Introduction to Complex Manifolds

This book discusses the complex theory of differential equations or more precisely, the theory of differential equations on complex-analytic manifolds.

In developing the tools necessary for the study of complex manifolds, this comprehensive, well-organized treatment presents in its opening chapters a detailed survey of recent progress in four areas: geometry (manifolds with vector bundles), algebraic topology, differential geometry, and partial differential equations. Subsequent chapters then develop such topics as Hermitian exterior algebra and the Hodge *-operator, harmonic theory on compact manifolds, differential operators on a Kahler manifold, the Hodge decomposition theorem on compact Kahler manifolds, the Hodge-Riemann bilinear relations on Kahler manifolds, Griffiths's period mapping, quadratic transformations, and Kodaira's vanishing and embedding theorems.

In developing the tools necessary for the study of complex manifolds, this comprehensive, well-organized treatment presents in its opening chapters a detailed survey of recent progress in four areas: geometry (manifolds with vector bundles), algebraic topology, differential geometry, and partial differential equations. Subsequent chapters then develop such topics as Hermitian exterior algebra and the Hodge *-operator, harmonic theory on compact manifolds, differential operators on a Kahler manifold, the Hodge decomposition theorem on compact Kahler manifolds, the Hodge-Riemann bilinear relations on Kahler manifolds, Griffiths's period mapping, quadratic transformations, and Kodaira's vanishing and embedding theorems.

This self-contained and relatively elementary introduction to functions of several complex variables and complex (especially compact) manifolds was first published in 1982.

This book is an introduction to the theory of complex manifolds and their deformations. Deformation of the complex structure of Riemann surfaces is an idea which goes back to Riemann who, in his famous memoir on Abelian functions published in 1857, calculated the number of effective parameters on which the deformation depends. Since the publication of Riemann's memoir, questions concerning the deformation of the complex structure of Riemann surfaces have never lost their interest. The deformation of algebraic surfaces seems to have been considered first by Max Noether in 1888 (M. Noether: Anzahl der Modulen einer Classe algebraischer Fliichen, Sitz. K6niglich. Preuss. Akad. der Wiss. zu Berlin, erster Halbband, 1888, pp. 123-127). However, the deformation of higher dimensional complex manifolds had been curiously neglected for 100 years. In 1957, exactly 100 years after Riemann's memoir, Frolicher and Nijenhuis published a paper in which they studied deformation of higher dimensional complex manifolds by a differential geometric method and obtained an important result. (A. Fr61icher and A. Nijenhuis: A theorem on stability of complex structures, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 43 (1957), 239-241).

This book is an introduction to the theory of complex manifolds and their deformations. Deformation of the complex structure of Riemann surfaces is an idea which goes back to Riemann who, in his famous memoir on Abelian functions published in 1857, calculated the number of effective parameters on which the deformation depends. Since the publication of Riemann's memoir, questions concerning the deformation of the complex structure of Riemann surfaces have never lost their interest. The deformation of algebraic surfaces seems to have been considered first by Max Noether in 1888 (M. Noether: Anzahl der Modulen einer Classe algebraischer Fliichen, Sitz. K6niglich. Preuss. Akad. der Wiss. zu Berlin, erster Halbband, 1888, pp. 123-127). However, the deformation of higher dimensional complex manifolds had been curiously neglected for 100 years. In 1957, exactly 100 years after Riemann's memoir, Frolicher and Nijenhuis published a paper in which they studied deformation of higher dimensional complex manifolds by a differential geometric method and obtained an important result. (A. Fr61icher and A. Nijenhuis: A theorem on stability of complex structures, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 43 (1957), 239-241).

Shafarevich's Basic Algebraic Geometry has been a classic and universally used introduction to the subject since its first appearance over 40 years ago. As the translator writes in a prefatory note, ``For all [advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate] students, and for the many specialists in other branches of math who need a liberal education in algebraic geometry, Shafarevich’s book is a must.''