Some remarks concerning the Grothendieck period conjecture (Q278880)

Given a smooth projective variety \(X\) over \( \bar{\mathbb Q} \) consider \( X^{\text{an}}_{\mathbb C}\), the compact complex analytic manifold determined by \(X\). Grothendieck's period conjecture in codimension \(k\), \(GPC^k(X)\), is defined here to be the criterion that an element \(\alpha\) in the algebraic de Rham cohomology group \(H^{2k}_{\text{dR}}(X / \bar{\mathbb Q} )\) is in fact the class of some algebraic cycle of codimension \(k\) in \(X\), with rational coefficients, if and only if for all rational homology classes \(\gamma\) in \(H_{2k}(X^{\text{an}} _{\mathbb C}, \mathbb Q)\) the corresponding period is rational, namely it is \( {(2\pi i)^{-k} } \int_\gamma \alpha \in \mathbb Q\). The paper is a sequel of \textit{J.-B. Bost}'s article [Notre Dame J. Formal Logic 54, No. 3--4, 377--434 (2013; Zbl 1355.11074)], where \(GPC^1(X)\) was proved for abelian varieties. Here we find several new results, one of them being the stability of \(GPC^1\) under products, so \(GPC^1\) holds for products of curves and abelian varieties. The method of absolute Hodge classes and a generalization of the Kuga-Satake correspondence are then used to prove that \(GPC^1\) is valid also for the case of symplectic manifolds with second Betti number at least \(4\). The variety of lines on a cubic fourfold \(Y\) is such a symplectic manifold, this fact yields as a consequence the result that \(GPC^2(Y)\) holds. The paper contains moreover several useful explanations and discussions, dealing for instance with the relations between the Hodge conjecture and \(GPC\).