Complete Ricci-flat Kähler manifolds of infinite topological type (Q810901)

\textit{G. Gibbons} and \textit{S. Hawking} [Gravitational multi-instantons, Phys. Lett. B 78, 430--432 (1978)] constructed families of complete Ricci- flat Kähler metrics on a class of non-compact 4-manifolds which are asymptotically locally Euclidean in a specified sense. Another description of these metrics was given by \textit{N. Hitchin} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 85, 465--476 (1979; Zbl 0405.53016)]. Further examples of this type with boundary a spherical space form have been obtained by \textit{P. Kronheimer} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 303, 53--55 (1986; Zbl 0591.53057); J. Differ. Geom. 29, No. 3, 665--683 (1989; Zbl 0671.53045); 29, No. 3, 685--697 (1989; Zbl 0671.53046)]. Departing from the Gibbons-Hawking construction the authors display an infinite-dimensional family of complete Ricci-flat Kähler manifolds of complex dimension 2, for which the second homology is infinitely generated. These metrics are no longer asymptotically locally Euclidean. They show that a complex 2-manifold carrying a complete Ricci-flat Kähler metric need not be the complement of a divisor in a compact complex surface.