Closed 1-forms and twisted cohomology (Q2050626)

The twisted cohomology groups \(H^k_{\theta} (M) \) for a closed 1-form \(\theta\) on a smooth manifold \(M\), as well as their Dolbeault and Bott-Chern counterparts, play an important role in locally conformally Kähler geometry (see [\textit{N. Istrati}, J. Geom. Phys. 149, Article ID 103583, 12 p. (2020; Zbl 1434.53090)]). Twisted cohomology was used by \textit{A. V. Pazhitnov} [Sov. Math., Dokl. 35, 456--457 (1987; Zbl 0647.57025); translation from Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 293, 1305--1307 (1987)], who showed that if \(\theta\) is a closed 1-form with non-degenerate zeros, then for large \(t\), the dimension of \(H^k_{t \theta} (M)\) gives a lower bound for the number of the zeros of \(\theta\) of index \(k\). \textit{A. V. Pajitnov} [St. Petersbg. Math. J. 18, No. 5, 809--835 (2007; Zbl 1137.57017); translation from Algebra Anal. 18, No. 5, 173--209 (2006)] showed that the twisted Novikov homology, associated with closed 1-forms \(\theta\) with integral cohomology class \([\theta] \in H^1 (M, \mathbb{Z})\), vanishes whenever \([\theta]\) admits a nowhere-vanishing representative. The authors show that for a non-exact closed 1-form \(\theta\) on a smooth manifold \(M\), \(H^1_{\theta} \ne 0\) if and only if there exists an indecomposable representation \(\xi : \pi_1 (M) \to GL_2 (\mathbb{R})\) with some property. The result has several applications such as the vanishing of the first twisted cohomology group on manifolds with nilpotent fundamental group, the fact that if the commutator group \([\pi_1 (M), \pi_1 (M)]\) is finitely generated, then the set \(\{ [\theta] \in H^1_{dR} (M) : H^1_{\theta} (M) \ne 0\}\) is finite, and the non-vanishing of twisted cohomology on Riemann surfaces of genus \(g \ge 2\). Furthermore, the authors provide several examples of explicit computations of the first twisted cohomology group on mapping tori or Vaisman manifolds. The results are useful for researchers on cohomology groups and homology groups on smooth manifolds.