Bott proved a strong vanishing theorem for sheaf cohomology on projective space, namely that
for every
,
, and
L ample. This holds for toric varieties, but not for most other varieties. We classify the smooth Fano 3-folds that satisfy Bott vanishing. There are many more than expected. Along the way, we conjecture that for every projective birational
... [Show full abstract] morphism of smooth varieties, and every line bundle A on X that is ample over Y, the higher direct image sheaf is zero for every and .