L-infinity pairs and applications to singularities

Over a field of characteristic zero, every deformation problem with cohomology constraints is controlled by a pair consisting of a differential graded Lie algebra together with a module. Unfortunately, these pairs are usually infinite-dimensional. We show that every deformation problem with cohomology constraints is controlled by a typically finite-dimensional L-infinity pair. As a first application, we show that for complex algebraic varieties with no weight-zero 1-cohomology classes, the components of the cohomology jump loci of rank one local systems containing the constant sheaf are tori. This imposes restrictions on the fundamental groups. The same holds for links and Milnor fibers.