Homological projective duality for linear systems with base locus

Abstract: We show how blowing up varieties in base loci of linear systems gives a procedure for creating new homological projective duals from old. Starting with a HP dual pair $X,Y$ and smooth orthogonal linear sections $X_L,Y_L$, we prove that the blowup of $X$ in $X_L$ is naturally HP dual to $Y_L$. The result does not need $Y$ to exist as a variety, i.e. it may be "noncommutative". We extend the result to the case where the base locus $X_L$ is a multiple of a smooth variety and the universal hyperplane has rational singularities; here the HP dual is a categorical resolution of singularities of $Y_L$. Finally we give examples where, starting with a noncommutative $Y$, the above process nevertheless gives geometric HP duals.