We develop a new technique to study ranks of multiplication maps for linear series via limit linear series and degenerations to chains of elliptic curves. We prove an elementary criterion and apply it to proving cases of the Maximal Rank Conjecture. We give a new proof of the case of quadrics, and also treat several families in the case of cubics. Our proofs do not require restrictions on direction of approach, so we recover new information on the locus in the moduli space of curves on which the maximal rank condition fails.

We study the non-klt locus of singularities of pairs. We show that given a pair (X, B) and a projective morphism X → Z with connected fibres such that −(KX +B) is nef over Z, the non-klt locus of (X, B) has at most two connected components near each fibre of X → Z. This was conjectured by Hacon and Han. In a different direction we answer a question of Mark Gross on connectedness of the non-klt loci of certain pairs. This is motivated by constructions in Mirror Symmetry.

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We show that Q-Fano varieties of fixed dimension with anti-canonical degrees and alpha-invariants bounded from below form a bounded family. As a corollary, K-semistable Q-Fano varieties of fixed dimension with anti-canonical degrees bounded from below form a bounded family.

In this paper we give a proposal for mirrors to (0,2) supersymmetric gauged linear sigma models (GLSMs), for those (0,2) GLSMs which are deformations of (2,2) GLSMs. Specifically, we propose a construction of (0,2) mirrors for (0,2) GLSMs with E terms that are linear and diagonal, reducing to both the Hori-Vafa prescription as well as a recent (2,2) nonabelian mirrors proposal on the (2,2) locus. For the special case of abelian (0,2) GLSMs, two of the authors have previously proposed a systematic construction, which is both simplified and generalized by the proposal here.