Balanced Line Bundles and Equivariant Compactifications of Homogeneous Spaces

Manin's conjecture predicts an asymptotic formula for the number of rational points of bounded height on a smooth projective variety X in terms of global geometric invariants of X. The strongest form of the conjecture implies certain inequalities among geometric invariants of X and of its subvarieties. We provide a general geometric framework explaining these phenomena, via the notion of balanced line bundles, and prove the required inequalities for a large class of equivariant compactifications of homogeneous spaces.