Rational homotopy of complex projective varieties with normal isolated singularities (Q1714453)

The existence of a Kähler structure on a compact manifold brings contraints on its homotopy type. A spectacular one is the formality proved by Deligne, Griffiths, Morgan and Sullivan [\textit{P. Deligne} et al., Invent. Math. 29, 245--274 (1975; Zbl 0312.55011)]. Recall that a space is formal if its rational homotopy type is completely determined by its cohomology ring. In particular, smooth projective varieties are formal. If we consider singular cases, this property disappears: there exist non-formal complex projective varieties [\textit{M. Kapovich} and \textit{J. Kollár}, J. Am. Math. Soc. 27, No. 4, 929--952 (2014; Zbl 1307.14005)]. In the paper under review, the authors prove that a large class of projective varieties with normal isolated singularities are formal. For instance, every normal complex projective surface is normal; the general case depends on the connectivity of the links or follows from the existence of a resolution of singularities with smooth exceptional divisor. These results are deduced from an analysis of the multiplicative weight spectral sequence introduced by \textit{J. Cirici} and \textit{F. Guillén} [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 14, No. 5, 3049--3079 (2014; Zbl 1301.32019)]. Let us mention the existence of closely related work on perverse formality, a notion introduced by Chataur, Saralegi-Aranguren and Tanré [\textit{D. Chataur} et al., Intersection cohomology. Simplicial blow-up and rational homotopy. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2018; Zbl 1418.55003)] and adapted to the intersection cohomology of \textit{M. Goresky} and \textit{R. MacPherson} [Topology 19, 135--165 (1980; Zbl 0448.55004)]. The authors studied the perverse formality of complex projective varieties with isolated singularities in [Rev. Mat. Complut. 31, No. 2, 479--524 (2018; Zbl 1396.55007)].