Problems

Han and Jiang asked whether being of klt type is an open condition in flat families of varieties. It is not.

For a simple 3-polytope with at least three faces of size at least 7, must p_6 ≥ 39/20 + p_3/2 - p_5/4 - ∑_k ≥ 7 p_k? Five minimal ten-face counterexamples refute the printed inequality.

Huybrechts conjectured that for every Brauer class alpha on a hyperkahler variety X, the index divides the period raised to the power dim(X)/2, strengthening the usual period-index conjecture. Disproved on certain hyperkahler fourfolds, in…

Sabok asked whether the compact convex set S'(X) attached to a separable metric space of diameter at most one is always a simplex, and whether S'(U_1) is the Poulsen simplex. Both answers are negative, with obstructions already visible for…

Kusner conjectured in 1983 that the maximum number of points in R^n that are pairwise at ℓ_p-distance one is exactly n+1 for every 2 < p < ∞, as in the Euclidean case. False: an explicit configuration of n+2 equilateral points exists for…

For semifree noncommutative differential graded algebras over a nontrivial computable unital commutative ring, are stable tame isomorphism, quasi-isomorphism, or derived Morita equivalence algorithmically decidable? All three are…

A conjecture attributed to Kontsevich holds that strata of quadratic differentials are aspherical, that is orbifold K(π,1) spaces. False: when there are at least four zeros or poles, no connected component of a genus-one stratum is an…

Pozdnyakov, Willatt, Bartók, Ortner, Csányi and Ceriotti showed in 2020 that the 2-, 3- and 4-point correlations of an atomic neighbour density are incomplete: noncongruent environments can share them exactly. Every degeneracy found since…

Let U_n⊂ R^n be the difference polytope of a regular n-simplex such that U_n circumscribes a sphere of diameter 1. Then every set of diameter 1 in R^n is covered by a rotated copy of U_n.

Ciliberto, Knutsen, Lesieutre, Lozovanu, Miranda, Mustopa and Testa asked a question about effective divisors of positive self-intersection on smooth projective surfaces. The answer is negative, witnessed by a very non-movable effective…

Kinoshita conjectured that every embedded projective plane in S^4 is reducible. False: an irreducible embedded projective plane exists in S^4. The construction also answers both parts of Problem 4.37 of the Kirby problem list.

Can a Cohn-Elkies auxiliary function certify the best known sphere packing in dimension 36 as optimal? No. An explicit dual-feasible point for the Cohn-Elkies linear program, built from weight-18 modular forms for Γ_0(24), shows the…

Ziegler proved every simplicial d-dimensional 0/1-polytope has at most 2d vertices, and asked whether attaining 2d vertices forces central symmetry (i.e. a 0/1 cross-polytope). Known true for d ≤ 6; open since ~2000.

Mauri and Moraga posed a two-part question about log Calabi-Yau pairs whose boundary decomposes into big divisors. Both parts have negative answers.

Kollár and Kovács asked whether the first cohomology of the structure sheaf of the fibers must be constant for a flat projective morphism to a smooth curve whose fibers are Cohen-Macaulay and reduced and whose generic fiber is smooth. It…

Moraga conjectured, and Kollár and Zhuang recorded, an odd-dimensional extension of the rank bound for faithful abelian p-group actions on smooth Calabi–Yau varieties. The paper disproves it.

The conjecture that volume is log-submodular under Minkowski addition on zonoids, that is |A||A+B+C| <= |A+B||A+C|. Disproved by a four-dimensional zonotope generated by a 2-modular matrix together with two segments. Several related local…