Algebraic cuts

In this note we give an algebraic version of a construction called symplectic cutting, which is due to Lerman. Our construction is valid for projective varieties defined over arbitrary fields. Using the equivariant intersection theory developed by the authors, it is a useful tool for studying quotients by torus actions. At the end of the paper, we give an algebraic proof of the Kalkman residue formula and use it to give some formulas for characteristic numbers of quotients.