Symmetric products of mixed Hodge modules

Generalizing a theorem of Macdonald, we show a formula for the mixed Hodge structure on the cohomology of the symmetric products of bounded complexes of mixed Hodge modules by showing the existence of the canonical action of the symmetric group on the multiple external self-products of complexes of mixed Hodge modules. We also generalize a theorem of Hirzebruch and Zagier on the signature of the symmetric products of manifolds to the case of the symmetric products of symmetric pairings on bounded complexes with constructible cohomology sheaves where the pairing is not assumed to be non-degenerate. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.