On the Betti numbers of compact holomorphic symplectic orbifolds of dimension four (Q2231132)

The authors study the possible values of the second Betti number of primitively symplectic orbifolds of dimension \(4\). We recall that irreducible holomorphic symplectic (IHS) manifolds are compact simply connected Kähler manifolds endowed with a unique (up to scaling) holomorphic \(2\)-form that is nowhere degenerate. They are fundamental pieces in the Beauville-Bogomolov decomposition theorem for compact Kähler manifolds with vanishing first Chern class. In considering varieties with mild singularities, a counterpart of IHS manifolds has been proposed in [\textit{A. Fujiki}, Prog. Math. 39, 71--250 (1983; Zbl 0549.32018)]. More precisely, primitively symplectic orbifolds are compact Kähler spaces with quotient orbifold singularities in codimension at least \(4\) such that the smooth locus is simply connected and carries a holomorphic symplectic form that is unique up to scalar. In [\textit{D. Guan}, Math. Res. Lett. 8, No. 5--6, 663--669 (2001; Zbl 1011.53039)], it is proven that the second Betti number of a \(4\)-dimensional IHS manifold is no more than \(8\), or equal to \(23\). The authors of the paper under review extend Guan's result, by proving in Theorem 1.3 that the second Betti number of a primitively symplectic orbifold of dimension \(4\) is no more than \(23\); moreover, \(b_2=23\) only in the smooth case. They also give bounds on the size of the singularities, see Theorem 1.4 for the precise statement. Finally, they provide examples of \(4\)-dimensional primitively symplectic orbifolds with second Betti number \(3\), \(5\), \(6\), \(7\), \(8\), \(9\), \(10\), \(11\), \(14\), \(16\), and \(23\). In an appendix, they extend Salamon's relation among Betti/Hodge numbers of symplectic manifolds to symplectic orbifolds.