Complete complexes and spectral sequences (Q1799528)

The complex projective general linear group \(\mathbb{P}\mathrm{GL}_n\) has a natural compactification in the projective space associated to the vector space of \(n\)-matrices but the complement of this group in this space (the determinantal variety) is highly singular. However, the set of complete collineations from two \(n\)-dimensional complex linear spaces \(V\) and \(W\) (sequences of linear operators \(A_0:V \to W\), \(\dots\), \(A_i:\ker(A_{i-1}) \to \ker'(A_{i-1})\) where \(\ker'\) stands for the cokernel and the sequence reaches a non-degenerate \(A_j\)) has a natural structure of smooth projective variety compactifying \(\mathbb{P}\mathrm{GL}_n\) where its complement is a divisor with normal crossings. In the paper under review a generalization of this construction is presented by means of the variety of complete complexes, where the points can be presented as equivalence classes of spectral sequences of a particular type. This turns to have a structure of smooth projective variety containing the projectivization of the Buchsbaum-Eisenbud variety of complexes as an open dense part, being the complement a divisor with normal crossings.