Looijenga’s conjecture via integral-affine geometry

Abstract

A cusp singularity is a surface singularity whose minimal resolution is a cycle of smooth rational curves meeting transversely. Cusp singularities come in naturally dual pairs. In 1981, Looijenga proved that whenever a cusp singularity is smoothable, the minimal resolution of the dual cusp is an anticanonical divisor of some smooth rational surface. He conjectured the converse. Recent work of Gross, Hacking, and Keel has proven Looijenga’s conjecture using methods from mirror symmetry. This paper provides an alternative proof of Looijenga’s conjecture based on a combinatorial criterion for smoothability given by Friedman and Miranda in 1983.