Canonical bundle formula and degenerating families of volume forms

Abstract

Canonical bundle formula due to Kawamata and others has played fundamental roles in algebraic geometry. We show that the canonical bundle formula has analytic characterization in terms of fiberwise integration, which confirms a folklore conjecture. The proof uses $L^2$ metrics and the valuative equivalence of plurisubharmonic singularities. As an application, we identify the singularity of the Ohsawa measure in a general $L^2$ extension theorem of Demailly for log canonical pairs. As another consequence, we give a partial answer to a question of Berndtsson on semipositivity theorems.