For the Lefschetz operator of a Kähler manifold and its adjoint , the Kähler identities include
They make the mixed anticommutators in the expansion of vanish and imply . Expanding therefore proves the Kähler Laplacian identity
Thus exactly when .
Write for the underlying Riemannian metric of the Hermitian manifold. Its fundamental form of a Hermitian manifold is
It is real and skew-symmetric. In a unitary coframe it is , which also shows that it has type and that
The Hodge star operator is characterized, after complex-linear extension, by
Expanding in the same unitary coframe gives
The Hodge Laplacian and Dolbeault Laplacian are
The Dolbeault Hodge decomposition on a compact Hermitian manifold says that every Dolbeault class has a unique -harmonic representative and
If , then
so 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, then
where the term vanishes because . The Green operator commutes with , and the anticommutation identity just proved gives
Therefore, for the -form ,
This is the d d c lemma in the form required here.
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 by
On -forms in real dimension , the codifferential is
equivalently 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 imply
Thus, if , then
This is the fact that the Lefschetz operator preserves harmonic forms.
The Dolbeault Hodge decomposition on a compact Hermitian manifold states that
an 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 , then
The Kähler anticommutation identity and give
Therefore is -harmonic. By it is also -harmonic, but it is -exact; orthogonality of harmonic and exact forms forces
This 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 . Hence
which is the ddbar lemma in this case.
A Riemannian metric on a complex manifold is a Kähler metric when its complex-linear extension is a Hermitian form on each tangent space and its fundamental two-form
is closed. Equivalently, is a positive real closed -form, making a Kähler manifold.
The Lefschetz operator of a Kähler manifold and its adjoint are
Because and has type , both and vanish. The graded Leibniz rule therefore gives .
Writing formal adjoints with stars, define the three Laplacians by
The supplied Kähler identities identity gives, by complex conjugation and taking adjoints,
Expanding these commutators and using shows that the mixed terms in vanish and that . Since , it follows that
The adjoint of gives . Hence
where the last equality is the adjoint of . Thus , and therefore every power , commutes with . It follows that sends every -harmonic -form to a -harmonic -form whenever .