We study the natural structure on the moduli space of deformations of compact coassociative submanifolds. We show that a G2-manifold with a T^4-action of isomorphisms such that the orbits are coassociative tori is locally equivalent to a minimal 3-manifold in R^{3,3} = H^2(T^4,R) with positive induced metric. By studying minimal surfaces in quadrics we show how to construct minimal 3-manifold cones in R^{3,3} and hence G2-metrics from equations similar to a set of affine Toda equations. The relation to semi-flat special Lagrangian fibrations and the Monge-Ampère equation are explained.
Coassociative submanifolds are 4-dimensional calibrated submanifolds in $G_{2}$-manifolds. In this paper, we construct explicit examples of coassociative submanifolds in $Λ^{2}_{-} S^{4}$, which is the complete $G_{2}$-manifold constructed by Bryant and Salamon. Classifying the Lie groups which have 3- or 4-dimensional orbits, we show that the only homogeneous coassociative submanifold is the zero section of $Λ^{2}_{-} S^{4}$ up to the automorphisms and construct many cohomogeneity one examples explicitly. In particular, we obtain examples of non-compact coassociative submanifolds with conical…
This paper studies the formal adiabatic limit of coassociative K3 fibred torsion free $G_2$ manifolds fibred over a contractible base, shows how to put this structure on a different fibration obtained by fibrewise performing Mukai duality of K3 surfaces, and furthermore relates the gauge theories on both fibrations by a Nahm transform. This gives a mathematical interpretation to the physical speculations of Gukov, Yau and Zaslow.
A class of examples of Riemannian metrics with holonomy G_2 on compact 7-manifolds was constructed by the author in arXiv:math.DG/0012189 and later in a joint work with N.-H. Lee in arXiv:0810.0957, using a certain `generalized connected sum' of two asymptotically cylindrical manifolds with holonomy SU(3). We consider, on each of the two initial SU(3)-manifolds, a fibration arising from a Lefschetz pencil of K3 surfaces. The gluing of the two K3 fibrations yields a coassociative fibration of the connected sum G_2-manifold over a 3-dimensional sphere. The singular fibres of this fibration are d…
Coassociative 4-folds are a particular class of 4-dimensional submanifolds which are defined in a 7-dimensional manifold M with a G_2 structure given by a `positive' differential 3-form, sometimes called G_2-form. Assuming that a G_2-form on M is closed, we study deformations of a compact coassociative submanifold N with boundary contained in fixed, codimension 1 submanifold S of M with a compatible Hermitian symplectic structure. We show that `small' coassociative deformations of N with special Lagrangian boundary in S are unobstructed and form a smooth moduli space of finite dimension not gr…
McLean proved that the moduli space of coassociative deformations of a compact coassociative 4-submanifold C in a G_2-manifold (M,phi,g) is a smooth manifold of dimension equal to b^2_+(C). In this paper, we show that the moduli space of coassociative deformations of a noncompact, asymptotically cylindrical coassociative 4-fold C in an asymptotically cylindrical G_2-manifold (M,phi,g) is also a smooth manifold. Its dimension is the dimension of the positive subspace of the image of H^2_cs(C,R) in H^2(C,R).
We derive formulas for the mean curvature of associative 3-folds, coassociative 4-folds, and Cayley 4-folds in the general case where the ambient space has intrinsic torsion. Consequently, we are able to characterize those G2-structures (resp., Spin(7)-structures) for which every associative 3-fold (resp. coassociative 4-fold, Cayley 4-fold) is a minimal submanifold. In the process, we obtain new obstructions to the local existence of coassociative 4-folds in G2-structures with torsion.
We study the problem of counting instantons with coassociative boundary condition in (almost) G_(2)-manifolds. This is analog to the open Gromov-Witten theory for counting holomorphic curves with Lagrangian boundary condition in Calabi-Yau manifolds. We explain its relationship with the Seiberg-Witten invariants for coassociative submanifolds.
Bryant-Salamon constructed three 1-parameter families of complete manifolds with holonomy $\mathrm{G}_2$ which are asymptotically conical to a holonomy $\mathrm{G}_2$ cone. For each of these families, including their asymptotic cone, we construct a fibration by asymptotically conical and conically singular coassociative 4-folds. We show that these fibrations are natural generalizations of the following three well-known coassociative fibrations on $\mathbb R^7$: the trivial fibration by 4-planes, the product of the standard Lefschetz fibration of $\mathbb C^3$ with a line, and the Harvey-Lawson…
In G2 manifolds, 3-dimensional associative submanifolds (instantons) play a role similar to J-holomorphic curves in symplectic geometry. In [21], instantons in G2 manifolds were constructed from regular J-holomorphic curves in coassociative submanifolds. In this exposition paper, after reviewing the background of G2 geometry, we explain the main ingredients in the proofs in [21]. We also construct new examples of instantons.
Inspired by a string duality, we construct a deformation family for $G_2$-orbifolds given as total spaces of coassociative fibrations by ADE singularities over a closed and oriented smooth three-manifold $Q$. The deformations are parametrized by sections of a fiber bundle on $Q$ that can be interpreted as spectral/cameral covers associated to certain Riemannian analogs of Higgs bundles. The spectral cover picture is a unifying framework for several different approaches to coassociative fibrations appearing in the literature. Our construction generalizes, to the context of $G_2$-geometry, a wel…
In an earlier paper, we proved that given an asymptotically cylindrical G_2-manifold M with a Calabi-Yau boundary X, the moduli space of coassociative deformations of an asymptotically cylindrical coassociative 4-fold C in M with a fixed special Lagrangian boundary L in X is a smooth manifold of dimension dim(V_+), where V_+ is the positive subspace of the image of H^2_{cs}(C,R) in H^2(C,R). In order to prove this we used the powerful tools of Fredholm Theory for noncompact manifolds which was developed by Lockhart and McOwen, and independently by Melrose. In this paper, we extend our result t…
Every closed, oriented, real analytic Riemannian 3-manifold can be isometrically embedded as a special Lagrangian submanifold of a Calabi-Yau 3-fold, even as the real locus of an antiholomorphic, isometric involution. Every closed, oriented, real analytic Riemannian 4-manifold whose bundle of self-dual 2-forms is trivial can be isometrically embedded as a coassociative submanifold in a G_2-manifold, even as the fixed locus of an anti-G_2 involution. These results, when coupled with McLean's analysis of the moduli spaces of such calibrated submanifolds, yield a plentiful supply of examples of c…
Given a coassociative 4-fold N with a conical singularity in a varphi-closed 7-manifold M (a manifold endowed with a distinguished closed 3-form varphi), we construct a smooth family, {N'(t): t\in(0,tau)} for some tau>0, of (smooth, nonsingular,) compact coassociative 4-folds in M which converge to N in the sense of currents, in geometric measure theory, as t tends to 0. This realisation of desingularizations of N is achieved by gluing in an asymptotically conical coassociative 4-fold in R^7, dilated by t, then deforming the resulting compact submanifold of M to the required coassociative 4-fo…
In this paper we investigate the geometry of Calibrated submanifolds and study relations between their moduli-space and geometry of the ambient manifold. In particular for a Calabi-Yau manifold we define Special Lagrangian submanifolds for any Kahler metric on it. We show that for a choice of Kahler metric the Borcea-Voisin threefold has a fibration structure with generic fiber being a Special Lagrangian torus. Moreover we construct a mirror to this fibration. Also for any closed G_2 form on a 7-manifold we study coassociative submanifolds and we show that one example of a G_2 manifold constru…
Let M^7 a manifold with holonomy in G_2, and Y^3 an associative submanifold with boundary in a coassociative submanifold. In [5], the authors proved that M_{X,Y}, the moduli space of its associative deformations with boundary in the fixed X, has finite virtual dimension. Using Bochner's technique, we give a vanishing theorem that forces M_{X,Y} to be locally smooth.
The principal theory of this paper comprises a technique for constructing associative, coassociative and Cayley submanifolds of Euclidean space with symmetries, using first-order ordinary differential equations. Explicit examples of U(1)-invariant associative cones in R^7 and SU(2)-invariant Cayley 4-folds in R^8 are then produced using this method. Further examples of associative 3-folds are presented, which are ruled, and other systems of differential equations defining calibrated submanifolds in R^7 and R^8 are given.
Hamiltonian stationary Lagrangian submanifolds (HSLAG) are a natural generalization of special Lagrangian manifolds (SLAG). The latter only make sense on Calabi-Yau manifolds whereas the former are defined for any almost Kähler manifold. Special Lagrangians, and, more specificaly, fibrations by special Lagrangians play an important role in the context of the geometric mirror symmetry conjecture. However, these objects are rather scarce in nature. On the contrary, we show that HSLAG submanifolds, or fibrations, arise quite often. Many examples of HSLAG fibrations are provided by toric Käh-ler g…
On a projective complex manifold, the Abelian group of Divisors maps surjectively onto that of holomorphic line bundles (the Picard group). On a $G_2$-manifold we use coassociative submanifolds to define an analogue of the first, and a gauge theoretical equation for a connection on a gerbe to define an analogue of the last. Finally, we construct a map from the former to the later. Finally, we construct some coassociative submanifolds in twisted connected sum $G_2$-manifolds.
In this paper we will investigate torus actions on complete manifolds with calibrations. For Calabi-Yau manifolds M^2n with a Hamiltonian structure-preserving k-torus action we show that any symplectic reduction has a natural holomorphic volume form. Moreover Special Lagrangian (SLag) submanifolds of the reduction lift to SLag submanifolds of M, invariant under the torus action. If k=n-1 and the first cohomology of M is trivial, then we prove that M is a fibration with generic fiber being a SLag submanifold. As an application we will see that crepant resolutions of singularities of a finite Ab…
H-minimal Lagrangian submanifolds in general Kähler manifolds generalize special Lagrangian submanifolds in Calabi-Yau manifolds. In this paper we will use the deformation theory of H-minimal Lagrangian submanifolds in Kähler manifolds to construct minimal Lagrangian torus in certain Kähler-Einstein manifolds with negative first Chern class.
We show the total space of the canonical line bundle $\mathbb{L}$ of a Kahler-Einstein manifold $X^n$ supports integrable $SU(n+1)$ structures, or Calabi-Yau structures. The canonical real line bundle $L \subset \mathbb{L}$ over a minimal Lagrangian submanifold $M \subset X$ is calibrated in this setting and hence can be considered as the special Lagrangian lift of $M$. For the integrable $G_2$ and $Spin(7)$ structures on spin bundles and bundles of anti-self-dual 2-forms on self-dual Einstein 4-manifolds constructed by Bryant and Salamon, minimal surfaces with vanishing complex quartic form (…
We argue that G_2 manifolds for M-theory admitting string theory Calabi-Yau duals are fibered by coassociative submanifolds. Dual theories are constructed using the moduli space of M5-brane fibers as target space. Mirror symmetry and various string and M-theory dualities involving G_2 manifolds may be incorporated into this framework. To give some examples, we construct two non-compact manifolds with G_2 structures: one with a K3 fibration, and one with a torus fibration and a metric of G_2 holonomy. Kaluza-Klein reduction of the latter solution gives abelian BPS monopoles in 3+1 dimensions.
Let $M^7$ be a smooth manifold equipped with a $G_2$-structure $ϕ$, and $Y^3$ be an closed compact $ϕ$-associative submanifold. In \cite{McL}, R. McLean proved that the moduli space $\bm_{Y,ϕ}$ of the $ϕ$-associative deformations of $Y$ has vanishing virtual dimension. In this paper, we perturb $ϕ$ into a $G_2$-structure $ψ$ in order to ensure the smoothness of $\bm_{Y,ψ}$ near $Y$. If $Y$ is allowed to have a boundary moving in a fixed coassociative submanifold $X$, it was proved in \cite{GaWi} that the moduli space $\bm_{Y,X}$ of the associative deformations of $Y$ with boundary in $X$ has f…
We discuss a model for associative submanifolds in $G_{2}$-manifolds with K3 fibrations, in the adiabatic limit. The model involves graphs in a 3-manifold whose edges are locally gradient flow lines. We show that this model produces analogues of known singularity formation phenomena for associative submanifolds.
We study co-associative fibrations of G_{2}-manifolds. We propose that the adiabatic limit of this structure should be given locally by a maximal submanifold in a space of indefinite signature and set up global versions of the constructions.
Lagrangian submanifolds in strict nearly Kähler 6-manifolds are related to special Lagrangian submanifolds in Calabi-Yau 6-manifolds and coassociative cones in $G_2$-manifolds. We prove that the mean curvature of a Lagrangian submanifold $L$ in a nearly Kähler manifold $(M^{2n}, J, g)$ is symplectically dual to the Maslov 1-form on $L$. Using relative calibrations, we derive a formula for the second variation of the volume of a Lagrangian submanifold $L^3$ in a strict nearly Kähler manifold $(M^6, J, g)$. This formula implies, in particular, that any formal infinitesimal Lagrangian deformation…
This paper is a continuation of math.DG/0408005. We first construct special Lagrangian submanifolds of the Ricci-flat Stenzel metric (of holonomy SU(n)) on the cotangent bundle of S^n by looking at the conormal bundle of appropriate submanifolds of S^n. We find that the condition for the conormal bundle to be special Lagrangian is the same as that discovered by Harvey-Lawson for submanifolds in R^n in their pioneering paper. We also construct calibrated submanifolds in complete metrics with special holonomy G_2 and Spin(7) discovered by Bryant and Salamon on the total spaces of appropriate bun…
Given the Lagrangian fibration $T^4\to T^2$ and a Lagrangian submanifold, exhibiting an elliptic umbilic and supporting a flat line bundle, we study, in the context of mirror symmetry, the ``quantum'' corrections necessary to solve the monodromy of the holomorphic structure of the mirror bundle on the dual fibration.
In this paper, the relationship between the existence of special lagrangian submanifolds and the collapsing of Calabi-Yau manifolds is studied. First, special lagrangian fibrations are constructed on some regions of bounded curvature and sufficiently collapsed in Ricci-flat Calabi-Yau manifolds. Then, in the opposite direction,it is shown that the existence of special lagrangian submanifolds with small volume implies the collapsing of some regions in the ambient Calabi-Yau manifolds.
From string theory, the notion of deformed Hermitian Yang-Mills connections has been introduced by Mariño, Minasian, Moore and Strominger. After that, Leung, Yau and Zaslow proved that it naturally appears as mirror objects of special Lagrangian submanifolds via Fourier-Mukai transform between dual torus fibrations. In their paper, some conditions are imposed for simplicity. In this paper, data to glue their construction on tropical manifolds are proposed and a generalization of the correspondence is proved without the assumption that the Lagrangian submanifold is a section of the torus fibrat…
In this paper we study the geometry of manifolds with vector cross product and its complexification. First we develop the theory of instantons and branes and study their deformations. For example they are (i) holomorphic curves and Lagrangian submanifolds in symplectic manifolds and (ii) associative submanifolds and coassociative submanifolds in G_2-manifolds. Second we classify Kahler manifolds with the complex analog of vector cross product, namely they are Calabi-Yau manifolds and hyperkahler manifolds. Furthermore we study instantons, Neumann branes and Dirichlet branes on these manifolds.…
We investigate Gauss maps associated to great circle fibrations of $S^3$. We show that the associated Gauss map to such a fibration is harmonic (respectively minimal) if and only if the unit vector field generating the great circle foliation is harmonic (respectively minimal). These results can be viewed as analogues of the classical theorem of Ruh and Vilms about the harmonicity of the Gauss map of a minimal submanifold in the euclidean space. Moreover, we prove that a harmonic or minimal unit vector field in $S^3$ with great circle integral curves is a Hopf vector field.
This article studies the geometry of moduli spaces of G2-manifolds, associative cycles, coassociative cycles and deformed Donaldson-Thomas bundles. We introduce natural symmetric cubic tensors and differential forms on these moduli spaces. They correspond to Yukawa couplings and correlation functions in M-theory. We expect that the Yukawa coupling characterizes (co-)associative fibrations on these manifolds. We discuss the Fourier transformation along such fibrations and the analog of the Strominger-Yau-Zaslow mirror conjecture for G2-manifolds. We also discuss similar structures and transform…
In this paper a bijective correspondence between superminimal surfaces of an oriented Riemannian $4$-manifold and particular Lagrangian submanifolds of the twistor space over the $4$-manifold is proven. More explicitly, for every superminimal surface a submanifold of the twistor space is constructed which is Lagrangian for all the natural almost Hermitian structures on the twistor space. The twistor fibration restricted to the constructed Lagrangian gives a circle bundle over the superminimal surface. Conversely, if a submanifold of the twistor space is Lagrangian for all the natural almost He…
Given a symplectic manifold $(M^{2n},ω)$ we study Lagrangian cobordisms $V\subset E$ where $E$ is the total space of a Lefschetz fibration having $M$ as generic fiber. We prove a generation result for these cobordisms in the appropriate derived Fukaya category. As a corollary, we analyze the relations among the Lagrangian submanifolds $L\subset M$ that are induced by these cobordisms. This leads to a unified treatment - and a generalization - of the two types of relations among Lagrangian submanifolds of $M$ that were previously identified in the literature: those associated to Dehn twists tha…
A setting for global variational geometry on Grassmann fibrations is presented. The integral variational functionals for finite dimensional immersed submanifolds are studied by means of the fundamental Lepage equivalent of a homogeneous Lagrangian, which can be regarded as a generalization of the well-known Hilbert form in the classical mechanics. Prolongations of immersions, diffeomorphisms and vector fields to the Grassmann fibrations are introduced as geometric tools for the variations of immersions. The first infinitesimal variation formula together with its consequences, the Euler-Lagrang…
In the first part of this paper we consider compact algebraic manifolds M^2n with an algebraic (n-1)-Torus action. We show that there is a T-invariant meromorphic section $σ$ of the canonical bundle of M. Any such $σ$ defines a divisor D. On the complement M'=M-D we have a trivialization of the canonical bundle and a T-action. If the first cohomology of M' vanishes, then results of [2] imply that there is a Special Lagrangian (SLag) fibration on M'. We study how the fibers compactify in M and give examples of SLag fibrations on M', including some cases there the first cohomology of M' doesn't …
We prove that certain Riemannian manifolds can be isometrically embedded inside Calabi-Yau manifolds. For example we prove that given any real-analytic one parameter family of Riemannian metrics $g_t$ on a 3-dimensional manifold $Y$ with volume form independent of $t$ and with a real-analytic family of nowhere vanishing harmonic one forms $θ_t$, then $(Y, g_t)$ can be realized as a family of special Lagrangian submanifolds of a Calabi-Yau manifold $X$. We also prove that certain principal torus bundles can be equivariantly and isometrically embedded inside Calabi-Yau manifolds with torus actio…
For two nearby disjoint coassociative submanifolds C and C' in a G_2-manifold, we construct thin instantons with boundaries lying on C and C' from regular J-holomorphic curves in C. We explain their relationship with the Seiberg-Witten invariants for C.
We introduce the notion of a manifold admitting a simple compact Cartan 3-form $\om^3$. We study algebraic types of such manifolds specializing on those having skew-symmetric torsion, or those associated with a closed or coclosed 3-form $\om^3$. We prove the existence of an algebra of multi-symplectic forms $ϕ^l$ on these manifolds. Cohomology groups associated with complexes of differential forms on $M^n$ in presence of such a closed multi-symplectic form $ϕ^l$ and their relations with the de Rham cohomologies of $M$ are investigated. We show rigidity of a class of strongly associative (resp.…
A description of classical field theories of first order in terms of Lagrangian submanifolds of premultisymplectic manifolds is presented. For this purpose, a Tulczyjew's triple associated with a fibration is discussed. The triple is adapted to the extended Hamiltonian formalism. Using this triple, we prove that Euler-Lagrange and Hamilton-De Donder-Weyl equations are the local equations defining Lagrangian submanifolds of a premultisymplectic manifold.
We study the existence of special Lagrangian submanifolds of log Calabi-Yau manifolds equipped with the complete Ricci-flat Kähler metric constructed by Tian-Yau. We prove that if $X$ is a Tian-Yau manifold, and if the compact Calabi-Yau manifold at infinty admits a single special Lagrangian, then $X$ admits infinitely many disjoint special Lagrangians. In complex dimension $2$, we prove that if $Y$ is a del Pezzo surface, or a rational elliptic surface, and $D\in |-K_{Y}|$ is a smooth divisor with $D^2=d$, then $X= Y\backslash D$ admits a special Lagrangian torus fibration, as conjectured by …
We review the construction of almost contact metric (three-) structures, abbreviated ACM(3)S, on manifolds with a $G_2$ structure. These are of interest for certain supersymmetric configurations in string and M-theory. We compute the torsion of the $SU(3)$ structure associated to an ACMS and apply these computations to heterotic $G_2$ systems and supersymmetry enhancement. We initiate the study of the space of ACM3Ss, which is an infinite dimensional space with a local product structure and interesting topological features. Tantalising links between ACM3Ss and associative and coassociative sub…
We propose a new collapsing mechanism for $G_2$-metrics, with the generic region admitting a circle bundle structure over a K3 fibration over a Riemann surface. The adiabatic description involves a weighted version of the maximal submanifold equation. In a local smooth setting we prove the existence of formal power series solutions, and the problem of compactification is discussed at a heuristic level. The $Spin(7)$ analogue is also discussed.
We construct a compact formal 7-manifold with a closed $G_2$-structure and with first Betti number $b_1=1$, which does not admit any torsion-free $G_2$-structure, that is, it does not admit any $G_2$-structure such that the holonomy group of the associated metric is a subgroup of $G_2$. We also construct associative calibrated (hence volume-minimizing) 3-tori with respect to this closed $G_2$-structure and, for each of those 3-tori, we show a 3-dimensional family of non-trivial associative deformations. We also construct a fibration of our 7-manifold over $S^2\times S^1$ with generic fiber a (…
We give topological obstructions to the existence of a closed exact Lagrangian submanifold in the cotangent bundle of a closed manifold M which is the total space of a fibration over the circle. For instance we show that the fundamental group of such a Lagrangian submanifold cannot be the free product of two non-trivial groups and that in any finite presentation of this group the difference between the number of generators and the number of relations is less than two.
We study the moduli space of torsion-free G2-structures on a fixed compact manifold, and define its associated universal intermediate Jacobian J. We define the Yukawa coupling and relate it to a natural pseudo-Kahler structure on J. We consider natural Chern-Simons type functionals, whose critical points give associative and coassociative cycles (calibrated submanifolds coupled with Yang-Mills connections), and also deformed Donaldson-Thomas connections. We show that the moduli spaces of these structures can be isotropically immersed in J by means of G2-analogues of Abel-Jacobi maps.
