[Math] the geometric intuition for the $\bar \partial$-Poincare lemma, or for $\bar \partial$ more generally

complex integrationcomplex-analysiscomplex-geometryhomology-cohomologyintuition

The one variable $\bar \partial$-Poincare lemma is proven in Huybrechts and Forster and so on in essentially the same way: one shows that for a local form $f d \bar z$, with $$g(z) := \frac{1}{2\pi i} \int_{B_\varepsilon} \frac{f(w)}{w-z} dw \wedge d\bar w$$
we have $\bar \partial g = fd\bar z$. I can follow the proof on a formal, line by line level, but the manipulations used to obtain the result really don't have any geometric meaning to me, partially because I really don't understand how I should think of $\bar \partial$ except as "some operator with kernel the holomorphic functions, and which we really really want to be locally exact so that we can use sheaf cohomology." My questions here are: is there any intuitive reason the lemma would be true at all, and why should this integral, which suspiciously resembles that of the Cauchy integral formula, be the correct $g$, and is there more geometric intuition for the $\bar \partial$ operator generally than 'it kills holomorphic functions'?

Best Answer

$\def\dbar{\overline{\partial}}\def\zbar{\overline{z}}$This isn't geometric, but here is a non-rigorous argument suggesting this formula that I gave when I taught this lemma.

Consider the case where $g$ is the $\delta$ function $\delta_w$ at $w$. Can we find a smooth function $f$ such that, in some sense, $\tfrac{\partial f}{\partial \zbar} = \delta_w$? In other words, for any disc $D$, we want $$\int_D \frac{\partial f}{\partial \zbar} d(\mathrm{Area}) = \begin{cases} 1 & w \in D \\ 0 & w \not\in D \end{cases}.$$ The wedge product $d z \wedge d \zbar$ is $2i$ times the area form, so we want $$\int_D \frac{\partial f}{\partial \zbar} dz \wedge d \zbar = \begin{cases} 2 i & w \in D \\ 0 & w \not\in D \end{cases}.$$ Since $df = \tfrac{\partial f}{\partial z} dz + \tfrac{\partial f}{\partial \zbar} d\zbar$, we can rewrite the left hand side as $$- \int_D df \wedge dz = - \int_D d \left(f dz \right) =- \int_{\partial D} f dz.$$ So we want a smooth function $f$ such that $$-\int_{\partial D} f dz = \begin{cases} 1 & w \in D \\ 0 & w \not\in D \end{cases}.$$ The obvious choice is $f(z) = \tfrac{1}{\pi (w-z)}$.

Now, consider a general function $g(z)$. We have $$g(z) = \int_w g(w) \delta_w(z) \ d(\mathrm{Area}).$$ Since $\dbar$ is linear and we "have" $\tfrac{\partial}{\partial \zbar} \tfrac{1}{\pi(w-z)} = \delta_w(z)$, we should have $$f(z) = \frac{\partial}{\partial \zbar} \int_w g(w) \frac{1}{\pi(w-z)} \ d(\mathrm{Area}).$$

The last formula is correct for any compactly supported smooth $g$ and is the formula you ask for, up to the relation $dw \wedge d \overline{w} = (2 i) d (\mathrm{Area})$.

PS: You might wonder what happens if we replace $\tfrac{1}{\pi (w-z)}$ by some other meromorphic $h(w,z)$ with a pole of residue $\tfrac{-1}{\pi}$ at $w$ and no other poles. If $h$ blows up to higher order at $w$, then $\int_w g(w) h(w,z) d(\mathrm{Area})$ won't converge absolutely even for compactly supported $g$, so we will have to specify what the integral means more carefully, which is a pain. So we want $h(w,z)$ to be $\tfrac{1}{\pi (w-z)}$ plus an entire function of $z$. If that entire function is nonzero, the result is still right for any compactly supported $g$. Making the simplest choice $\tfrac{1}{\pi (w-z)}$ rather than, say $\tfrac{1}{\pi (w-z)} + e^{wz}$, has the advantage of making the integral still converge if $|g(z)| = O(1/|z|^{1+\epsilon})$. I don't think that is a big advantage though; we still eventually want to prove the Dolbeault lemma for all $g$ and, as far as I know, that still needs a partition of unity argument, which I did in my next lecture.