From Stein manifolds to Oka manifolds: the h-principle in complex analysis

Franc Forstneric

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2509.21197

From Stein manifolds to Oka manifolds: the h-principle in complex analysis

Franc Forstneric

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

This introduction to the homotopy principle in complex analysis and geometry, better known as the Oka theory, is aimed at wide mathematical audience. After a brief historical survey of the h-principle in smooth analysis and geometry, I present the key notions of Oka manifolds and Oka maps, which developed from the Oka-Grauert principle and Gromov's theory of elliptic complex manifolds and elliptic holomorphic submersions. I discuss recent and ongoing developments, open problems, and mention some applications. The paper also includes a brief survey of the recently developed h-principles in the classical theory of minimal surfaces.

Explore related subjects

math.CV math.DG

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Franc Forstneric. 2025-09-25. From Stein manifolds to Oka manifolds: the h-principle in complex analysis. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.21197

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

The two-dimensional Matkowski--Sut\^o equation with holomorphic and strictly increasing generators

We study the two-dimensional Matkowski--Sut\^o equation, which asks for two quasi-arithmetic means whose sum is twice the arithmetic mean, in two settings. For holomorphic injective generators with convex images on a convex domain in the complex plane, the solutions are exactly the affine pairs and the exponential pairs with a nonzero complex exponent, up to affine changes of the generators. The admissible exponents depend on the shape of the domain and are described by a curvature criterion for its boundary. In the monotone-operator framework of T\'oth, we construct an infinite-dimensional family of non-affine shear pairs on the whole plane. Their generators are strictly increasing in the sense of monotone operators and need not be differentiable. These pairs solve the weighted equation for any number of variables. The rigidity of the one-dimensional problem, due to Dar\'oczy and P\'ales, persists under holomorphy but not under monotonicity.

math.CV↗

arXiv2026

A counterexample to an open problem of Dorff

The classical P\'olya-Schoenberg conjecture, proved by Ruscheweyh-Sheil-Small, asserts that the convolution of two normalized convex univalent functions is again convex. This property fails to carry over to planar harmonic mappings. In 2001, Dorff posed the open problem whether the self-convolution of a normalized convex harmonic mapping with bounded image must remain in the same class. We construct a normalized sense-preserving harmonic diffeomorphism that maps the unit disk onto an ellipse; its self-convolution has vanishing Jacobian at some interior point of the unit disk, which provides a negative answer to Dorff's open problem.

math.CV↗

arXiv2026

Analytic Construction of Rational Curves on Fano Manifolds

Inspired by methods for constructing entire curves in Oka geometry, we give an analytic construction of rational curves on a complex Fano manifold $X$. Yau's theorem provides a K\"ahler metric with positive Ricci curvature. Using this curvature to guide deformations of holomorphic discs, we construct maps from discs of radii tending to infinity with uniformly bounded area. A central point is to preserve the derivative normalization through the limiting process. This yields a nonconstant entire map $f:\mathbb C\rightarrow X$ of finite area. This map extends across infinity to a nonconstant holomorphic map $\mathbb P^1\to X$. Combined with algebraic arguments in characteristic zero, the construction yields proofs of the rational connectedness of Fano manifolds and of Hartshorne's conjecture on ample tangent bundles.

math.CV↗