Surjective holomorphic maps onto Oka manifolds

Abstract

Let $X$ be a connected Oka manifold, and let $S$ be a Stein manifold with $\mathrm{dim} S \geq \mathrm{dim} X$. We show that every continuous map $S\to X$ is homotopic to a surjective strongly dominating holomorphic map $S\to X$. We also find strongly dominating algebraic morphisms from the affine $n$-space onto any compact $n$-dimensional algebraically subelliptic manifold. Motivated by these results, we propose a new holomorphic flexibility property of complex manifolds, the basic Oka property with surjectivity, which could potentially provide another characterization of the class of Oka manifolds.