The qualitative structure of projective varieties: geometric, arithmetic and complex hyperbolic aspects (Q998094)

This survey article is the elaboration of a talk which the author gave on the occasion of the BeNeLuxFr mathematical meeting in Gent in 2005. The author explains his concept for a structure theory of projective varieties related to the three basic types of geometries: hyperbolic, flat and spherical, and their arithmetic invariants. He describes results about the decomposition of projective varieties from his fundamental paper [Ann. Inst. Fourier 54, No. 3, 499--630 (2004; Zbl 1062.14014)]. A main decomposition result is as follows: For every projective variety \(X\) there exists a unique fibration \(c(X):X\rightarrow C(X)\), called the core of \(X\), such that its general fibers are special and its orbifold base is hyperbolic. Here a special manifold should be viewed as a higher dimensional analogue of an elliptic or rational curve. Such a geometrical decomposition induces an arithmetical decomposition with respect to arithmetic invariants which characterize the different geometric types.