Forms and currents defining generalized p-Kähler structures

This paper is devoted, first of all, to give a complete unified proof of the characterization theorem for compact generalized Kähler manifolds. The proof is based on the classical duality between “closed” positive forms and “exact” positive currents. In the last part of the paper we approach the general case of non compact complex manifolds, where “exact” positive forms seem to play a more significant role than “closed” forms. In this setting, we state the appropriate characterization theorems and give some interesting applications.