Abstract:
Let $X$ be an irreducible holomorphic symplectic fourfold and $D$ a smooth hypersurface in $X$. It follows from a result by E. Amerik and F. Campana that the characteristic foliation (that is the foliation given by the kernel of the restriction of the symplectic form to $D$) is not algebraic unless $D$ is uniruled. Suppose now that the Zariski closure of its general leaf is a surface. We prove that $X$ has a lagrangian fibration and $D$ is the inverse image of a curve on its base.
Key words and phrases:holomorphic symplectic manifolds, foliations, elliptic surfaces.