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When proving that the log-canonical threshold is minus the largest root of the Bernstein-Sato polynomial one considers the integral

$$\int |f^2(z)|^{t+1}(P\bar{P}(\phi(z))) dz,$$ where $P$ is a linear partial differential operator and $\phi$ is a compactly support smooth function. In order for $t$ to be a root of the Bernstein-Sato polynomial of $f$ which is larger than $-lct(f)$ it would have to be the case that \begin{equation}\int |f^2(z)|^{t+1}(P\bar{P}(\phi(z))) dz=0\quad \text{for all }\phi.\label{1}\tag{1}\end{equation} Kollar in this document says that this seems strange, but cannot be excluded without knowing more about $P$. This makes me wonder, is \eqref{1} really possible if $P\not=0$? Or does $P\not=0$ imply that \eqref{1} is not possible?

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Edit notice: The answer is completely rewritten due to user2520938's comment. My original answer was that the linear operator $P$ depends on $t$, and we have $(1)$ as long as $P(t) = 0$. But as user2520938 pointed out, we always have $P(t) \ne 0$, since otherwise it contradicts the minimality of the Bernstein-Sato polynomial. So we need an example with $P(t) \ne 0$.

Here are some examples with $t = \frac{1}{k} - 1$ where $k$ is a positive integer. In the one-variable situation, consider $f(z) = z^k$ and define $$P(\phi) := 2\phi + z\frac{\partial\phi}{\partial z}.$$ We have $$ \begin{split} \int\int |f(z)^2|^{1/k}(P \bar{P}(\phi(z))) dxdy = \int \int \frac{\partial^2}{\partial z\partial \bar{z}}\left(z^2\bar{z}^2\phi \right) dxdy \\ \int \int \left(\frac{\partial^2}{\partial x^2} + \frac{\partial^2}{\partial y^2}\right)\left( (x^2 + y^2)^2\phi\right) dxdy \end{split} $$ with $x + iy = z$. From this expression, we see that if $\phi$ has compact support, then the integral vanishes.

Obviously $P$ is not a differential operator which characterizes the Bernstein-Sato polynomial of $f$, and this example is constructed without assuming that $P$ is a priori related to $f$.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, that's kind of amazing. Do you think some general heuristic/conjecture can be extracted from this example that would yield a criterion for when $P$ is "strange" in this sense? $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 2, 2021 at 16:36
  • $\begingroup$ The heuristic that I followed while constructing this example is that, if what is inside the integral is the differential of something, then the integral vanishes when it applies to functions with compact support. The vanishing of (1) is maybe not common but under this heuristic, it doesn't seem that unlikely. $\endgroup$
    – HYL
    Commented Feb 3, 2021 at 10:27

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