Vanishing and semipositivity theorems for semi-log canonical pairs

Abstract: We prove an effective vanishing theorem for direct images of log pluricanonical bundles of projective semi-log canonical pairs. As an application, we obtain a semipositivity theorem for direct images of relative log pluricanonical bundles of projective semi-log canonical pairs over curves, which implies the projectivity of the moduli spaces of stable varieties. It is worth mentioning that we do not use the theory of variation of (mixed) Hodge structure.