Behavior of canonical divisors under purely inseparable base changes (Q1992252)

The author considers a regular variety \(X\) over an imperfect field \(k\) such that \(k\) is normal in \(K(X)\). Let \(Y\) be the normalization of \((X\times _k k^{1/p^\infty})_{\mathrm{red}}\) and \(f:Y\to X\) the corresponding morphism, then the main result of this paper shows that \(K_Y+C=f^*K_X\) for some effective divisor \(C\). Several interesting geometric applications are given. In particular, the author shows that 1) \(K_X\)-trivial fiber spaces with non-normal fibers are uniruled, 2) general fibers of Mori fiber spaces are rationally chain connected, and 3) a weakening of the cone theorem holds for surfaces and threefolds defined over an imperfect field.