Functorial destackification and weak factorization of orbifolds

Abstract

Let X be a smooth and tame stack with finite inertia. We prove that there is a functorial sequence of blow-ups with smooth centers after which the stabilizers of X become abelian. Using this result, we can extend the destackification results of the first author to any smooth tame stack. We give applications to resolution of tame quotient singularities, prime-to-l alterations of singularities and weak factorization of Deligne-Mumford stacks. We also extend the abelianization result to infinite stabilizers in characteristic zero, generalizing earlier work of Reichstein-Youssin.