Relations in the Sarkisov Program

Abstract

The Sarkisov Program studies birational maps between varieties that are end products of the Minimal Model Program (MMP) on nonsingular uniruled varieties. If X and Y are terminal Q-factorial projective varieties endowed with a structure of Mori fibre space, any birational map between them can be decomposed into a finite number of elementary Sarkisov links. This decomposition is not unique in general, and any two distinct decompositions define a relation in the Sarkisov Program. This paper shows that relations in the Sarkisov Program are generated by some elementary relations. Roughly speaking, elementary relations are the relations among the end products of the MMP of Z over W, for suitable Z and W with relative Picard rank 3.