Contractions and flops via moduli of non-pure sheaves

Abstract

When introducing the notion of moduli problems, perhaps the most trivial example one may consider is the "functor of points" of a variety X, whose "classifying space" (moduli space) is X itself. Its very close relative is the stack of ideal sheaves of length 1 subschemes: when X is normal and of dimension at least 2, this stack is the product of X with BG_m. Despite the apparent triviality, modifying this stack gives rise to interesting birational phenomena, about which I will speak. I will describe a certain enlargement U of the stack of ideal sheaves that yields, via taking the good moduli space, a birational contraction of X, and an open substack of U that yields a surgery diagram via non-GIT wall-crossing. If time permits, I will explain how the interpretation of the surgery as a fine moduli of sheaves helps prove instances Kawamata’s DK-hypothesis in this setting. This is joint work with Andres Fernandez Herrero (https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.13395).