Calabi–Yau threefolds homeomorphic to Fano threefolds

Determine whether there exists a Calabi–Yau threefold that is orientation-preservingly homeomorphic to either a smooth cubic threefold in complex projective four-space or a smooth complete intersection of two quadrics in complex projective five-space.

Background

The paper discusses whether the topology of a Calabi–Yau manifold can also support a Fano complex structure. Although strong obstructions are established in several even complex dimensions, the corresponding six-dimensional case remains unresolved. In particular, the cited problem concerns two standard Fano threefolds: a smooth cubic hypersurface in CP4\mathbb{C}P^4 and a smooth intersection of two quadrics in CP5\mathbb{C}P^5.

References

Even in complex dimension three, it remains unknown whether a smooth six-dimensional manifold can support both Fano and Calabi-Yau complex structures. For example, Nakamura () and Campana-Peternell () asked whether there exists a Calabi-Yau threefold that is orientation-preservingly homeomorphic to either a smooth cubic threefold in \mathbb{C}P4, or a smooth complete intersection of two quadrics in \mathbb{C}P5. This question remains open and was highlighted again in p.138.

Topological obstructions to geometric positivity and negativity on Calabi-Yau manifolds  (2608.12705 - Li, 13 Aug 2026) in Section 1, Introduction