Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 17 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Let denote the sheaf of differential forms of type (p, q) printed in the PDF. Take the pointwise Hermitian inner product to be linear in its first argument, and use . The bidegrees in the question specify the conjugate-linear Hodge star: it is uniquely characterized byThus , and maps bidegree to . If is the complex-linear extension of the real Hodge star operator, then . The operator is real and on degree , soUsing the complex-linear star instead would give a different bidegree, ; keeping the convention explicit prevents that ambiguity.
The Hermitian Lefschetz operator is exterior multiplication by . Define pointwise byIt lowers bidegree by . In a unitary real coframe with , it is , the corresponding sum of interior product of a differential form operators. This gives its existence and identifies it as a smooth operator. On a compact manifold, integrate the pointwise equality against to obtainNo integration by parts is needed for this order-zero operator. Thus is both the pointwise and the global formal adjoint.
Write , and let denote the degree of the input form. The given Lefschetz commutator is . For the required formula is exactly this identity. If it holds for , the commutator derivation identity givesThe second commutator acts on degree , so the coefficient on the right isThis proves the commutator formula for powers of the Lefschetz operator
For injectivity of powers of the Lefschetz operator, is immediate. Suppose and . If or , then , and impliesThe scalar is nonzero, since makes . Repeating with the smaller power shows . For , induct on , treating all cases as already established. The same commutator calculation yields, with ,The induction hypothesis applies to on degree , since and . Hence with of degree . Moreover . Since , induction also makes injective on that degree, so and . All operators preserve restriction to open sets; the argument applies on every open set. Therefore is an injective morphism of sheaves whenever .
On a Kähler manifold, the Kähler identities, with the positive form convention used above, areTaking formal adjoints conjugates the scalar and reverses the order in the commutator. Since , this givesTo derive the Kähler Laplacian identity, put and , so and . Write for an anticommutator. The Kähler identities say and . Thereforebecause expansion leaves only terms containing or . Furthermore,Expanding these expressions and using makes them equal. Since and , the mixed anticommutators already vanish, and consequentlyClosedness of the Kähler form implies . Using the adjoint identity above,The equality of the three Laplacians therefore proves each Laplacian commutes with .
For a compact Kähler manifold, the Dolbeault Hodge decomposition is the orthogonal decompositionHere harmonicity for the Dolbeault Laplacian and for the Hodge Laplacian agrees by the preceding identity. If and , then . Taking its inner product with gives . Thus is cohomologous to . Conversely, a harmonic form is -closed, and a harmonic exact form satisfies . This proves existence and uniqueness of the harmonic representative and henceThese spaces are finite dimensional by the ellipticity of the Dolbeault Laplacian on the compact manifold.
Complex conjugation commutes with the real operator and interchanges the bidegrees and . It is therefore a conjugate-linear bijection of the harmonic spaces, proving Hodge symmetry. The real Hodge star operator commutes with , as does complex conjugation; hence their composition, our conjugate-linear Hodge star, sends harmonic -forms bijectively to harmonic -forms. Its square is the nonzero scalar established above. This proves Hodge duality, and gives
For the final hard Lefschetz isomorphism on Dolbeault cohomology, take and . This restriction is necessary to make the displayed power nonnegative. The Hermitian Lefschetz operator raises bidegree by , and the Lefschetz operator preserves harmonic forms; thereforeis well defined. It is injective by injectivity of powers of the Lefschetz operator, since . Hodge symmetry and Hodge duality give , so it is a bijection between finite-dimensional spaces of equal dimension. Because , the map on harmonic representatives agrees with exterior multiplication by on Dolbeault cohomology. We concludeFor , the corresponding valid statement is the inverse of the positive-power isomorphism from bidegree to ; a negative exterior-multiplication power is not defined.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 17 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write , the Lefschetz operator of a Kähler manifold. The metric and volume form define the inner product on smooth complex forms, and is its formal adjoint. Similarly, is the formal adjoint of the Dolbeault operator, characterized by . The Dolbeault Laplacian isOn the compact manifold without boundary, integration by parts givesIf the Laplacian vanishes, both terms are zero. Conversely, if both operators annihilate , the defining formula annihilates it. Thus harmonicity is equivalent to being both -closed and -closed.
Because is closed and has type , and . The supplied identity from the Kähler identities gives . With ordinary commutators for the even-degree operator ,The last identity follows from . This also proves that the Lefschetz operator preserves harmonic forms.
For the cohomology map one can work directly with forms: , since has even degree. It takes closed forms to closed forms and exact forms to exact forms. Therefore the th power of inducesThe bidegree is , including the zero groups outside the dimension range. No isomorphism claim is needed here.
Finally put , so . LetBoth Kähler forms are -closed, so . For a closed representative ,This primitive has type ; the degree-one sign produces no additional term because is closed. HenceThis is the dependence of Lefschetz maps on the Dolbeault class.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 18 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Chern connection decomposes on vector-bundle-valued differential forms as , where raises holomorphic degree and raises antiholomorphic degree. In a holomorphic local frame, and . The type of the curvature form of a connection givesThe Kähler metric and the Hermitian metric define the inner product and the formal adjoints . The Dolbeault Laplacians areLet be the Lefschetz operator of a Kähler manifold and its adjoint Lefschetz operator. With the ordinary commutator convention , the printed Kähler identities giveSubstitution into the two Dolbeault Laplacians, followed by expansion, yieldsThe middle line follows by cancelling the terms with and ; the remaining terms collect the anticommutator of the two differentials. Hence , where denotes its wedge action. This is the Bochner-Kodaira-Nakano identity with the paper's sign convention.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 18 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Kähler form and the Hermitian metric give the inner product on vector-bundle-valued differential forms, using volume . Define the formal adjoint and the elliptic, self-adjoint, nonnegative Dolbeault LaplacianIts harmonic space isThe equality follows from . On compact , the bundle-valued Dolbeault Hodge decomposition states that this space is finite dimensional and thatThe sum is orthogonal for the inner product and all summands here consist of smooth forms. Every Dolbeault cohomology class has a unique harmonic representative, giving and, by the Dolbeault theorem, the corresponding sheaf cohomology isomorphism. This is a decomposition for , whose square is zero; it does not require the full Chern connection to be flat.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 118 2 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Choose a constant positive Hermitian form on . Its underlying flat Kähler metric is translation-invariant and descends through the Euclidean lattice to the compact complex torus . The Dolbeault Hodge decomposition gives a unique Dolbeault Laplacian-harmonic representative of every Dolbeault cohomology class. By the Kähler Laplacian identity, these are also Hodge Laplacian-harmonic.
Choose a constant coframe on . A lifted harmonic form is a sum of constant wedge basis forms with smooth periodic coefficients. For the flat metric, the Hodge Laplacian acts coefficientwise by the scalar constant-coefficient Laplacian. Each coefficient is a harmonic function on a compact flat real torus, hence is constant: integration by parts gives . Conversely every constant-coefficient form is harmonic. Thus the harmonic representatives are exactly the translation-invariant differential forms of type (p, q).
The constant covectors form ; the constant covectors form the space of antilinear maps . Sending a constant wedge form to its cohomology class givesThe map is intrinsic and does not depend on the auxiliary flat metric: that metric proves every class has exactly one constant representative, while the inclusion of constant forms is defined directly by the quotient. The Dolbeault cohomology of a complex torus consists of constant forms, and in particularFor indices outside , both the exterior-power expression and the cohomology group vanish.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 118 4 Solution 2026-09-28
Write for the underlying Riemannian metric of the Hermitian manifold. Its fundamental form of a Hermitian manifold isIt is real and skew-symmetric. In a unitary coframe it is , which also shows that it has type and thatThe Hodge star operator is characterized, after complex-linear extension, byExpanding in the same unitary coframe gives
The Hodge Laplacian and Dolbeault Laplacian areThe Dolbeault Hodge decomposition on a compact Hermitian manifold says that every Dolbeault class has a unique -harmonic representative andIf , thenso is -closed and -closed. If also , then , hence .
Now suppose is compact and Kähler. With and , the Kähler identities make the mixed anticommutators vanish and give . Consequently
Let and . The Kähler Laplacian identity implies that the -Laplacian commutes with . Since a harmonic form is -closed, is orthogonal to every harmonic form. If is the Green operator of the Hodge Laplacian, thenwhere the term vanishes because . The Green operator commutes with , and the anticommutation identity just proved givesTherefore, for the -form ,This is the d d c lemma in the form required here.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 118 4 Solution 2026-09-28
The Kähler manifold structure gives a Riemannian metric, its volume form, the complex orientation, and a Hermitian inner product on complex differential forms. The complex Hodge star operator is the complex-linear map characterized byOn -forms in real dimension , the codifferential isequivalently the formal adjoint of for the inner product. Similarly is the formal adjoint of . Define the Hodge Laplacian and Dolbeault Laplacian by
Expanding , the Kähler identities make the mixed anticommutators vanish and imply . Hence the Kähler Laplacian identity is
Let be the Lefschetz operator of a Kähler manifold. The Kähler identities also implyThus, if , thenThis is the fact that the Lefschetz operator preserves harmonic forms.
The Dolbeault Hodge decomposition on a compact Hermitian manifold states thatan orthogonal direct sum, where .
Suppose has type . Apply this decomposition to . The harmonic and -exact pieces disappear after applying , so for some ,Put . If also , thenThe Kähler anticommutation identity and giveTherefore is -harmonic. By it is also -harmonic, but it is -exact; orthogonality of harmonic and exact forms forcesThis proves both requested claims: is harmonic, and is -closed.
Finally, is orthogonal to , and hence to every -harmonic form. Since the - and -harmonic spaces agree on a compact Kähler manifold, the -closed form has zero harmonic component in its -Hodge decomposition. It follows that for some . Hencewhich is the ddbar lemma in this case.
Spectral gap for powers of a positive line bundle Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
For a positive Hermitian holomorphic line bundle on compact , using its curvature as the Kähler form, a linear lower bound in for the full Dolbeault Laplacian on positive antiholomorphic degrees rules out harmonic forms for sufficiently large . The Dolbeault theorem and Dolbeault Hodge decomposition then imply .