-stability introduced by Boucksom-Jonsson. Whereas uniform K-stability is defined in terms of test configurations, divisorial stability is defined in terms of convex combinations of divisorial valuations on the variety. We consider the behaviour of divisorial stability under finite group actions, and prove that equivariant divisorial stability of a polarised variety is equivalent to log divisorial stability of its quotient. We use this and an interpolation technique to give a general construction of equivariantly divisorially stable polarised varieties.

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arXiv2024

$Z$-critical connections and Bridgeland stability conditions

We associate geometric partial differential equations on holomorphic vector bundles to Bridgeland stability conditions. We call solutions to these equations $Z$-critical connections, with $Z$ a central charge. Deformed Hermitian Yang--Mills connections are a special case. We explain how our equations arise naturally through infinite dimensional moment maps. Our main result shows that in the large volume limit, a sufficiently smooth holomorphic vector bundle admits a $Z$-critical connection if and only if it is asymptotically $Z$-stable. Even for the deformed Hermitian Yang--Mills equation, this provides the first examples of solutions in higher rank.

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arXiv2023

Stability conditions for polarised varieties

We introduce an analogue of Bridgeland's stability conditions for polarised varieties. Much as Bridgeland stability is modelled on slope stability of coherent sheaves, our notion of Z-stability is modelled on the notion of K-stability of polarised varieties. We then introduce an analytic counterpart to stability, through the notion of a Z-critical Kähler metric, modelled on the constant scalar curvature Kähler condition. Our main result shows that a polarised variety which is analytically K-semistable and asymptotically Z-stable admits Z-critical Kähler metrics in the large volume regime. We also prove a local converse, and explain how these results can be viewed in terms of local wall crossing. A special case of our framework gives a manifold analogue of the deformed Hermitian Yang-Mills equation.

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arXiv2021

Valuative stability of polarised varieties

Fujita and Li have given a characterisation of K-stability of a Fano variety in terms of quantities associated to valuations, which has been essential to all recent progress in the area. We introduce a notion of valuative stability for arbitrary polarised varieties, and show that it is equivalent to K-stability with respect to test configurations with integral central fibre. The numerical invariant governing valuative stability is modelled on Fujita's beta invariant, but includes a term involving the derivative of the volume. We give several examples of valuatively stable and unstable varieties, including the toric case. We also discuss the role that the delta invariant plays in the study of valuative stability and K-stability of polarised varieties.

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arXiv2021

Uniqueness of optimal symplectic connections

Consider a holomorphic submersion between compact Kähler manifolds, such that each fibre admits a constant scalar curvature Kähler metric. When the fibres admit continuous automorphisms, a choice of fibrewise constant scalar curvature Kähler metric is not unique. An optimal symplectic connection is choice of fibrewise constant scalar curvature Kähler metric satisfying a geometric partial differential equation. The condition generalises the Hermite-Einstein condition for a holomorphic vector bundle, through the induced fibrewise Fubini-Study metric on the associated projectivisation. We prove various foundational analytic results concerning optimal symplectic connections. Our main result proves that optimal symplectic connections are unique, up to the action of the automorphism group of the submersion, when they exist. Thus optimal symplectic connections are canonical relatively Kähler metrics when they exist. In addition, we show that the existence of an optimal symplectic connection forces the automorphism group of the submersion to be reductive, and that an optimal symplectic connection is automatically invariant under a maximal compact subgroup of this automorphism group. We also prove that when a submersion admits an optimal symplectic connection, it achieves the absolute minimum of a natural log norm functional which we define.

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arXiv2020

Moduli theory, stability of fibrations and optimal symplectic connections

K-polystability is, on the one hand, conjecturally equivalent to the existence of certain canonical Kähler metrics on polarised varieties, and, on the other hand, conjecturally gives the correct notion to form moduli. We introduce a notion of stability for families of K-polystable varieties, extending the classical notion of slope stability of a bundle, viewed as a family of K-polystable varieties via the associated projectivisation. We conjecture that this is the correct condition for forming moduli of fibrations. Our main result relates this stability condition to Kähler geometry: we prove that the existence of an optimal symplectic connection implies semistability of the fibration. An optimal symplectic connection is a choice of fibrewise constant scalar curvature Kähler metric, satisfying a certain geometric partial differential equation. We conjecture that the existence of such a connection is equivalent to polystability of the fibration. We prove a finite dimensional analogue of this conjecture, by describing a GIT problem for fibrations embedded in a fixed projective space, and showing that GIT polystability is equivalent to the existence of a zero of a certain moment map.

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arXiv2020

K-semistability of optimal degenerations

K-polystability of a polarised variety is an algebro-geometric notion conjecturally equivalent to the existence of a constant scalar curvature Kähler metric. When a variety is K-unstable, it is expected to admit a "most destabilising" degeneration. In this note we show that if such a degeneration exists, then the limiting scheme is itself relatively K-semistable.

math.AG↗
arXiv2020

Optimal symplectic connections on holomorphic submersions

The main result of this paper gives a new construction of extremal Kähler metrics on the total space of certain holomorphic submersions, giving a vast generalisation and unification of results of Hong, Fine and others. The principal new ingredient is a novel geometric partial differential equation on such fibrations, which we call the optimal symplectic connection equation. We begin with a smooth fibration for which all fibres admit a constant scalar curvature Kähler metric. When the fibres admit automorphisms, such metrics are not unique in general, but rather are unique up to the action of the automorphism group of each fibre. We define an equation which, at least conjecturally, determines a canonical choice of constant scalar curvature Kähler metric on each fibre. When the fibration is a projective bundle, this equation specialises to asking that the hermitian metric determining the fibrewise Fubini-Study metric is Hermite-Einstein. Assuming the existence of an optimal symplectic connection, and the existence of an appropriate twisted extremal metric on the base of the fibration, we show that the total space of the fibration itself admits an extremal metric for certain polarisations making the fibres small.

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