Doubling construction of Calabi-Yau fourfolds from toric Fano fourfolds (Q746172)

This paper give a differential geometric construction of Calabi-Yau fourfolds via the `doubling' method, which is an analog to \textit{A. Kovalev}'s twisted connected sum construction of closed \(G_2\) manifolds [J. Reine Angew. Math. 565, 125--160 (2003; Zbl 1043.53041)]. This method is also used in the authors' earlier work for constructing Calabi-Yau threefold [New York J. Math. 20, 1203--1235 (2014; Zbl 1314.53081)]. Assume that \(X\) is a compact Kähler manifold admitting a smooth anticanonical divisor \(D\) with trivial normal bundle, and \(X\backslash D\) is simply connected. Then \(X\backslash D\) is an open Calabi-Yau fourfold with cylindrical end \(D\times S^1\times (0, +\infty)\), and a closed manifold \(Y\) of real dimension eight is obtained by gluing two copies of \(X\backslash D\) along the their ends. The authors use the analytic argument developed by Kovalev and \textit{D. D. Joyce} [Compact manifolds with special holonomy. Oxford Mathematical Monographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2000; Zbl 1027.53052)] to show that there are Riemannian metrics with holonomy belonging to \(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\) on \(Y\). By further assuming that \(X\) is a certain blow-up of a toric Fano fourfold, the \(\hat{A}\)-genus of \(Y\) is proven to be two, which implies that the result manifold \(Y\) is a Calabi-Yau fourfold. In this paper, 69 topologically distinct Calabi-Yau fourfolds are obtained, whose Euler characteristics range between 936 and 2688.