It is shown that the compact Lie group SU(3) admits an Sp(2)Sp(1)-structure whose distinguished 2-forms $ω_1,ω_2,ω_3$ span a differential ideal. This is achieved by first reducing the structure further to a subgroup isomorphic to SO(3).
Firstly we give a condition to split off the K"ahler factor from a nearly pseudo-K"ahler manifold and apply this to get a structure result in dimension 8. Secondly we extend the construction of nearly K"ahler manifolds from twistor spaces to negatively curved quaternionic K"ahler manifolds and para-quaternionic K"ahler manifolds. The class of nearly pseudo-K"ahler manifolds obtained from this construction is characterized by a holonomic condition. The combination of these results enables us to give a classification result in (real) dimension 10. Moreover, we show that a strict nearly pseudo-K"…
An explicit classification of homogeneous quaternionic Kaehler structures by real tensors is derived and we relate this to the representation-theoretic description found by Fino. We then show how the quaternionic hyperbolic space HH(n) is characterised by admitting homogeneous structures of a particularly simple type. In the process we study the properties of different homogeneous models for HH(n).
Modelled on a real hypersurface in a quaternionic manifold, we introduce a quaternionic analogue of CR structure, called quaternionic CR structure. We define the strong pseudoconvexity of this structure as well as the notion of quaternionic pseudohermitian structure. Following the construction of the Tanaka-Webster connection in complex CR geometry, we construct a canonical connection associated with a quaternionic pseudohermitian structure, when the underlying quaternionic CR structure satisfies the ultra-pseudoconvexity which is stronger than the strong pseudoconvexity. Comparison to Biquard…
The conformal infinity of a quaternionic-Kahler metric on a 4n-manifold with boundary is a codimension 3-distribution on the boundary called quaternionic contact. In dimensions 4n-1 greater than 7, a quaternionic contact structure is always the conformal infinity of a quaternionic-Kahler metric. On the contrary, in dimension 7, we prove a criterion for quaternionic contact structures to be the conformal infinity of a quaternionic- Kahler metric. This allows us to find the quaternionic-contact structures on the 7-sphere close to the conformal infinity of the quaternionic hyperbolic metric and w…
The symmetry dimension of a geometric structure is the dimension of its symmetry algebra. We investigate symmetries of almost quaternionic structures of quaternionic dimension $n$. The maximal possible symmetry is realized by the quaternionic projective space $\mathbb{H}P^n$, which is flat and has the symmetry algebra $\mathfrak{sl}(n+1,\mathbb{H})$ of dimension $4n^2+8n+3$. For non-flat almost quaternionic manifolds we compute the next biggest (submaximal) symmetry dimension. We show that it is equal to $4n^2-4n+9$ for $n>1$ (it is equal to 8 for $n=1$). This is realized both by a quaternioni…
We construct left invariant quaternionic contact (qc) structures on Lie groups with zero and non-zero torsion and with non-vanishing quaternionic contact conformal curvature tensor, thus showing the existence of non-flat quaternionic contact manifolds. We prove that the product of the real line with a seven dimensional manifold, equipped with a certain qc structure, has a quaternionic Kaehler metric as well as a metric with holonomy contained in Spin(7). As a consequence we determine explicit quaternionic Kaehler metrics and Spin(7)-holonomy metrics which seem to be new. Moreover, we give expl…
We classify the holomorphic structures of the tangent vertical bundle T of the twistor fibration of a quaternionic manifold (M,Q) of dimension bigger than four. In particular, we show that any self-dual quaternionic connection on (M, Q) induces an holomorphic structure on T. We prove that the positive tensor powers of T have no global holomorphic sections, when (M,Q) is compact and admits a compatible quaternionic-Kahler metric of negative (respectively, zero) scalar curvature and the holomorphic structure of T is induced by a closed (respectively, closed but not exact) quaternionic connection…
In a general and non metrical framework, we introduce the class of co-CR quaternionic manifolds, which contains the class of quaternionic manifolds, whilst in dimension three it particularizes to give the Einstein-Weyl spaces. We show that these manifolds have a rich natural Twistor Theory and, along the way, we obtain a heaven space construction for quaternionic-Kaehler manifolds.
We study the moduli space of quaternionic Kaehler structures on a compact manifold of dimension 4n (n>2) from a point of view of Riemannian geometry, not twistor theory. Then we obtain a rigidity theorem for quaternionic Kaehler structures of nonzero scalar curvature by observing the moduli space.
We call a quaternionic Kaehler manifold with non-zero scalar curvature, whose quaternionic structure is trivialized by a hypercomplex structure, a hyper-Hermitian quaternionic Kaehler manifold. We prove that every locally symmetric hyper-Hermitian quaternionic Kaehler manifold is locally isometric to the quaternionic projective space or to the quaternionic hyperbolic space. We describe locally the hyper-Hermitian quaternionic Kaehler manifolds with closed Lee form and show that the only complete simply connected such manifold is the quaternionic hyperbolic space.
We review the theory of quaternionic Kahler and hyperkahler structures. Then we consider the tangent bundle of a Riemannian manifold M with a metric connection D (with torsion) and with its well estabilished canonical complex structure. With an extra almost Hermitian structure on M it is possible to find a quaternionic Hermitian structure on TM, which is quaternionic Kahler if, and only if, D is flat and torsion free. We also review the symplectic nature of TM. Finally a proper S^3-bundle of complex structures is introduced, expanding to TM the well known twistor bundle of M.
Following the Cartans's original method of equivalence supported by methods of parabolic geometry, we provide a complete solution for the equivalence problem of quaternionic contact structures, that is, the problem of finding a complete system of differential invariants for two quaternionic contact manifolds to be locally diffeomorphic. This includes an explicit construction of the corresponding Cartan geometry and detailed information on all curvature components.
We characterise the integrability of any co-CR quaternionic structure in terms of the curvature and a generalized torsion of the connection. Also, we apply this result to obtain, for example, the following. (1) New co-CR quaternionic structures built on vector bundles over a quaternionic manifold M, whose twistor spaces are holomorphic vector bundles over the twistor space Z of M. Moreover, all the holomorphic vector bundles over Z, which are positive and isotypic when restricted to the twistor lines, are obtained this way. (2) Under generic dimensional conditions, any manifold endowed with an…
We prove that every quaternionic-contact structure can be embedded in a quaternionic manifold and define a second fundamental form for a such embedding.
The main result is that the qc-scalar curvature of a seven dimensional quaternionic contact Einstein manifold is a constant. In addition, we characterize qc-Einstein structures with certain flat vertical connection and develop their local structure equations. Finally, regular qc-Ricci flat structures are shown to fibre over hyper-Kahler manifolds.
We apply the general theory of codimension one integrability conditions for $G$-structures developed in arXiv:1306.6817v3 [math.DG] to the case of quaternionic CR geometry. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for an almost CR quaternionic manifold to admit local immersions as an hypersurface of the quaternionic projective space. We construct a deformation of the standard quaternionic contact structure on the quaternionic Heisenberg group which does not admit local immersions in any quaternionic manifold.
We provide a general criteria for the integrability of the almost para-quaternionic structure of an almost para-quaternionic manifold (M,P) of dimension bigger or equal to eight, in terms of the integrability of two or three sections of the defining rank three vector bundle P. We relate it with the integrability of the canonical almost complex structure of the twistor space and to the integrability of the canonical almost para-complex structure of the reflector space of (M,P). We show that (M, P) has plenty of locally defined, compatible, complex and para-complex structures, provided that P is…
New universal invariant operators are introduced in a class of geometries which include the quaternionic structures and their generalisations as well as 4-dimensional conformal (spin) geometries. It is shown that, in a broad sense, all invariants and invariant operators arise from these universal operators and that they may be used to reduce all invariants problems to corresponding algebraic problems involving homomorphisms between modules of certain parabolic subgroups of Lie groups. Explicit application of the operators is illustrated by the construction of all non-standard operators between…
In a general and non metrical framework, we introduce the class of CR quaternionic manifolds containing the class of quaternionic manifolds, whilst in dimension three it particularizes to, essentially, give the conformal manifolds. We show that these manifolds have a rich natural Twistor Theory and, along the way, we obtain a heaven space construction for quaternionic manifolds.
We prove that a compact quaternionic-Kähler manifold of dimension $4n\geq 8$ admitting a conformal-Killing 2-form which is not Killing, is isomorphic to the quaternionic projective space, with its standard quaternionic-Kähler structure.
Let V be the pseudo-Euclidean vector space of signature (p,q), p>2 and W a module over the even Clifford algebra Cl^0 (V). A homogeneous quaternionic manifold (M,Q) is constructed for any spin(V)-equivariant linear map Π: \wedge^2 W \to V. If the skew symmetric vector valued bilinear form Πis nondegenerate then (M,Q) is endowed with a canonical pseudo-Riemannian metric g such that (M,Q,g) is a homogeneous quaternionic pseudo-Kähler manifold. The construction is shown to have a natural mirror in the category of supermanifolds. In fact, for any spin(V)-equivariant linear map Π: Sym^2 W \to V a h…
Almost para-quaternionic structures on smooth manifolds of dimension $2n$ are equivalent to almost Grassmannian structures of type $(2,n)$. We remind the equivalence and exhibit some interrelations between subjects that were previously studied independently from the para-quaternionic and the Grassmannian point of view. In particular, we relate the respective normalization conditions, distinguished curves and twistor constructions.
We answer in the affirmative a question posed by Ivanov and Vassilev on the existence of a seven dimensional quaternionic contact manifold with closed fundamental 4-form and non-vanishing torsion endomorphism. Moreover, we show an approach to the classification of seven dimensional solvable Lie groups having an integrable left invariant quaternionic contact structure. In particular, we prove that the unique seven dimensional nilpotent Lie group admitting such a structure is the quaternionic Heisenberg group.
We consider manifolds equipped with a foliation $\cal F$ of codimension $4q$, and an almost quaternionic structure $Q$ on the transversal bundle of ${\cal F}$. After discussing conditions of projectability and integrability of $Q$, we study the transversal twistor space $Z{\cal F}$ which, by definition, consists of the $Q$-compatible almost complex structures. We show that $Z{\cal F}$ can be endowed with a lifted foliation ${\hat {\cal F}}$ and two natural almost complex structures $J_1$, $J_2$ on the transversal bundle of $\hat{\cal F}$. We establish the conditions which ensure the projectabi…
A partial solution of the quaternionic contact Yamabe problem on the quaternionic sphere is given. It is shown that the torsion of the Biquard connection vanishes exactly when the trace-free part of the horizontal Ricci tensor of the Biquard connection is zero and this occurs precisely on 3-Sasakian manifolods. All conformal deformations sending the standard flat torsion-free quaternionic contact structure on the quaternionic Heisenberg group to a quaternionic contact structure with vanishing torsion of the Biquard connection are explicitly described. A '3-Hamiltonian form' of infinitesimal co…
This is a survey on quaternion Hermitian Weyl (locally conformally quaternion Kähler) and hyperhermitian Weyl (locally conformally hyperkähler) manifolds. These geometries appear by requesting the compatibility of some quaternion Hermitian or hyperhermitian structure with a Weyl structure. The motivation for such a study is two-fold: it comes from the constantly growing interest in Weyl (and Einstein-Weyl) geometry and, on the other hand, from the necessity of understanding the existing classes of quaternion Hermitian manifolds.
In this note, we describe the geometry of the quaternionic Heisenberg groups from a Riemannian viewpoint. We show, in all dimensions, that they carry an almost $3$-contact metric structure which allows us to define the metric connection that equips these groups with the structure of a naturally reductive homogeneous space. It turns out that this connection, which we shall call the canonical connection because of its analogy to the $3$-Sasaki case, preserves the horizontal and vertical distributions and even the quaternionic contact structure of the quaternionic Heisenberg groups. We focus on t…
Gray & Hervella gave a classification of almost Hermitian structures (g,I) into 16 classes. We systematically study the interaction between these classes when one has an almost hyper-Hermitian structure (g,I,J,K). In general dimension we find at most 167 different almost hyper-Hermitian structures. In particular, we obtain a number of relations that give hyperKäher or locally conformal hyperKähler structures, thus generalising a result of Hitchin. We also study the types of almost quaternion-Hermitian geometries that arise and tabulate the results.
The fibre bundles adjoint to generalized almost quaternionic structures are studied. The most important classes of generalized almost quaternionic manifolds are considered.
Let $(\tilde Q,g) $ be a para-quaternionic Hermitian structure on the real vector space $V$. By referring to the tensorial presentation $(V, \tilde{Q},g) \simeq (H^2 \otimes E^{2n}, \mathfrak{sl}(H),ω^H \otimes ω^E)$, we give an explicit description, from an affine and metric point of view, of main classes of subspaces of $V$ which are invariantly defined with respect to the structure group of $\tilde{Q}$ and $(\tilde{Q},g)$ respectively.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a geometric structure called pseudo-conformal quaternionic CR structure on a (4n+3)-dimensional mamnifold and then exhibit a quaternionic analogue of Chern-Moser's CR structure and uniformization.
We describe a diagram containing the zero sets of the moment maps associated to the diagonal U(1) and Sp(1) actions on the quaternionic projective space HP^n. These sets are related both to focal sets of submanifolds and to Sasakian-Einstein structures on induced Hopf bundles. As an application, we construct a complex structure on the Stiefel manifolds V_2 (C^{n+1}) and V_4 (R^{n+1}), the one on the former manifold not being compatible with its known hypercomplex structure.
Notions of self-dual and anti self-dual almost quaternionic structures are introduced. The complete classification of self-dual and anti self-dual generalized Kaehler manifolds is obtained.
We characterise, in the setting of the Kodaira-Spencer deformation theory, the twistor spaces of (co-)CR quaternionic manifolds. As an application, we prove that, locally, the leaf space of any nowhere zero quaternionic vector field on a quaternionic manifold is endowed with a natural co-CR quaternionic structure. Also, for any positive integers $k$ and $l$, with $kl$ even, we obtain the geometric objects whose twistorial counterparts are complex manifolds endowed with a conjugation without fixed points and which preserves an embedded Riemann sphere whose normal bundle is $l$ times the line bu…
We apply the theory of Weyl structures for parabolic geometries developed by A. Cap and J. Slovak in to compute, for a quaternionic contact (qc) structure, the Weyl connection associated to a choice of scale, i.e. to a choice of Carnot-Carathéodory metric in the conformal class. The result of this computation has applications to the study of the conformal Fefferman space of a qc manifold. In addition to this application, we are also able to easily compute a tensorial formula for the qc analog of the Weyl curvature tensor in conformal geometry and the Chern-Moser tensor in CR geometry. This ten…
We show that the CR structure on the twistor space of a quaternionic contact structure described by Biquard is normal if and only if the Ricci curvature of the Biquard connection commutes with the endomorphisms in the quaternionic structure of the contact distribution.
Any oriented 4-dimensional real vector bundle is naturally a line bundle over a bundle of quaternion algebras. In this paper we give an account of modules over bundles of quaternion algebras, discussing Morita equivalence, characteristic classes and K-theory. The results have been used to describe obstructions for the existence of almost quaternionic structures on 8-dimensional Spinc manifolds and may be of some interest, also, in quaternionic and algebraic geometry.
On the seven dimensional Euclidean sphere $\mathbb{S}^7$ we compare two subriemannian structures with regards to various geometric and analytical properties. The first structure is called trivializable and the underlying distribution $\mathcal{H}_T$ is induced by a Clifford module structure of $\mathbb{R}^8$. More precisely, $\mathcal{H}_T$ is rank $4$, bracket generating of step two and generated by globally defined vector fields. The distribution $\mathcal{H}_{Q}$ of the second structure is of rank 4 and step two as well and obtained as the horizontal distribution in the quaternionic Hopf fi…
We construct explicit left invariant quaternionic contact structures on Lie groups with zero and non-zero torsion, and with non-vanishing quaternionic contact conformal curvature tensor, thus showing the existence of quaternionic contact manifolds not locally quaternionic contact conformal to the quaternionic sphere. We present a left invariant quaternionic contact structure on a seven dimensional non-nilpotent Lie group, and show that this structure is locally quaternionic contact conformal to the flat quaternionic contact structure on the quaternionic Heisenberg group. On the product of a se…
Classification results are given for (i) compact quaternionic Kähler manifolds with a cohomogeneity-one action of a semi-simple group, (ii) certain complete hyperKähler manifolds with a cohomogeneity-two action of a semi-simple group preserving each complex structure, (iii) compact 3-Sasakian manifolds which are cohomogeneity one with respect to a group of 3-Sasakian symmetries. Information is also obtained about non-compact quaternionic Kähler manifolds of cohomogeneity one and the cohomogeneity of adjoint orbits in complex semi-simple Lie algebras.
The purpose of this note is to define tri-moment maps for certain manifolds that carry closed non-degenerate 4-forms and an $Sp(1)^n$-action. Examples include quaternionic vector spaces and flag manifolds. We show how this map can be used ro reduce such manifolds to the ones with fewer symmetries. The images of such maps for quaternionic flag manifolds, which are defined using the Dieudonné determinant, resemble the polytopes from the complex case.
The notion of a quaternionic gerbe is presented as a new way of bundling algebraic structures over a four manifold. The structure groupoid of this fibration is described in some detail. The Euclidean conformal group R*SO(4) appears naturally as a (non-commutative) monoidal structure on this groupoid. Using this monoidal structure we indicate the existence of a canonical quaternionic gerbe associated to a conformal structure on a four manifold.
It is shown that the qc Yamabe problem has a solution on any compact qc manifold which is non-locally qc equivalent to the standard 3-Sasakian sphere. Namely, it is proved that on a compact non-locally spherical qc manifold there exists a qc conformal qc structure with constant qc scalar curvature
We show that the fundamental 4-form on a quaternionic contact manifold of dimension at least eleven is closed if and only if the torsion endomorphism of the Biquard connection vanishes. This condition characterizes quaternionic contact structures which are locally qc homothetic to 3-Sasakian structures.
We construct a quaternionic-Kähler manifold from a conical special Kähler manifold with a certain type of mutually-local variation of BPS structures. We give global and local explicit formulas for the quaternionic-Kähler metric, and specify under which conditions it is positive-definite. Locally, the metric is a deformation of the 1-loop corrected Ferrara-Sabharval metric obtained via the supergravity c-map. The type of quaternionic-Kähler metrics we obtain are related to work in the physics literature by S. Alexandrov and S. Banerjee, where they discuss the hypermultiplet moduli space metric …
We investigate the integrability of almost complex structures on the twistor space of an almost quaternionic manifold constructed with the help of a quaternionic connection. We show that if there is an integrable structure it is independent on the quaternionic connection. In dimension four, we express the anti-self-duality condition in terms of the Riemannian Ricci forms with respect to the associated quaternionic structure.
We investigate the integrability of natural almost complex structures on the twistor space of an almost para-quaternionic manifold as well as the integrability of natural almost paracomplex structures on the reflector space of an almost para-quaternionic manifold constructed with the help of a para-quaternionic connection. We show that if there is an integrable structure it is independent on the para-quaternionic connection. In dimension four, we express the anti-self-duality condition in terms of the Riemannian Ricci forms with respect to the associated para-quaternionic structure.
We prove that, given a certain isometric action of a two-dimensional Abelian group A on a quaternionic Kähler manifold M which preserves a submanifold N\subset M, the quotient M'=N/A has a natural Kähler structure. We verify that the assumptions on the group action and on the submanifold N\subset M are satisfied for a large class of examples obtained from the supergravity c-map. In particular, we find that all quaternionic Kähler manifolds M in the image of the c-map admit an integrable complex structure compatible with the quaternionic structure, such that N\subset M is a complex submanifold.…
Denote by $Sp(k,l)$ the quaternionic symplectic group of signature $(k,l)$. We study the deformation rigidity of the embedding $Sp(k,l) \times Sp(1) \hookrightarrow H$, where $H$ is either $Sp(k+1,l)$ or $Sp(k,l+1)$, this is done by studying a natural non-associative algebra $\mathfrak{m}$ comming from the affine structure of $Sp(1) \backslash H$. We compute the automorphism group of $\mathfrak{m}$ and as a consecuence of this, we are able to compute the isometry group of $Sp(1) \backslash H$ at least up to connected components. Using these results, we obtain a uniqueness result on the structu…
We show that $3$-Sasaki structures admit a natural description in terms of projective differential geometry. This description provides a concrete link between $3$-Sasaki structures and several other geometries and constructions via a single unifying picture. First we establish that a $3$-Sasaki structure may be understood as a projective structure equipped with a certain holonomy reduction to the (possibly indefinite) unitary quaternionic group $\textrm{Sp}(p,q)$, namely a parallel hyperkähler structure on the projective tractor bundle satisfying a particular genericity condition. For the conv…
We investigate quaternionic contact (qc) manifolds from the point of view of intrinsic torsion. We argue that the natural structure group for this geometry is a non-compact Lie group K containing Sp(n)H^*, and show that any qc structure gives rise to a canonical K-structure with constant intrinsic torsion, except in seven dimensions, when this condition is equivalent to integrability in the sense of Duchemin. We prove that the choice of a reduction to Sp(n)H^* (or equivalently, a complement of the qc distribution) yields a unique K-connection satisfying natural conditions on torsion and curvat…