Rigid but not infinitesimally rigid compact complex manifolds (Q2037871)

A compact complex manifold \(M\) is rigid if it has no nontrivial (small) deformations, and it is infinitesimally rigid if \(H^1(M, \Theta_M)=0\). It is a classical result of Kuranishi theory that infinitesimal rigidity implies rigidity. \textit{J. Morrow} and \textit{K. Kodaira} in [Complex manifolds. Athena Series. Selected Topics in Mathematics. New York etc.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1971; Zbl 0325.32001)] asked for examples to disprove the converse, more precisely they posed the following: Problem. ``Find an example of an \(M\) which is rigid, but \(H^1(M, \Theta_M)\neq 0\). (Not easy?)''. In the paper under review the authors exhibit the first examples of compact complex manifolds which are rigid but not infinitesimally rigid, proving the following statement: Theorem 4.1. For every even \(n\geq 8\) not divisible by 3, there exists a rigid, but not infinitesimally rigid minimal surface \(S_n\) of general type with \[ K^2_{S_n}= 2(n-3)^2\,, \qquad p_g(S_n)=\left(\dfrac n2 -2\right)\left(\dfrac n2 -1\right)\,. \] The surface \(S_n\) is a \textit{product-quotient surface}, i.e.~the minimal resolution of the singularities of the quotient of a product \(C_1\times C_2\) of two algebraic curves by the action of a finite group \(G\) acting faithfully on each curve and diagonally on the product. Here \(C_1=C_2\) is the Fermat curve of degree \(n\), \(G=(\mathbb Z/n\mathbb Z)^2\) and the singular quotient \(X_n:=(C_1\times C_2)/G\) has 6 nodes. Each node gives a non trivial contribution to \(h^1(\Theta_{S_n})\) and so \(S_n\) is not infinitesimally rigid. To prove the rigidity of \(S_n\) the authors provide (Theorem 1.3) a more general criterion for the minimal resolution of the singularities \(S\) of a nodal surface to be rigid, which relies on the linear independence of certain elements of \(H^2(\Theta_{S})\) that have a simple explicit description in local coordinates due to \textit{A. Kas} [Topology 16, 51--64 (1977; Zbl 0346.32028)]. Taking the product of \(S_n\) with a compact complex rigid manifold \(X\) one can construct higher-dimensional rigid but not infinitesimally rigid examples (Lemma 5.2). Combining this with the results in [\textit{I. Bauer} and \textit{F. Catanese}, Adv. Math. 333, 620--669 (2018; Zbl 1407.14003)] and [\textit{I. Bauer} and \textit{C. Gleissner}, Doc. Math. 25, 1241--1262 (2020; Zbl 1452.14035)] the authors derive the second main result of the paper. Theorem 5.1. There are rigid, but not infinitesimally rigid, manifolds of dimension \(d\) and Kodaira dimension \(\kappa\) for all possible pairs \((d,\kappa)\) with \(d\geq 5\) and \(\kappa\neq 0,1\) and for \((d,\kappa) =(3, -\infty), (4,-\infty),(4,4)\).