On Resolution of Compactifications of Unramified Planar Self-maps

We use the techniques of birational algebraic geometry and some combinatorial arguments related to weighted trees to study the structure of resolutions of compactifications of hypothetical counterexamples to the two-dimensional Jacobian Conjecture. We obtain especially detailed results for the Stein decomposition of such maps. We hope that our approach will inspire more birational geometers to seriously work on the Jacobian Conjecture.