On Oka's extra-zero problem and examples (Q379205)

Oka's extra-zero problem is as follows: let \(X\) be a domain of holomorphy and \(D\) an effective divisor on \(X\). Find an effective divisor \(E\) on \(X\) such that \(( \text{Supp } D) \cap (\text{Supp } E) = \emptyset\) and such that the Cousin II problem is solvable for \(D + E.\) Oka's result is that this is always the case if \(X \subset {\mathbb C}^n\) is a bounded domain such that \(\overline{X}\) has a basis of holomorphically convex neighbourhoods, the divisor \(D\) is defined on a neighbourhood of \(\overline{X}\) and the first Chern class of the line bundle \(L(D)\) associated to the divisor is trivial on a neighbourhood of \(D \cap \overline{X}.\) The authors prove that Oka's extra-zero problem on a reduced Stein space is solvable if and only if \(c_1(L(D)|_{\text{Supp} D}) = 0\) in \(H^2(\text{Supp} D,{\mathbb Z}).\) The theorem is illustrated by several examples.