Half twists and the cohomology of hypersurfaces (Q1433413)

A Hodge structure \(V\) of weight \(k\) acted on by a complex multiplication field \(K\) (CM field, abbreviated) defines, under certain conditions on the action of \(K\) on \(V\), a polarized Hodge structure \(V_{1/2}\) of weight \(k-1\) with the same underlying space. This so-called half-twist of \(V\) was introduced by \textit{B. van Geemen} in a previous paper [J. Math. Soc. Japan 53, No. 4, 813--833 (2001; Zbl 1074.14509)], motivated by the fact that the Hodge conjectures seem to be closely linked to the geometry of varieties admitting Hodge structures with such a half-twist. Also, half-twists may be regarded as a certain partial generalization of the Kuga-Satake construction [\textit{M. Kuga} and \textit{I. Satake}, Math. Ann. 169, 239--242 (1967; Zbl 0221.14019)], which shows their early (implicit) appearance in this context. In the paper under review, the authors study some special classes of varieties carrying Hodge structures that allow a half-twist. In particular, they investigate hypersurfaces \(Y_k\) of degree \(d\geq 3\) and dimension \(k\geq 1\) in \(\mathbb{P}^{k+1}\), which are \(d\)-fold coverings of \(\mathbb{P}^k\) that are totally branched along hypersurfaces \(X_{k-1}\) of degree \(d\) in \(\mathbb{P}^k\) and they show under what conditions a suitable part of the cohomology of \(Y_k\) yields a natural half-twist. This leads to further, very concrete and well-behaved examples, among which the Fermat curve \(Y_1\) of degree \(d\) occurs, and to the Torelli-type question of to what extent the branch locus \(K_{k-1}\) is already determined by the constructed half-twist \(V_{1/2}\). This problem is partially solved in the course of the present paper, and important applications of the authors' results are given as well, mainly with respect to the classical Kuga-Satake correspondences. The main result, in this regard, generalizes a previous theorem by \textit{C. Voisin} on the existence of certain Kuga-Satake correspondences [Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math. 179, 265--285 (1996; Zbl 0912.14003)]. Altogether, this work demonstrates that half-twists, if they exist, do bear plenty of geometric information and, therefore, must be seen as a significant tool in the Hodge theory of special algebraic varieties.