Limits of Calabi-Yau metrics when the Kähler class degenerates (Q843183)

The paper deals with Ricci-flat Kähler metrics on a projective Calabi-Yau manifold and their behaviour under degeneration to the boundary of the ample cone. A Calabi-Yau manifold is defined as a compact Kähler manifold \(X\) with trivial first Chern class in \(H^{2}(X,\mathbb{R})\). If \(X\) is projective and \(\alpha\) is a class in the ample cone \(\mathcal{K}_{NS}\) of \(X\), then by Yau's Theorem [see \textit{S.-T. Yau}, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 1798--1799 (1977; Zbl 0355.32028)], there is a unique Ricci-flat Kähler metric \(\omega\in\alpha\). A natural question is to understand what happens if \(\rho(X)>1\) and \(\alpha\) is a non-trivial class in the boundary of the nef cone \(\overline{\mathcal{K}}_{NS}\). If one considers a smooth path \(\alpha_{t}:[0,1]\longrightarrow\overline{\mathcal{K}}_{NS}\) such that \(\alpha_{1}=\alpha\) and \(\alpha_{t}\in\mathcal{K}_{NS}\) for every \(t<1\), there is a unique Ricci-flat Kähler metric \(\omega_{t}\) for every \(t<1\), and as \(\alpha_{t}\) is smooth, for \(t<1\) the Ricci-flat metrics \(\omega_{t}\) vary smoothly. The main result of the paper (Theorem 1.1) is that if \(X\) is a projective Calabi-Yau manifold and \(\alpha\) is a nef and big class (i. e. \(\alpha\in\overline{\mathcal{K}}_{NS}\) and \(\alpha^{\dim(X)}>0\)), then there is a proper analytic subvariety \(E\subseteq X\) and a smooth incomplete Ricci-flat metric \(\omega_{1}\) on \(X\setminus E\), where \(E\) and \(\omega_{1}\) depend only on \(\alpha\), such that for every smooth path \(\alpha_{t}\) as before the Ricci-flat Kähler metrics \(\omega_{t}\) converge to \(\omega_{1}\) in the \(C^{\infty}\)-topology on compact sets of \(X\setminus E\). One can describe more precisely \(\omega_{1}\) and \(E\): the incomplete Ricci-flat Kähler metric \(\omega_{1}\) extends to a closed positive current \(\widetilde{\omega}_{1}\in\alpha\) with continuous potential on \(X\), where \(\widetilde{\omega}_{1}\) is the pull-back of a singular Ricci-flat Kähler metric on a Calabi-Yau model of \(X\) (i. e. a normal projective variety with canonical singularities and trivial canonical \(\mathbb{Q}\)-divisor) obtained by the contraction map of \(\alpha\). In particular, if \(\alpha\) is the first Chern class of a nef and big line bundle \(L\) on \(X\), then \(E\) is the null-locus of \(L\), i. e. the union of all positive-dimensional subvarieties \(V\subseteq X\) such that \(L^{\dim(V)}\cdot V=0\). The proof of this result is contained in sections 3 and 4. In section 3 the author proves a uniform diameter bound (Theorem 3.1), namely that if \((X,\omega_{0})\) is a Ricci-flat Kähler manifold of dimension \(n\) and \(\omega\) is another Ricci-flat Kähler metric on \(X\), then \(\int_{X}\omega_{0}^{n-1}\wedge\omega\leq C\) for some constant \(C\), so that the diameter of \((X,\omega)\) is bounded above by some constant depending only on \(n\), \(C\) and \(\omega_{0}\). In section 4 the main theorem is proved. First (Proposition 4.1), the author finds a smooth real \((1,1)\)-form \(\omega\in\alpha\) which is pointwise non-negative, is Kähler outside a proper analytic subvariety of \(X\), and for every smooth path \(\alpha_{t}\) there is a continuous family \(\beta_{t}\in\alpha_{t}\) converging to \(\omega\) in the \(C^{\infty}\)-topology. Moreover, \(\omega\) is the pull-back of a singular Kähler metric on a Calabi-Yau model \(Y\) of \(X\) given by the contraction map of \(\alpha\). Then the author shows that from \(\omega\) we can produce a closed positive current \(\omega_{1}\in\alpha\) on \(X\) which is the pull-back of a singular Ricci-flat Kähler metric on \(Y\). The last part of the proof is to study the proper analytic subvariety on which \(\omega\) is not Kähler, which is done by using the uniform diameter bound previously shown and setting up a family of complex Monge-Ampère equations degenerating in the limit. In section 5 two examples are provided. The first one is on a Kummer surface \(X\), where \(\alpha=c_{1}(L)\), and \(L\) is the pull-back of any ample divisor on the singular surface \(Y\) obtained as the contraction of the 16 \((-2)\)-curves of \(X\). This example was first studied by \textit{R. Kobayashi} and \textit{A. N. Todorov} in [Tohoku Math. J. 39, 341--363 (1987; Zbl 0646.14029)]. A second example is in dimension 3, and it is on a small resolution \(X\) of a nodal quintic \(Y\) in \(\mathbb{P}^{4}\), where \(\alpha=c_{1}(L)\) and \(L\) is again the pull-back of any ample divisor on \(Y\). In section 6 the author mentions few questions arising from his main theorem. A first question is about the convergence (in the Gromov-Hausdorff topology) of \((X,\omega_{t})\) to the completion \((X_{\infty},\omega_{\infty})\) of \((X\setminus E,\omega_{1})\), and on the relation between \(Y\) and \(X_{\infty}\). Moreover, the author proposes two possible directions to extend his main theorem: one is about considering the whole Kähler cone of \(X\) instead of just the ample cone, the other about considering classes \(\alpha\) which are still nef but not-necessarily big.