A global Torelli theorem for singular symplectic varieties

Abstract

We systematically study the moduli theory of symplectic varieties (in the sense of Beauville) which admit a resolution by an irreducible symplectic manifold. In particular, we prove an analog of Verbitsky's global Torelli theorem for the locally trivial deformations of such varieties. Verbitsky's work on ergodic complex structures replaces twistor lines as the essential global input. In so doing we extend many of the local deformation-theoretic results known in the smooth case to such (not-necessarily-projective) symplectic varieties. We deduce a number of applications to the birational geometry of symplectic manifolds, including some results on the classification of birational contractions of $K3^{[n]}$-type varieties.