Algebraic geometry · Beijing

Marco Rampazzo

I am an algebraic geometer working on derived categories, birational geometry, and mathematical realizations of gauged linear sigma models.

I currently hold a joint postdoctoral position at Tsinghua University and Imperial College London. I have been based at Tsinghua in Beijing since April 2026, where I am mentored by Will Donovan.

Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp and the University of Bologna. I completed my PhD at the University of Stavanger, supervised by Michał Kapustka.

Portrait of Marco Rampazzo

Recent work

Recent projects

A selection of recent projects with my collaborators.

Categorical resolutions

Categorical resolutions and birational geometry of nodal Gushel–Mukai varieties

We consider a one-nodal Gushel-Mukai variety and investigate a flop between its geometric resolution and a quadric fibration over the projective plane. Then, we address the derived-categorical implications of this construction. With Kacper Grzelakowski and Shizhuo Zhang.

arXiv

Window categories

Window categories for a simple flop of Grassmannian type

We consider a flop of local Calabi-Yau varieties described as total spaces of vector bundles on Grassmannians, and we construct a window category inducing a derived equivalence. With Will Donovan, Wahei Hara, and Michał Kapustka.

arXiv

Derived equivalence

Derived equivalence for the simple flop of type D5

We address a birational map between total spaces of homogeneous bundles over the ten-dimensional spinor variety. With a similar construction, we prove a derived equivalence between non-birational Calabi-Yau fivefolds, answering a question by Manivel. With Ying Xie.

arXiv

Artificial intelligence for mathematical research

I am also interested in agent-based AI systems for long-horizon mathematical research: tools that help organize, retrieve, test, and develop mathematical ideas without losing the structure of the argument.

Research

My research interests

These are the areas I am working on at present.

01

Derived categories and semiorthogonal decompositions of Fano varieties

Exceptional collections, semiorthogonal decompositions and mutations provide powerful tools to understand derived categories of coherent sheaves and categorical resolutions of singularities, and to investigate the geometric information that they carry. The derived category is a very rigid invariant for a Fano variety, but the choice of an appropriate subcategory can lead to the construction of more subtle birational invariants. This approach can be extended to singular varieties by constructing semiorthogonal decompositions of the categorical resolution of singularities.

02

Birational equivalences, K-equivalence, and the DK conjecture

While the derived category is known to be an invariant up to isomorphism for smooth Fano and general type varieties, its behavior as a birational invariant in broader settings (e.g. flops and related constructions) remains the subject of open conjectures. In particular, there is substantial evidence suggesting that certain birational transformations, known as K-equivalences, should induce equivalences at the level of derived categories.

03

Gauged linear sigma models, phase transitions, and mathematical physics

In physics, gauged linear sigma models are supersymmetric gauge theories that exhibit multiple phases. Unlike the original abelian models, non-abelian GLSMs can have several “geometric” phases, each corresponding to the geometry of a smooth projective variety. Conjecturally, the physical relationship between these phases is reflected mathematically by Fourier–Mukai functors inducing equivalences, or embeddings, between the derived categories of the associated varieties.

04

Varieties with two projective bundle structures

The classification of simple K-equivalences, i.e. crepant birational maps between smooth projective varieties which admit a common resolution whose morphism to either side is a single blowup along a smooth center, is closely related to the classification of special Fano varieties called roofs. These are varieties of Picard rank two, whose extremal contractions are projective bundles, and such that there is a line bundle which restricts to O(1) on the fibers of both contractions. Although the roof condition is rather restrictive, the classification is still an open problem.

More topics

Events

Events organized

Seminars and study groups I have helped organize.

Hodge atoms study group

Organized with Will Donovan at the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center, Tsinghua University.

Beijing · 2026

Bridgeland stability seminar

A collaborative study seminar on stability conditions, moduli spaces, and birational geometry.

Bologna · Chemnitz · Nancy · 2021