Rational curves on complex manifolds (Q383902)

Let \(X\) be a complex compact manifold. A rational curve is a non-constant morphism \(\mathbb P^1 \rightarrow X\). Since the classification of smooth projective surfaces by the Italian school and, more recently, since the seminal papers of \textit{S. Mori} [Ann. Math. (2) 110, 593--606 (1979; Zbl 0423.14006)], Ann. Math. (2) 116, 133--176 (1982; Zbl 0557.14021)] rational curves have played a prominent role in the classification theory of projective manifolds. In this survey, which is interesting for both algebraic and analytic geometers, the author gives an overview of the techniques that have been developed to prove the existence of rational curves and to study their impact on the global geometry. Starting with Mori's bend-and-break lemma and the technique of reduction modulo \(p\), the author discusses the notions of uniruled and rationally connected manifolds and explains their role in the minimal model program (MMP). In the second part of the paper he moves on to complex manifolds which are not necessarily projective and the tools which are available in this generalised setting, notably Gromov-Witten invariants, the Kähler-Ricci flow and the bimeromorphic geometry of Kähler threefolds.