Hochster's theta invariant and the Hodge–Riemann bilinear relations

Let R be an isolated hypersurface singularity, and let M and N be finitely generated R-modules. As R is a hypersurface, the torsion modules of M against N are eventually periodic of period two (i.e., for i≫0). Since R has only an isolated singularity, these torsion modules are of finite length for i≫0. The theta invariant of the pair (M,N) is defined by Hochster to be for i≫0. H. Dao has conjectured that the theta invariant is zero for all pairs (M,N) when R has even dimension and contains a field. This paper proves this conjecture under the additional assumption that R is graded with its irrelevant maximal ideal giving the isolated singularity. We also give a careful analysis of the theta pairing when the dimension of R is odd, and relate it to a classical pairing on the smooth variety Proj(R).