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First make a toric fan simplicial by compatible rational subdivisions. In a nonregular simplicial cone, choose a nonregular face minimal under inclusion. Its half-open fundamental parallelepiped contains a nonzero point of the toric lattice $w={\sum }_i{\alpha }_i{v}_i$, with every $0<{\alpha }_i<1$: a zero coefficient would put it in a regular proper face and force all coefficients to be integers. A star subdivision at the primitive point on this ray replaces a generator by $w$ and multiplies the affected lattice determinant by a number strictly between zero and one. The maximum multiplicity and the number of maximal cones realizing it decrease lexicographically, giving a finite toric resolution of singularities.

The smoothness criterion for a toric variety says that every cone must be regular: its primitive ray generators must be part of a lattice basis of $N$. Such a $d$-dimensional cone gives the chart ${\mathbb{A}}^d\times ({\mathbb{C}}^{\ast }{)}^{n-d}$; all charts are smooth precisely under this criterion.

Here is a terminating construction of a smooth fan subdivision. First subdivide compatibly into simplicial polyhedral cones. One method is the barycentric subdivision: choose a rational interior ray in each nonzero cone and perform the star subdivisions in decreasing dimension. Its cones correspond to chains of faces, hence are simplicial. For a simplicial cone with primitive generators $v_i$, let its multiplicity be the index of their integer span in the saturated lattice $N\cap {\mathrm{span}}_{\mathbb{R}}\sigma$.

If a cone is not regular, choose a nonregular face $\tau$ minimal under inclusion. Its half-open fundamental parallelepiped contains a nonzero point of the toric lattice $w={\sum }_i{\alpha }_i{v}_i$, $0\le {\alpha }_i<1$. Every coefficient is positive: otherwise $w$ lies in the span of a regular proper face, whose generators extend to a lattice basis, forcing all the remaining coefficients to be integers and hence zero. Replace $w$ by the primitive vector $w^{\prime }$ on its ray; its coefficients ${\beta }_i$ still satisfy $0<{\beta }_i<1$. Star-subdivide the entire fan at this ray. In each cone containing $\tau$, the new maximal cones replace one of these $v_i$ by $w^{\prime }$, so multilinearity of the determinant makes the new multiplicity ${\beta }_i$ times the old one. It is a positive integer strictly smaller than the old multiplicity. Other cones are unchanged. Select $\tau$ inside a maximal cone of largest multiplicity. The number of maximal cones having that largest multiplicity decreases, and once it reaches zero the largest multiplicity decreases. This lexicographic integer descent terminates at multiplicity one. It proves every finite rational fan has a smooth subdivision, not merely a simplicial one; this is multiplicity descent in toric desingularization.

For the specified threefold, abbreviate the primitive rays byIts boundary two-dimensional faces are $ab,bc,cd,da$. For example their supporting normals, chosen inward, are $(0,1,-1),(1,1,-2),(1,-1,2),(0,0,1)$; each is zero on the named pair and positive on the other two rays. These normals are primitive. Equivalently the greatest common divisor of the two-by-two minors for each ray pair is one, so these faces are regular; the rays themselves are primitive as well. The full cone is three-dimensional with four extremal rays, hence not simplicial and not regular. The orbit-cone correspondence now shows the closed torus-fixed point is its only singular point: every other orbit belongs to the smooth chart of a proper face.

Define the first subdivision by its maximal conesHere a string of letters denotes their nonnegative span; all faces are included. This is the triangulation along diagonal $ac$ of a positive cross-section. Both determinants have absolute value one, so it is smooth. The subdivision has the same support as the original cone, hence its toric morphism is proper and birational and is a resolution. No new rays were added, so it has no exceptional surfaces. Its internal wall $ac$ gives a compact exceptional curve isomorphic to ${\mathbb{P}}^1$, by the two-ray quotient fan at that wall. The only proper coarsening is the original nonregular cone, so this resolution is minimal in the stated fan sense.

For a second resolution, setStart with the other diagonal $bd$. The cone $abd$ is regular, but $bcd$ has determinant of absolute value two. Its primitive interior point $e$ divides it into the three regular cones shown, each with determinant of absolute value one. Therefore ${\Sigma }_2$ is again a smooth resolution and is different from ${\Sigma }_1$.

This fan has exactly one new ray, so its only exceptional surface is $E_e\cong {\mathbb{P}}^2$. To identify it, quotient $N$ by $\mathbb{Z}e$. The three neighboring rays are $\bar{b},\bar{c},\bar{d}$, their sum is zero, and consecutive pairs are bases because $bce,cde,dbe$ are regular. Their quotient fan is the simplex fan of the projective plane. In fact its normal bundle is ${\mathcal{O}}_{{\mathbb{P}}^2}(-2)$: the chart $U_{bcd}$ before subdivision is ${\mathbb{A}}^3/\{\pm 1\}$ since its index-two lattice extension is generated by $(b+c+d)/2$, and the new radial parameter is the square of the ordinary radial parameter of $\mathcal{O}(-1)$. It has the transition factors of $\mathcal{O}(-2)$.

For minimality, the ray $e$ cannot be deleted in a smooth coarsening. Deleting an interior ray in this triangulation merges all three incident cones into $bcd$, which is nonregular, or merges further into the original nonsimplicial cone. If $e$ is retained, deleting a wall between its three incident cones gives a nonconvex union unless all three are merged, again giving $bcd$. The remaining internal wall $bd$ separates $abd$ and $bde$; their union has four extremal rays $a,b,d,e$, since $a+e=b+d$, and is not regular. Thus no proper coarsening is smooth. These are the two minimal toric resolutions of a four-ray threefold cone.

The factorization can be made completely explicit. Starting with ${\Sigma }_1$, add $e=a+c$ in the wall $ac$, producing a smooth fan ${\Sigma }_A$ with maximal cones $abe,bce,ade,cde$. Next addin the wall $ae$. The resulting common fan has maximal conesStarting instead with ${\Sigma }_2$, the star subdivision at $w=b+d$ in the wall $bd$ gives exactly the same six cones. Each insertion is the sum of the generators of a smooth two-dimensional cone. Such a star subdivision is the toric blowup along an orbit closure of its smooth invariant curve: in local coordinates the center has ideal $(x_1,x_2)$, and the two blowup charts with ratios $x_2/x_1$ and $x_1/x_2$ give the two new cones. We have the zigzag of blowup morphismsThe required birational map is the composite of the inverses of the first two morphisms with the last. This supplies individual smooth toric blowups, rather than appealing to an abstract factorization theorem.

The dense algebraic torus has coordinate ring $k[M]$, a Laurent polynomial ring and hence a unique factorization domain. Its divisor class group is therefore zero. Restrict an arbitrary Weil divisor $D$ to the algebraic torus and choose a rational function on an algebraic variety $f$ whose divisor there is $D{|}_T$. Then $D-\mathrm{div}(f)$ is supported on the algebraic torus boundary. The prime divisors in that boundary are precisely the $F_j$ corresponding to the toric rays, by the torus orbit-cone correspondence. ConsequentlySince the variety is smooth, every Weil divisor is Cartier. This gives invariant representatives for all divisor classes, without assuming that the original divisor was invariant.

Now use such a representative. The associated vector space isThe principal divisor on a toric variety formula gives $\mathrm{div}({\chi }^m)={\sum }_j⟨m,e_j⟩F_j$. Define the lattice polytope of a toric divisorFor a maximal toric cone $\sigma$, its basic toric ray vectors are a basis of $N$, so there is a unique integral $m_{\sigma }$ with $⟨m_{\sigma },e_j⟩=-a_j$ on its toric rays. The algebraic torus character ${\chi }^{m_{\sigma }}$ is a local frame for $\mathcal{O}(D)$ on $U_{\sigma }$. Every global section restricts on the algebraic torus to a finite Laurent polynomial ${\sum }_m{c}_m{\chi }^m$. Relative to this frame, regularity on $U_{\sigma }$ means ${\sum }_m{c}_m{\chi }^{m-m_{\sigma }}\in k[{\sigma }^{\vee }\cap M]$. Since distinct algebraic torus characters are independent, this holds exactly when each exponent with nonzero coefficient satisfies the inequalities for the toric rays of $\sigma$. Taking all charts provesCompleteness makes $P_D$ bounded when nonempty: a nonzero recession vector would be nonnegative on every toric ray of a complete toric fan, and therefore on all of $N_{\mathbb{R}}$, which is impossible. The displayed space is consequently finite-dimensional.

At the torus-fixed point $p_{\sigma }$ in the smooth chart $U_{\sigma }\cong {\mathbb{A}}^n$, a section ${\chi }^m$ has local monomial ${\chi }^{m-m_{\sigma }}$. Its value is nonzero exactly when this monomial is constant, namely when $m=m_{\sigma }$. Thus if the complete linear system of a divisor has no base point, some section is nonzero at $p_{\sigma }$, forcing $m_{\sigma }\in P_D$. Conversely, if $m_{\sigma }\in P_D$ for every maximal toric cone, its algebraic torus character is a global section whose local expression on $U_{\sigma }$ is one. It therefore vanishes nowhere on that whole chart, and these charts cover $X$. This proves the toric basepoint-free criterion:The analogous toric ampleness criterion, stated without proof, replaces the inequalities off $\sigma$ by strict ones:Equivalently, the normal fan of a polytope $P_D$ is exactly $\Sigma$.

For the final fan subdivision, take $n\ge 2$ so that $\tilde{e}$ is a new toric ray, as the construction requires. The vectors $e_1,\dots ,e_n$ are a lattice basis, so their sum is primitive. Replacing any one basis vector by this sum gives another basis. Thus the star subdivision gives a smooth toric blowup at a torus-fixed point $\pi :X_{{\Sigma }^{\prime }}\to X_{\Sigma }$, with algebraic exceptional divisor $E=\tilde{F}$. On the old chart, a local equation of $D$ is ${\chi }^{-m_{\sigma }}$, whose order on the new toric ray is $-⟨m_{\sigma },\tilde{e}⟩={\sum }_{i=1}^n{a}_i=a$. All old toric ray coefficients are unchanged. ThereforeWe prove ampleness of $D_c=c{D}^{\prime }-E$ directly by inequalities, giving the ample divisor after blowing up a torus-fixed point result.

Let $u_1,\dots ,u_n$ be the basis of $M$ dual to $e_1,\dots ,e_n$. On the new maximal toric cone ${\sigma }_i$, which omits $e_i$, the required local algebraic torus character isIndeed its pairings on $e_j$, $j\ne i$, are $-c{a}_j$, while its pairing on $\tilde{e}$ is $-ca+1$, exactly the negative of the new coefficient $ca-1$. Its inequality on the omitted old toric ray has strict gap one:For any toric ray $e_j$ outside the original toric cone, put ${\delta }_j=⟨m_{\sigma },e_j⟩+a_j$. The original ampleness gives positive integers ${\delta }_j$, and the new strict gaps arefor all sufficiently large $c$.

For any unchanged maximal toric cone $\eta \ne \sigma$, the local algebraic torus character is $c{m}_{\eta }$. All strict inequalities on old toric rays follow from those for $D$. Its inequality on the new toric ray has gapEach summand is nonnegative, and at least one is positive because $\eta \ne \sigma$ cannot contain all its toric rays. Hence ${ϵ}_{\eta }$ is a positive integer, making this gap positive for $c\ge 2$. There are only finitely many remaining inequalities. For example, any integer satisfyingworks, with the inner maximum omitted when its index set is empty. The toric ampleness criterion now givesThe new-ray assumption is essential to the printed construction. In dimension one, $\tilde{e}=e_1$ and the fan subdivision is unchanged, so the two purported distinct divisors coincide. If the displayed definition of $D^{\prime }$ is applied literally on ${\mathbb{P}}^1$ with coefficients $a_1=-2$, $a_2=3$, then $D$ has degree one but $D^{\prime }$ has degree $-1$, contradicting the conclusion. The argument above applies to the intended blowup in dimension at least two.

The product fan for ${\mathbb{P}}^1\times {\mathbb{A}}^1$ has rays generated byand maximal cones $\mathrm{Cone}(e_1,e_2)$ and $\mathrm{Cone}(e_2,-e_1)$. The given fan is obtained by the star subdivision of the first maximal cone throughBy the toric blowup at a torus-fixed point, this subdivision blows up the torus-fixed point corresponding to $\mathrm{Cone}(e_1,e_2)$. Hencefor that torus-fixed point $p$.

Letand let $\tilde{\Sigma }$ be the star subdivision of $\sigma$ through the ray ${\mathbb{R}}_{\ge 0}v$. Its maximal cones areSince $\hat{\phi }(v)=0$, their images lie respectively inThus $\hat{\phi }$ is a morphism of fans from $\tilde{\Sigma }$ to $\Sigma$.

The toric blowup at a torus-fixed point identifiesMore explicitly, the blowup of affine space at the origin is the total space of ${\mathcal{O}}_{{\mathbb{P}}^2}(-1)$. The induced toric morphismis its bundle projection: it sends a nonzero vector to its direction $[x_1:x_2:x_3]$ and restricts to the identity on the exceptional divisor ${\mathbb{P}}^2$. Therefore $g$ resolves the indeterminacy locus of $f$.

Insert the primitive rayinside the singular cone. The corresponding star subdivision replaces $⟨v_0,v_1⟩$ by $⟨v_0,v_3⟩$ and $⟨v_3,v_1⟩$. Both new determinants have absolute value one, as do the two unchanged cones, so the subdivided fan is smooth. The induced proper birational toric morphism $\tilde{X}\to X$ is therefore a toric resolution of singularities. Its exceptional invariant curve has self-intersection $-2$, and $\tilde{X}$ is the Hirzebruch surface ${\mathbb{F}}_2$.

The toric morphism ${\mathbb{A}}_{x,y}^2\to {\mathbb{A}}_t^1$ with $t=xy$ is induced on cocharacter lattices byThe fan of ${\mathbb{A}}^2$ is the cone $⟨e_1,e_2⟩$ and its faces, while the fan of ${\mathbb{A}}^1$ is ${\mathbb{R}}_{\ge 0}$ and its zero face. The blowup of the affine plane at the origin is the star subdivision obtained by inserting the ray through $e_1+e_2$; its maximal cones areBecause $\phi (e_1)=\phi (e_2)=1$ and $\phi (e_1+e_2)=2$, every cone maps into ${\mathbb{R}}_{\ge 0}$, giving the composite toric morphism $f:X\to {\mathbb{A}}^1$.

On a smooth toric variety, the blowup along the orbit closure in a toric variety of a cone generated by part of a lattice basis $v_1,\dots ,v_k$ is the star subdivision at their sum. Locally the center has ideal $(x_1,\dots ,x_k)$; its blowup charts adjoin $x_j/x_i$, producing precisely these subdivided cones. This extends the toric blowup at a torus-fixed point to invariant centers of any codimension.