Symplectic resolutions of quiver varieties (Q2036286)

This article studies symplectic algebraic geometry of Nakajima quiver varieties. These varieties give étale-local models of singularities, mostly along with a canonical symplectic resolution given by varying the stability parameter. The authors prove that Nakajima varieties are symplectic singularities in the sense of [\textit{A. Beauville}, Invent. Math. 139, No. 3, 541--549 (2000; Zbl 0958.14001)] (Theorem 1.2) and classify when they admit such a resolution, filling the lack for an explicit criterion. Their main result (Thm 1.5) states that for dimension vector \(\alpha \in \Sigma_{\lambda, \theta}\), the Nakajima quiver variety \(\mathfrak{M}_{\lambda}(\alpha, \theta)\) admits a projective symplectic resolution iff \(\alpha\) is indivisible or \((\gcd(\alpha), p(\gcd(\alpha)^{-1}\alpha)) = (2, 2)\). In obtaining this result, the authors study the local and global algebraic symplectic geometry of quiver varieties, generalising Crawley-Boevey's decomposition theoreom [\textit{W. Crawley-Boevey}, Compos. Math. 130, No. 2, 225--239 (2002; Zbl 1031.16013)] and Le Bruyn's theorem computing the smooth locus [\textit{L. Le Bruyn}, J. Algebra 258, No. 1, 60--70 (2002; Zbl 1060.16015)], from affine quiver varieties to the non-affine case (Theorem 1.4 and Theorem 1.15, respectively). Further, the smoothness of the variety is characterised via the canonical decomposition (Corollary 1.17). The paper is composed of seven sections. The introduction contains an overview of the main results and the second section provides a background on quiver varieties. The remaining five sections cover canonical decompositions of the quiver variety, the characterisation of the smooth points in terms of polystability (proof of Theorem 1.15 and of Corollary 1.17), the interesting \((2, 2)\) case from the main theorem, local factoriality of the quiver varieties and Namikawa's Weyl group. The ``technical heart of the paper'' is Section~6, discussing the local factoriality of the quiver variety. Here, the authors prove that for an indivisible anisotropic root not in the \((2,2)\) case, for a generic choice of the stability parameter \(\theta\), the quiver variety is locally factorial (Theorem 1.10). This section also contains the proofs of Theorems 1.2, 1.4 and 1.5.