On a conjecture of Oguiso about rational curves on Calabi-Yau threefolds (Q2448616)

This paper studies the existence of rational curves on Calabi-Yau threefolds. Here a Calabi-Yau threefold means a compact Kähler manifold of dimension three with trivial canonical bundle and finite fundamental group. It is shown that if there exists on a Calabi-Yau threefold \(X\) a non-zero nef non-ample divisor, then \(X\) contains a rational curve provided its second Betti number is greater than \(4\). Some partial results for the remaining cases are also derived. Such a statement with no condition on the Betti number is a conjecture of K. Oguiso. The results stated above provide further evidence of a conjecture by S. Kobayashi, which states that every projective Kobayashi hyperbolic manifold (\textit{i.e.} a compact complex manifold which does not admit a non-constant entire map from the complex plane) has ample canonical bundle. It is well known that in dimension three it suffices to show that Calabi-Yau threefolds are not Kobayashi hyperbolic. So far, there is no known example of a Calabi-Yau threefold without either rational curves or non-constant holomorphic images of complex tori.