Quotients of toric varieties (Q1184146)

In geometric invariant theory actions of algebraic groups on projective varieties are studied. Mumford's methods for the construction of quotients of such group actions do not in general lead to a unique or canonical quotient, rather to an inverse system of quotients. To remedy this situation the authors introduce the --- canonical --- Chow quotient. This quotient is thoroughly explored for the case that the variety under consideration is toric. Connections with the quotients obtained from geometric invariant theory are discussed.