In complex geometry, the term positive form refers to several classes of real differential forms of Hodge type (p, p).

Real (p,p)-forms on a complex manifold M are forms which are of type (p,p) and real, that is, lie in the intersection ${\displaystyle \Lambda ^{p,p}(M)\cap \Lambda ^{2p}(M,{\mathbb {R} }).}$ A real (1,1)-form ${\displaystyle \omega }$ is called semi-positive^[1] (sometimes just positive^[2]), respectively, positive^[3] (or positive definite^[4]) if any of the following equivalent conditions holds:

1. ${\displaystyle -\omega }$ is the imaginary part of a positive semidefinite (respectively, positive definite) Hermitian form.
2. For some basis ${\displaystyle dz_{1},...dz_{n}}$ in the space ${\displaystyle \Lambda ^{1,0}M}$ of (1,0)-forms, ${\displaystyle \omega }$ can be written diagonally, as ${\displaystyle \omega ={\sqrt {-1}}\sum _{i}\alpha _{i}dz_{i}\wedge d{\bar {z}}_{i},}$ with ${\displaystyle \alpha _{i}}$ real and non-negative (respectively, positive).
3. For any (1,0)-tangent vector ${\displaystyle v\in T^{1,0}M}$, ${\displaystyle -{\sqrt {-1}}\omega (v,{\bar {v}})\geq 0}$ (respectively, ${\displaystyle >0}$).
4. For any real tangent vector ${\displaystyle v\in TM}$, ${\displaystyle \omega (v,I(v))\geq 0}$ (respectively, ${\displaystyle >0}$), where ${\displaystyle I:\;TM\mapsto TM}$ is the complex structure operator.

In algebraic geometry, positive definite (1,1)-forms arise as curvature forms of ample line bundles (also known as positive line bundles). Let L be a holomorphic Hermitian line bundle on a complex manifold,

${\displaystyle {\bar {\partial }}:\;L\mapsto L\otimes \Lambda ^{0,1}(M)}$

its complex structure operator. Then L is equipped with a unique connection preserving the Hermitian structure and satisfying

${\displaystyle \nabla ^{0,1}={\bar {\partial }}}$.

This connection is called the Chern connection.

The curvature ${\displaystyle \Theta }$ of the Chern connection is always a purely imaginary (1,1)-form. A line bundle L is called positive if ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {-1}}\Theta }$ is a positive (1,1)-form. (Note that the de Rham cohomology class of ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {-1}}\Theta }$ is ${\displaystyle 2\pi }$ times the first Chern class of L.) The Kodaira embedding theorem claims that a positive line bundle is ample, and conversely, any ample line bundle admits a Hermitian metric with ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {-1}}\Theta }$ positive.

Semi-positive (1,1)-forms on M form a convex cone. When M is a compact complex surface, ${\displaystyle dim_{\mathbb {C} }M=2}$, this cone is self-dual, with respect to the Poincaré pairing :${\displaystyle \eta ,\zeta \mapsto \int _{M}\eta \wedge \zeta }$

For (p, p)-forms, where ${\displaystyle 2\leq p\leq dim_{\mathbb {C} }M-2}$, there are two different notions of positivity.^[5] A form is called strongly positive if it is a linear combination of products of semi-positive forms, with positive real coefficients. A real (p, p)-form ${\displaystyle \eta }$ on an n-dimensional complex manifold M is called weakly positive if for all strongly positive (n-p, n-p)-forms ζ with compact support, we have ${\displaystyle \int _{M}\eta \wedge \zeta \geq 0}$.

Weakly positive and strongly positive forms form convex cones. On compact manifolds these cones are dual with respect to the Poincaré pairing.

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• Griffiths, Phillip (3 January 2020). "Positivity and Vanishing Theorems". hdl:20.500.12111/7881.
• J.-P. Demailly, L² vanishing theorems for positive line bundles and adjunction theory, Lecture Notes of a CIME course on "Transcendental Methods of Algebraic Geometry" (Cetraro, Italy, July 1994).
• Huybrechts, Daniel (2005), Complex Geometry: An Introduction, Springer, ISBN 3-540-21290-6, MR 2093043
• Voisin, Claire (2007) [2002], Hodge Theory and Complex Algebraic Geometry (2 vols.), Cambridge University Press, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511615344, ISBN 978-0-521-71801-1, MR 1967689