Smoothness, Semistability, and Toroidal Geometry (Q4364035)

In this paper we can get the details of the paper reviewed above [\textit{D. Abramovich} and \textit{J. Wang}, Math. Res. Lett. 4, No. 2--3, 427--433 (1997; Zbl 0906.14005)]. The authors provide a new proof of Hironaka's well-known theorem on resolution of singularities as follows. Theorem: Let \(X\) be a variety of finite type over an algebraically closed field \(k\) of characteristic 0, let \(Z\subset X\) be a proper closed subset. There exists a modification \(f:X_1\to X\), such that \(X_1\) is a quasi-projective nonsingular variety and \(Z_1= f^{-1} (Z)_{\text{red}}\) is a strict divisor of normal crossings. Structure of the proof: (1) We choose a projection \(X\to P\) of relative dimension 1 and apply semistable reduction to obtain a model \(X'\to P'\) over a suitable Galois base change \(P'\to P\) with Galois group \(G\). (2) We apply induction on the dimension to \(P\). We may assume that \(P\) is smooth, and the discriminant locus of \(X'/G\to P\) is a strict divisor of normal crossings. (3) A few auxiliary blow-ups make the quotient \(X'/G\) toroidal. (4) A theorem of \textit{G. Kempf}, \textit{F. Knudsen}, \textit{D. Mumford} and \textit{B. Saint-Donat} [``Toroidal embeddings'', Lect. Notes Math. 339 (1973; Zbl 0271.14017)] about toroidal resolutions finishes the argument.