On the canonical degrees of Gorenstein threefolds of general type (Q2520775)

It is known since \textit{A. Beauville} [Invent. Math. 55, 121--140 (1979; Zbl 0403.14006)] that the canonical map of a smooth complex algebraic surface of general type is, if finite, of degree \(d\) at most 36. So far only examples with degree up to 24 have been constructed. For the case of dimension 3, \textit{C. D. Hacon} [Proc. Japan Acad., Ser. A 80, No. 8, 166--167 (2004; Zbl 1068.14046)] has shown that if \(X\) is a Gorenstein minimal complex projective threefold of general type with at most locally factorial terminal singularities, then \(d\leq 576\). In this paper under review, this bound is improved to 360 (as in the case of surfaces, this theoretical limit can be achieved only for ball quotient varieties). The authors also classify the case where the canonical map is an abelian cover of \(\mathbb P^3\) (the possible canonical degrees are \(2^m\) with \(1\leq m\leq 5\)).