Nori's connectivity theorem from the perspective of $D$-modules

Abstract

Given a very ample line bundle on a smooth projective variety, the variation of Hodge structure associated to the universal family of hyperplane sections can be thought of as a $D$-module with action generated by the Gauss-Manin connection. The decomposition theorem for a projective morphism and results similar to the Lefschetz hyperplane theorem tell us that the only nontrivial part of this VHS occurs in the middle degree corresponding to the vanishing cohomology of the hyperplane sections. We use Nori's connectivity theorem to give an explicit description of the cohomology sheaves of the de Rham complex of this $D$-module in terms of the vanishing cohomology of the original variety.