Local vanishing and Hodge filtration for rational singularities

Abstract

Given an n-dimensional variety Z with rational singularities, we conjecture that for a resolution of singularities whose reduced exceptional divisor E has simple normal crossings, the (n-1)-th higher direct image of the sheaf of differential forms with log poles along E vanishes. We prove this when Z has isolated singularities and when it is a toric variety. We deduce that for a divisor D with isolated rational singularities on a smooth complex n-dimensional variety X, the generation level of Saito's Hodge filtration on the localization of the structure sheaf along D is at most n-3.

20 pages; v.2: we give a simpler argument for the main result in section 7, following a referee's suggestion