On the positivity of high-degree Schur classes of an ample vector bundle

Abstract

Let $X$ be a smooth projective variety of dimension $n$, and let $E$ be an ample vector bundle over $X$. We show that any non-zero Schur class of $E$, lying in the cohomology group of bidegree $(n-1, n-1)$, has a representative which is strictly positive in the sense of smooth forms. This conforms the prediction of Griffiths conjecture on the positive polynomials of Chern classes/forms of an ample vector bundle on the form level, and thus strengthens the celebrated positivity results of Fulton-Lazarsfeld for certain degrees.