Let $X$ be a compact Kähler manifold. The so-called Kodaira problem asks whether $X$ has arbitrarily small deformations to some projective varieties. While Kodaira proved that such deformations always exist for surfaces. Starting from dimension 4, there are examples constructed by Voisin which answer the Kodaira problem in the negative. In this talk, we will focus on threefolds, as well as compact Kähler manifolds of algebraic dimension $a(X) = dim(X) -1$. We will explain our positive solution to the Kodaira problem for these manifolds.[-]

Smooth, complex Fano 4-folds are not classified, and we still lack a good understanding of their general properties. We focus on Fano 4-folds with large second Betti number $b_{2}$, studied via birational geometry and the detailed analysis of their contractions and rational contractions (we recall that a contraction is a morphism with connected fibers onto a normal projective variety, and a rational contraction is given by a sequence of flips followed by a contraction). The main result that we want to present is the following: let $X$ be a Fano 4-fold having a nonconstant rational contraction $X --> Y$ of fiber type. Then either $b_{2}(X)$ is at most 18, with equality only for a product of surfaces, or $Y$ is $\mathbb{P}^{1}$ or $\mathbb{P}^{2}$. The proof is achieved by reducing to the case of "special" rational contractions of fiber type. We will explain this notion and give an idea of the techniques that are used.[-]

Gushel-Mukai varieties are defined as the intersection of the Grassmannian Gr(2, 5) in its Plücker embedding, with a quadric and a linear space. They occur in dimension 6 (with a slighty modified construction), 5, 4, 3, 2 (where they are just K3 surfaces of degree 10), and 1 (where they are just genus 6 curves). Their theory parallels that of another important class of Fano varieties, cubic fourfolds, with many common features such as the presence of a canonically attached hyperkähler fourfold: the variety of lines for a cubic is replaced here with a double EPW sextic.
There is a big difference though: in dimension at least 3, GM varieties attached to a given EPW sextic form a family of positive dimension. However, we prove that the Hodge structure of any of these GM varieties can be reconstructed from that of the EPW sextic or of an associated surface of general type, depending on the parity of the dimension (for cubic fourfolds, the corresponding statement was proved in 1985 by Beauville and Donagi). This is joint work with Alexander Kuznetsov.[-]

In the talk I will discuss rationality criteria for Fano 3-folds of geometric Picard number 1 over a non-closed field $k$ of characteristic 0. Among these there are 8 types of geometrically rational varieties. We prove that in one of these cases any variety of this type is k-rational, in four cases the criterion of rationality is the existence of a $k$-rational point, and in the last three cases the criterion is the existence of a $k$-rational point and a k rational curve of genus 0 and degree 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The last result is based on recent results of Benoist-Wittenberg. This is a joint work with Yuri Prokhorov.[-]

A classical result usually attributed to Cayley and Bacharach asserts that if two plane curves of degrees c and d meet in cd points, then any curve of degree (c + d - 3) passing through all but one of these points must also pass through the remaining one. In the late 1970s, Griffiths and Harris showed that this is a special case of a general result about zero-loci of sections of a vector bundle. Inspired by a recent paper of Mu-Lin Li, I will describe a generalization allowing for excess vanishing. Multiplier ideals enter the picture in a natural way. Time permitting, I will also explain how a result due to Tan and Viehweg leads to statements of Cayley-Bacharach type for determinantal loci. This is joint work with Lawrence Ein.[-]