Dominant classes of projective varieties (Q1630213)

Let \(X\) be a variety defined over a field \(k\). One of the fundamental problems of algebraic geometry is the existence of a proper birational morphism \(f : X^{\prime} \rightarrow X\) such that \(X\) is nonsingular over \(k\). Such an \(f\) is called a resolution of singularities of \(X\). If \(X\) has characteristic zero then it is well known that a resolution of singularities exists. If on the other hand \(k\) has characteristic \(p>0\), the following is known at the moment of this writing. Resolution of singularities exist in dimensions 1 and 2 and in dimension 3 if \(p>5\). A weaker form of resolution of singularities was proved by \textit{J. de Jong} who has shown that for any variety \(X\) defined over a field \(k\), there exists an alteration \(f : X^{\prime} \rightarrow X\), such that \(\dim X =\dim X^{\prime}\), where \(f\) is proper and dominant, and \(X^{\prime}\) is nonsingular [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 83, 51--93 (1996; Zbl 0916.14005)]. In this paper, the authors give evidence by providing low dimensional examples, that if \(X\) is an \(n\)-dimensional variety defined over a field \(k\), then there exists a proper dominant morphism \(f : X^{\prime} \rightarrow X\), such that \(\dim X^{\prime}=n\), \(X\) is nonsingular and there exists a tower of smooth fibrations \[ X^{\prime}\rightarrow X^{\prime}_1 \rightarrow \cdots \rightarrow X^{\prime}_n, \] such that \(\dim X^{\prime}_i =n-i\).