Birational geometry of smooth families of varieties admitting good minimal models (Q6076273)

The article under reviewed concerns the relations between the positivity properties of the sheaves of symmetric differentials of the base of a family of a projective varieties and the variation of the complex structure of the fibers in this family. The emblematic statement of this topic is the now proved Shafarevich-Viehweg conjecture: if \(f:X\to Y\) is a smooth family of canonically polarized varieties between complex smooth quasi-projective varieties \(X\) and \(Y\) and if the variation of \(f\) is maximal (there is no positive dimensional subvariety \(Z\subset Y\) such that the family \(f^{-1}(Z)\to Z\) is locally constant), then \(Y\) is of log-general type. This statement is the conclusion of a long series of works: [\textit{A. N. Parshin}, Sov. Math., Dokl. 9, 1419--1422 (1968; Zbl 0176.50903); translation from Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 183, 524--526 (1968); \textit{S. Ju. Arakelov}, Math. USSR, Izv. 5, 1277--1302 (1972; Zbl 0248.14004); \textit{S. J. Kovács}, Math. Ann. 308, No. 2, 347--359 (1997; Zbl 0922.14024); \textit{E. Viehweg} and \textit{K. Zuo}, J. Algebr. Geom. 10, No. 4, 781--799 (2001; Zbl 1079.14503); \textit{E. Viehweg} and \textit{K. Zuo}, in: Complex geometry. Collection of papers dedicated to Hans Grauert on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Berlin: Springer. 279--328 (2002; Zbl 1006.14004); \textit{S. Kebekus} and \textit{S. J. Kovács}, Adv. Math. 218, No. 3, 649--652 (2008; Zbl 1137.14027); \textit{S. Kebekus} and \textit{S. J. Kovács}, Invent. Math. 172, No. 3, 657--682 (2008; Zbl 1140.14031); \textit{S. Kebekus} and \textit{S. J. Kovács}, Duke Math. J. 155, No. 1, 1--33 (2010; Zbl 1208.14027); \textit{Z. Patakfalvi}, Adv. Math. 229, No. 3, 1640--1642 (2012; Zbl 1235.14031); \textit{F. Campana} and \textit{M. Păun}, Ann. Inst. Fourier 65, No. 2, 835--861 (2015; Zbl 1338.14012); \textit{F. Campana} and \textit{M. Păun}, Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 129, 1--49 (2019; Zbl 1423.14109)]. In a previous work [Compos. Math. 152, No. 7, 1421--1434 (2016; Zbl 1427.14031)], the author proved that, on the opposite side, such a family \(f:X\to Y\) is birationally isotrivial if the base \(Y\) is \textit{special} in the sense of \textit{F. Campana} [Ann. Inst. Fourier 54, No. 3, 499--630 (2004; Zbl 1062.14014); \textit{F. Campana}, J. Inst. Math. Jussieu 10, No. 4, 809--934 (2011; Zbl 1236.14039)]. Actually, it is proven there that the moduli map defined on \(Y\) factorizes through the core map, proving at the same time both the isotriviality statement (when the base is special) and the hyperbolicity one (when the variation is maximal). This article establishes the same kind of statements for smooth projective families of varieties having good minimal models (\textit{i.e.} a birational model with canonical singularities and semi-ample canonical divisor). This is exemplified in the recent work of \textit{M. Popa} and \textit{C. Schnell} [Invent. Math. 208, No. 3, 677--713 (2017; Zbl 1375.14043)] where the hyperbolicity conjecture is proved for smooth family of varieties of general type (known to have good minimal models by \textit{C. Birkar} et al. [J. Am. Math. Soc. 23, No. 2, 405--468 (2010; Zbl 1210.14019)]. For instance, birational isotriviality over special bases holds in this framework. \textbf{Theorem~1.1.} If \(f:X\to Y\) is a smooth projective family of varieties having good minimal models between smooth quasi-projective varieties and if \(Y\) is special, then \(f\) is birationnaly isotrivial. The arguments in this article rely on the positivity properties coming from Hodge theory but, contrary to Popa-Schnell's article, no use of Hodge modules here. The Hodge theoretic statements concern variations of Hodge structures and tame harmonic bundles (and their extensions) à la \textit{T. Mochizuki} [Kobayashi-Hitchin correspondence for tame harmonic bundles and an application. Paris: Société Mathématique de France (2006; Zbl 1119.14001); Asymptotic behaviour of tame harmonic bundles and an application to pure twistor \(D\)-modules. I. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2007; Zbl 1259.32005)]. This the content of Section~2. Section~3 proves the existence of a moduli space for polarized varieties with canonical singularities and semi-ample canonical divisor. This comes with a moduli map defined on the base of a smooth projective family of varities admitting good minimal models, up to removing a closed subset of the base (see Theorem~1.3). These results are put together to produce symmetric differntials in Section~4 where the main statements are proved. Last section is meant as an appendix with the basics concerning orbifolds à la Campana. Although a bit technical at some places, the ideas developped in this article are quite natural and very well explained.