Algebraic description of complex conjugation on cohomology of a smooth projective hypersurface

Abstract

We describe complex conjugation on the primitive middle-dimensional algebraic de Rham cohomology of a smooth projective hypersurface defined over a number field that admits a real embedding. We use Griffiths' description of the cohomology in terms of a Jacobian ring. The resulting description is algebraic up to transcendental factors explicitly given by certain periods.