Equivariant \(\mathbb{R}\)-test configurations and semistable limits of \(\mathbb{Q}\)-Fano group compactifications (Q6110233)

The normalized Kähler-Ricci flow on a Fano manifold \(X\) converges in the Gromov-Hausdorff sense to a Kähler-Ricci soliton on a two-step degeneration \(X_{\infty}\) of \(X\) thanks to [\textit{X. Chen} et al., Geom. Topol. 22, No. 6, 3145--3173 (2018; Zbl 1404.53058)]. By an algebraic definition of the so-called \(H\)-invariant, \textit{R. Dervan} and \textit{G. Székelyhidi} [J. Differ. Geom. 116, No. 1, 187--203 (2020; Zbl 1447.53081)] characterized algebraically the semistable limit \(M\), which is the intermediate step before \(X_{\infty}\). In the present paper, the authors use the non-Archimedean formalism from [\textit{J. Han} and \textit{C. Li}, ``Algebraic uniqueness of Kähler-Ricci flow limits and optimal degenerations of Fano varieties'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2009.01010}] to determine the semistable limit for a \(\mathbb{Q}\)-Fano group compactification. To this end they determine all equivariant \(\mathbb{R}\)-test configurations for \(\mathbb{Q}\)-Fano test configurations, and compute the \(H\)-invariant of special \(\mathbb{R}\)-test configurations in terms of their combinatorial data. This work generalizes in the special case of group compactifications both the description of degenerations of group compactifications in [\textit{V. Alexeev} and \textit{L. Katzarkov}, Geom. Funct. Anal. 15, No. 2, 297--310 (2005; Zbl 1122.32016)] and, in the special case of group compactifications, the computation of (modified) Futaki invariants of test configurations for spherical varieties in [the reviewer, Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 53, No. 3, 615--662 (2020; Zbl 1473.14098)] The results are then applied to two examples of smooth Fano compactifications of \(\mathrm{SO}_4(\mathbb{C})\) with no Kähler-Ricci solitons first obtained by the reviewer in [loc. cit.]. The first example is the blow-up of the quadric \(Q^6\) along a two-dimensional sub-quadric \(Q^2\), whose semistable limit is shown to be horosymmetric but not horospherical. The second example is its further blow-up along the codimension 2 closed orbit, whose semistable limit is shown to be horospherical. These examples are especially interesting since they were the first examples exhibiting type II singularities along the normalized Kähler-Ricci flow. This observation was first made by Székelyhidi and reported in the introduction of [the reviewer, Geom. Funct. Anal. 27, No. 1, 78--129 (2017; Zbl 1364.32017)]. It was later given a more precise treatment by \textit{Y. Li} et al. [``Singular limits of Kähler-Ricci flow on Fano G-manifolds'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1807.09167}].