The complex projective plane as a ball quotient
Geometric Topology
2026-07-21 v1 Algebraic Geometry
Differential Geometry
Abstract
In 1986, Deligne and Mostow constructed a ball quotient biholomorphic to the complex projective plane whose branch locus is a line arrangement. In this paper, we show that if is realized as a ball quotient whose branch divisor is an arrangement of smooth pairwise normal-crossing curves, then the orbifold is isomorphic to either the Deligne-Mostow example or a certain degree 9 cover of it. This classification of "ball quotient structures" on generalizes the case due to Poincar\'e.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2607.18710,
title = {The complex projective plane as a ball quotient},
author = {Cindy Tan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.18710},
year = {2026}
}