An application of Cartan’s equivalence method to Hirschowitz’s conjecture on the formal principle

Abstract

A conjecture of Hirschowitz’s predicts that a globally generated vector bundle $W$ on a compact complex manifold $A$ satisfies the formal principle; i.e., the formal neighborhood of its zero section determines the germ of neighborhoods in the underlying complex manifold of the vector bundle $W$. By applying Cartan’s equivalence method to a suitable differential system on the universal family of the Douady space of the complex manifold, we prove that this conjecture is true if $A$ is a Fano manifold, or if the global sections of $W$ separate points of $A$. Our method shows more generally that for any unobstructed compact submanifold $A$ in a complex manifold, if the normal bundle is globally generated and its sections separate points of $A$, then a sufficiently general deformation of $A$ satisfies the formal principle. In particular, a sufficiently general smooth free rational curve on a complex manifold satisfies the formal principle.