Hodge structure


In mathematics, a Hodge structure, named after W. V. D. Hodge, is an algebraic structure at the level of linear algebra, similar to the one that Hodge theory gives to the cohomology groups of a smooth and compact Kähler manifold. Hodge structures have been generalized for all complex varieties in the form of mixed Hodge structures, defined by Pierre Deligne. A variation of Hodge structure is a family of Hodge structures parameterized by a manifold, first studied by Phillip Griffiths. All these concepts were further generalized to mixed Hodge modules over complex varieties by Morihiko Saito.

Hodge structures

Definition of Hodge structures

A pure Hodge structure of integer weight n consists of an abelian group and a decomposition of its complexification into a direct sum of complex subspaces, where, with the property that the complex conjugate of is :
An equivalent definition is obtained by replacing the direct sum decomposition of by the Hodge filtration, a finite decreasing filtration of by complex subspaces subject to the condition
The relation between these two descriptions is given as follows:
For example, if is a compact Kähler manifold, is the -th cohomology group of X with integer coefficients, then is its -th cohomology group with complex coefficients and Hodge theory provides the decomposition of into a direct sum as above, so that these data define a pure Hodge structure of weight. On the other hand, the Hodge–de Rham spectral sequence supplies with the decreasing filtration by as in the second definition.
For applications in algebraic geometry, namely, classification of complex projective varieties by their periods, the set of all Hodge structures of weight on is too big. Using the Riemann bilinear relations, in this case called Hodge Riemann bilinear relations, it can be substantially simplified. A polarized Hodge structure of weight n consists of a Hodge structure and a non-degenerate integer bilinear form on , which is extended to by linearity, and satisfying the conditions:
In terms of the Hodge filtration, these conditions imply that
where is the Weil operator on, given by on.
Yet another definition of a Hodge structure is based on the equivalence between the -grading on a complex vector space and the action of the circle group U. In this definition, an action of the multiplicative group of complex numbers viewed as a two-dimensional real algebraic torus, is given on. This action must have the property that a real number a acts by an. The subspace is the subspace on which acts as multiplication by

''A''-Hodge structure

In the theory of motives, it becomes important to allow more general coefficients for the cohomology. The definition of a Hodge structure is modified by fixing a Noetherian subring A of the field of real numbers, for which is a field. Then a pure Hodge A-structure of weight n is defined as before, replacing with A. There are natural functors of base change and restriction relating Hodge A-structures and B-structures for A a subring of B.

Mixed Hodge structures

It was noticed by Jean-Pierre Serre in the 1960s based on the Weil conjectures that even singular and non-complete algebraic varieties should admit 'virtual Betti numbers'. More precisely, one should be able to assign to any algebraic variety X a polynomial PX, called its virtual Poincaré polynomial, with the properties
  • If X is nonsingular and projective
  • If Y is closed algebraic subset of X and U = X \ Y
The existence of such polynomials would follow from the existence of an analogue of Hodge structure in the cohomologies of a general algebraic variety. The novel feature is that the nth cohomology of a general variety looks as if it contained pieces of different weights. This led Alexander Grothendieck to his conjectural theory of motives and motivated a search for an extension of Hodge theory, which culminated in the work of Pierre Deligne. He introduced the notion of a mixed Hodge structure, developed techniques for working with them, gave their construction and related them to the weights on l-adic cohomology, proving the last part of the Weil conjectures.

Example of curves

To motivate the definition, consider the case of a reducible complex algebraic curve X consisting of two nonsingular components, and, which transversally intersect at the points and. Further, assume that the components are not compact, but can be compactified by adding the points. The first cohomology group of the curve X is dual to the first homology group, which is easier to visualize. There are three types of one-cycles in this group. First, there are elements representing small loops around the punctures. Then there are elements that are coming from the first homology of the compactification of each of the components. The one-cycle in corresponding to a cycle in the compactification of this component, is not canonical: these elements are determined modulo the span of. Finally, modulo the first two types, the group is generated by a combinatorial cycle which goes from to along a path in one component and comes back along a path in the other component. This suggests that admits an increasing filtration
whose successive quotients Wn/''Wn''−1 originate from the cohomology of smooth complete varieties, hence admit Hodge structures, albeit of different weights. Further examples can be found in "A Naive Guide to Mixed Hodge Theory".

Definition of mixed Hodge structure

A mixed Hodge structure on an abelian group consists of a finite decreasing filtration Fp on the complex vector space H, called the Hodge filtration and a finite increasing filtration Wi on the rational vector space , called the weight filtration, subject to the requirement that the n-th associated graded quotient of with respect to the weight filtration, together with the filtration induced by F on its complexification, is a pure Hodge structure of weight n, for all integer n. Here the induced filtration on
is defined by
One can define a notion of a morphism of mixed Hodge structures, which has to be compatible with the filtrations F and W and prove the following:
The total cohomology of a compact Kähler manifold has a mixed Hodge structure, where the nth space of the weight filtration Wn is the direct sum of the cohomology groups of degree less than or equal to n. Therefore, one can think of classical Hodge theory in the compact, complex case as providing a double grading on the complex cohomology group, which defines an increasing filtration Fp and a decreasing filtration Wn that are compatible in certain way. In general, the total cohomology space still has these two filtrations, but they no longer come from a direct sum decomposition. In relation with the third definition of the pure Hodge structure, one can say that a mixed Hodge structure cannot be described using the action of the group An important insight of Deligne is that in the mixed case there is a more complicated noncommutative proalgebraic group that can be used to the same effect using Tannakian formalism.
Moreover, the category of Hodge structures admits a good notion of tensor product, corresponding to the product of varieties, as well as related concepts of inner Hom and dual object, making it into a Tannakian category. By Tannaka–Krein philosophy, this category is equivalent to the category of finite-dimensional representations of a certain group, which Deligne, Milne and et el. has explicitly described, see and. The description of this group was recast in more geometrical terms by. The corresponding analysis for rational pure polarizable Hodge structures was done by.

Mixed Hodge structure in cohomology (Deligne's theorem)

Deligne has proved that the nth cohomology group of an arbitrary algebraic variety has a canonical mixed Hodge structure. This structure is functorial, and compatible with the products of varieties and the product in cohomology. For a complete nonsingular variety X this structure is pure of weight n, and the Hodge filtration can be defined through the hypercohomology of the truncated de Rham complex.
The proof roughly consists of two parts, taking care of noncompactness and singularities. Both parts use the resolution of singularities in an essential way. In the singular case, varieties are replaced by simplicial schemes, leading to more complicated homological algebra, and a technical notion of a Hodge structure on complexes is used.
Using the theory of motives, it is possible to refine the weight filtration on the cohomology with rational coefficients to one with integral coefficients.

Examples

  • The Tate–Hodge structure is the Hodge structure with underlying module given by , with So it is pure of weight −2 by definition and it is the unique 1-dimensional pure Hodge structure of weight −2 up to isomorphisms. More generally, its nth tensor power is denoted by it is 1-dimensional and pure of weight −2n.
  • The cohomology of a compact Kähler manifold has a Hodge structure, and the nth cohomology group is pure of weight n.
  • The cohomology of a complex variety has a mixed Hodge structure. This was shown for smooth varieties by, and in general by.
  • For a projective variety with normal crossing singularities there is a spectral sequence with a degenerate E2-page which computes all of its mixed Hodge structures. The E1-page has explicit terms with a differential coming from a simplicial set.
  • Any smooth variety X admits a smooth compactification with complement a normal crossing divisor. The corresponding logarithmic forms can be used to describe the mixed Hodge structure on the cohomology of X explicitly.
  • The Hodge structure for a smooth projective hypersurface of degree was worked out explicitly by Griffiths in his "Period Integrals of Algebraic Manifolds" paper. If is the polynomial defining the hypersurface then the graded Jacobian quotient ring contains all of the information of the middle cohomology of. He shows that For example, consider the K3 surface given by, hence and. Then, the graded Jacobian ring is The isomorphism for the primitive cohomology groups then read hence Notice that is the vector space spanned by which is 19-dimensional. There is an extra vector in given by the Lefschetz class. From the Lefschetz hyperplane theorem and Hodge duality, the rest of the cohomology is in as is -dimensional. Hence the Hodge diamond reads
  • We can also use the previous isomorphism to verify the genus of a degree plane curve. Since is a smooth curve and the Ehresmann fibration theorem guarantees that every other smooth curve of genus is diffeomorphic, we have that the genus then the same. So, using the isomorphism of primitive cohomology with the graded part of the Jacobian ring, we see that This implies that the dimension is as desired.
  • The Hodge numbers for a complete intersection are also readily computable: there is a combinatorial formula found by Friedrich Hirzebruch.