Differential Forms and Hodge Structures on Singular Varieties

Abstract: We compare a couple of notions of differential form on singular complex algebraic varieties, and relate them to the outermost associated graded spaces of the Hodge filtration of ordinary and intersection cohomology. In particular, we introduce and study singularities, that we call quasi-rational, which are normal and such that for all p, the zeroth cohomology sheaf of the complex of Du Bois p-forms is isomorphic to the direct image of p-forms from a desingularization. We show that an isolated singularity is rational if and only if it is quasi-rational, Du Bois, and certain Hodge numbers of the local mixed Hodge structures vanish.