Kodaira dimensions of almost complex manifolds I

This is the first of a series of papers, in which we study the plurigenera, the Kodaira dimension and more generally the Iitaka dimension on compact almost complex manifolds. Based on the Hodge theory on almost complex manifolds, we introduce the plurigenera, Kodaira dimension and Iitaka dimension on compact almost complex manifolds. We show that the plurigenera and the Kodaira dimension as well as the irregularity are birational invariants in almost complex category, at least in dimension $4$, where a birational morphism is defined to be a degree one pseudoholomorphic map. However, they are no longer deformation invariants, even in dimension $4$ or under tameness assumption. On the way to establish the birational invariance, we prove the Hartogs extension theorem in the almost complex setting by the foliation-by-disks technique. Some interesting phenomena of these invariants are shown through examples. In particular, we construct non-integrable compact almost complex manifolds with large Kodaira dimensions. Hodge numbers and plurigenera are computed for the standard almost complex structure on the six sphere $S^6$, which are different from the data of a hypothetical complex structure.