Motivic aspects of Hodge theory (Q621563)

This book is an invitation to a brisk walk in the wonderful world of additive invariants of complex algebraic varieties constructed via Hodge theory. Motives are thought of here in terms of the Grothendieck group of algebraic varieties, and Bittner's theorem [\textit{F. Bittner}, Compos. Math. 140, No. 4, 1011--1032 (2004; Zbl 1086.14016)] giving a presentation of this group in terms of generators (classes of smooth projective varieties) and relations (coming from blow-up diagrams) plays a key role. Degenerations and motivic nearby cycles are discussed in detail, and then the relative setting involving variations of (mixed) Hodge structures and (mixed) Hodge Modules. There is a final chapter on the motivic Chern class transformation for singular varieties. Stringy Hodge numbers from mirror symmetry and motivic integration are discussed in an Appendix. The author has a vast experience of good book writing, and this time the result is again excellent: being freed from the duty of providing complete proofs as they can be found nearly always in the recent monograph `Mixed Hodge stuctures' written jointly with \textit{J. Steenbrink} [Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete. 3. Folge 52. Berlin: Springer (2008; Zbl 1138.14002)], he can concentrate on the presentation of the main ideas and the choice of the best examples to illustrate them.