An upper bound for a Hilbert polynomial on quaternionic Kähler manifolds (Q1431379)

In [Invent. Math. 67, 143--171 (1982; Zbl 0486.53048)], \textit{S. Salamon} introduced the Hilbert polynomial for a quaternionic Kähler manifold \((M,g)\) of positive scalar curvature, which encodes important geometric information on~\((M,g)\). Since then, the Hilbert polynomial and its properties have played an essential role in the proofs of all known results concerning the conjecture that every quaternionic Kähler manifold of positive scalar curvature has to be a Wolf space, i.e., it has to be symmetric. Here, the authors prove that the Hilbert polynomial of any quaternionic Kähler manifold of positive scalar curvature is bounded from above by the Hilbert polynomial of the quaternionic projective space of the same dimension. The proof uses a method for determining the kernel of twisted Dirac operators developed by the authors in [J. Reine Angew. Math. 544, 111--132 (2002; Zbl 1001.53030)], as well as properties of linear differential equations of finite type, explained in this paper. Furthermore, the Hilbert polynomial for all Wolf spaces is given in completely explicit form.