Optimal bounds for local volumes of threefold singularities

Abstract

We establish an optimal upper bound for local volumes of Gorenstein canonical non-hypersurface threefold singularities. Specifically, we show that a klt threefold singularity with local volume at least $9$ is either a hypersurface singularity or a quotient singularity. As applications, we obtain new restrictions on the singularities of members in K-moduli spaces of Fano threefolds, and we establish a sharp inequality between local volumes and minimal log discrepancies for threefold singularities.

27 pages. Comments are welcome. v2: to appear in J. Lond. Math. Soc