Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 18 / 2 / c

We prove the Bott-Chern Poincaré lemma on a polydisc $B$. Let $p,q\ge 1$ and $d\alpha =0$, with $\alpha$ of type $(p,q)$. The allowed Dolbeault-Poincaré lemma first gives $\alpha =\bar{\partial }{b}_0$, where $b_0$ has type $(p,q-1)$. Since $\bar{\partial }\partial b_0=-\partial \alpha =0$, repeatedly applying the same lemma constructsZero spaces outside the allowed bidegrees cause no difficulty. The form $\partial b_{q-1}$ has type $(p+q,0)$, is holomorphic because its Dolbeault operator vanishes, and is $\partial$-closed. The holomorphic Poincare lemma on a polydisc gives a holomorphic form $h$ of type $(p+q-1,0)$ with $\partial h=\partial b_{q-1}$. This holomorphic version follows from the radial homotopy formula: on positive-degree holomorphic forms the ordinary radial Poincare lemma homotopy preserves holomorphic coefficients. If the displayed form is zero, take $h=0$.

Now $b_{q-1}-h$ is $\partial$-closed. The conjugate Dolbeault-Poincaré lemma, obtained by conjugating the allowed lemma, gives $b_{q-1}-h=\partial c_{q-1}$, since its holomorphic degree is positive. Moving backwards, if the last modified form is $\partial c_j$, thenApply the conjugate Dolbeault-Poincaré lemma again to obtain $b_{j-1}+\bar{\partial }{c}_j=\partial c_{j-1}$. The modification does not change its Dolbeault operator, so this process continues down to $b_0$. In the case $q=1$, subtract $h$ at this last step instead. Finally,Thus $\boxed{H_{BC}^{p,q}(B)=0(p,q\ge 1)}$.

This vanishing fails on general complex manifolds. On the complex projective line, let $\omega$ be its Fubini-Study form. It is a $d$-closed $(1,1)$-form with ${\int }_{{\mathbb{P}}^1}\omega >0$. If it were $\partial \bar{\partial }f$, it would be the exact differential form $d(\bar{\partial }f)$, whose integral is zero by Stokes theorem. Therefore $\boxed{H_{BC}^{1,1}({\mathbb{P}}^1)\ne 0}$.