Holomorphic shadows in the eyes of model theory

Abstract

We define a subset of an almost complex manifold (M,J) to be a holomorphic shadow if it is the image of a J-holomorphic map from a compact complex manifold. Notice that a J-holomorphic curve is a holomorphic shadow, and so is a complex subvariety of a compact complex manifold. We show that under some conditions on an almost complex structure J on a manifold M, the holomorphic shadows in the Cartesian products of (M,J) form a Zariski-type structure. Checking this leads to non-trivial geometric questions and results. We then apply the work of Hrushovski and Zilber on Zariski-type structures. We also restate results of Gromov and McDuff on J-holomorphic curves in symplectic geometry in the language of shadows structures.