Open Subsets in a Stein Space with Singularities

Abstract

Serre proved that a domain $Y$ in $\mathbb{C}^n$ is Stein if and only if $H^i(Y,\mathcal{O}_Y) = 0$ for all $i \gt 0$. Laufer showed that if $Y$ is an open subset of a Stein manifold of dimension $n$ and $H^i(Y,\mathcal{O}_Y)$ is a finite dimensional complex vector space for every $i \gt 0$, then $Y$ is Stein. Vâjâitu generalized these theorems to singular Stein space of dimension $n$. In this paper, we consider singular Stein spaces $X$ with arbitrary dimension and give necessary and sufficient conditions for an open subset $Y$ in $X$ to be Stein. We show that if $Y$ is an open subset of a reduced Stein space $X$ with arbitrary dimension and singularities, then $Y$ is Stein if and only if $H^i(Y,\mathcal{O}_Y)$ is a finite dimensional complex vector space for every $i \gt 0$. Without cohomology condition, if $X-Y$ is a closed subspace of $X$, then we show that the geometric condition of the boundary $X-Y$ determines the Steinness of $Y$. More precisely, we show that if $X$ is normal and the boundary $X-Y$ is the support of an effective $\mathbb{Q}$-Cartier divisor, or $X-Y$ is of pure codimension $1$ and does not contain any singular points of $X$, then $Y$ is Stein.