Oka-1 manifolds: New examples and properties

Abstract In this paper we investigate Oka-1 manifolds and Oka-1 maps, a class of complex manifolds and holomorphic maps recently introduced by Alarcón and Forstnerič. Oka-1 manifolds are characterised by the property that holomorphic maps from any open Riemann surface to the manifold satisfy the Runge approximation and Weierstrass interpolation conditions, while Oka-1 maps enjoy similar properties for liftings of maps from open Riemann surfaces in the absence of topological obstructions. We also formulate and study the algebraic version of the Oka-1 condition, called aOka-1. We show that it is a birational invariant for compact algebraic manifolds and holds for all rational manifolds. This gives a Runge approximation theorem for maps from compact Riemann surfaces to uniformly rational projective manifolds. Finally, we study a class of complex manifolds with an approximation property for holomorphic sprays of discs. This class lies between the smaller class of Oka manifolds and the bigger class of Oka-1 manifolds and has interesting functorial properties.