Chern classes of birational varieties

Abstract

A theorem of Batyrev's asserts that if two nonsingular varieties V,W are birational, and their canonical bundles agree after pull-back to a resolution of indeterminacies of a birational map between them, then the Betti numbers of V and W coincide. We prove that, in the same hypotheses, the total homology Chern classes of V and W are push-forwards of the same class in the Chow group of the resolution. For example, it follows that the push-forward of the total Chern class of a crepant resolution of a singular variety is independent of the resolution.