We present a novel approach to the study of Yang-Mills instantons on quaternionic Kähler manifolds, based on an extension of the harmonic space method of constructing instantons on hyperkähler manifolds. Our results establish a bijection between local equivalence classes of instantons on quaternionic Kähler manifolds M and equivalence classes of certain holomorphic maps on an appropriate SL_2(C)-bundle over the Swann bundle of M.
For the sake of hyperk{ä}hler SYZ conjecture, finding holomorphic Lagrangian fibrations becomes an important issue. Toric hyperk{ä}hler manifolds are real dimension $4n$ non-compact hyperk{ä}hler manifolds which are quaternion analog of toric varieties. The $n$ dimensional residue circle action on it admitting a hyperk{ä}hler moment map. We use the complex part of this moment map to construct a holomorphic Lagrangian fibration with generic fiber diffeomorphic to $(\mathbb{C}^*)^n$, and study the singular fibers.
Toric hyperk{ä}hler manifolds are quaternion analog of toric varieties. Bielawski pointed out that they can be glued by cotangent bundles of toric varieties. Following his idea, viewing both toric varieties and toric hyperk{ä}her manifolds as GIT quotients, we first establish geometrical criteria for the semi-stable points. Then based on these criteria, we show that the cotangent bundles of compact toric varieties in the core of toric hyperk{ä}hler manifold are sufficient to glue the desired toric hyperk{ä}hler manifold.
We study relations between quaternionic Riemannian manifolds admitting different types of symmetries. We show that any hyperKahler manifold admitting hyperKahler potential and triholomorphic action of S^1 can be constructed from another hyperKahler manifold (of lower dimention) with an action of S^1 which fixes one complex structure and rotates the other two and vice versa. We also study corresponding quaternionic Kahler manifolds equipped with a quaternionic Kahler action of the circle. In particular we show that any positive quaternionic Kahler manifold with S^1 symmetry admits a Kahler metr…
We investigate invariants of compact hyperk{ä}hler manifolds introduced by Rozansky and Witten: they associate an invariant to each graph homology class. It is obtained by using the graph to perform contractions on a power of the curvature tensor and then integrating the resulting scalar-valued function over the manifold, arriving at a number. For certain graph homology classes, the invariants we get are Chern numbers, and in fact all characteristic numbers arise in this way. We use relations in graph homology to study and compare these hyperk{ä}hler manifold invariants. For example, we show t…
The hyperKähler-quaternionic Kähler correspondence constructs quaternionic Kähler metrics from hyperKähler metrics with a rotating circle symmetry. We discuss how this may be interpreted as a combination of the twist construction with the concept of elementary deformation, surveying results of our forthcoming paper. We outline how this leads to a uniqueness statement for the above correspondence and indicate how basic examples of c-map constructions may be realised in this context.
We prove the existence of unique smooth solutions to the quaternionic Monge-Ampère equation for $(n-1)$-quaternionic plurisubharmonic functions on a hyperKähler manifold and thus obtain solutions for the quaternionic form type equation. We derive $C^0$ estimate by establishing a Cherrier-type inequality as in Tosatti and Weinkove [22]. By adopting the approach of Dinew and Sroka [9] to our context, we obtain $C^1$ and $C^2$ estimates without assuming the flatness of underlying hyperKähler metric comparing to previous results [14].
Given two hyperkähler manifolds $M$ and $N$ and a quaternionic instanton on their product, a hyperkähler Nahm transform can be defined, which maps quaternionic instantons on $M$ to quaternionic instantons on $N$. This construction includes the case of Nahm transform for periodic instantons on $\bR^4$, the Fourier-Mukai transform for instantons on K3 surfaces, as well as the Nahm transform for ALE instantons.
The target space of a (4,0) supersymmetric two-dimensional sigma model with Wess-Zumino term has a connection with totally skew-symmetric torsion and holonomy contained in Sp(n)Sp(1) (resp. Sp(n)), QKT (resp. HKT)-spaces. We study the geometry of QKT, HKT manifold and their twistor spaces. We show that the Swann bundle of a QKT manifold admits a HKT structure with special symmetry if and only if the twistor space of the QKT manifold admits an almost hermitian structure with totally skew-symmetric Nijenhuis tensor, thus connecting two structures arising from quantum field theories and supersymm…
Let (M,I,J,K) be a hyperkahler manifold of real dimension 4n, and L a non-trivial holomorphic line bundle on (M,I). Using the quaternionic Dolbeault complex, we prove the following vanishing theorem for holomorphic cohomology of L. If the Chern class c_1(L) lies in the closure $\hat K$ of the dual Kahler cone, then $H^i(L)=0$ for i>n. If c_1(L) lies in the opposite cone $-\hat K$, then $H^i(L)=0$ for i<n. Finally, if $c_1(L)$ is neither in $\hat K$ nor in $-\hat K$, then $H^i(L)=0$ for $i\neq n$.
An instanton $(E, D)$ on a (pseudo-)hyperkähler manifold $M$ is a vector bundle $E$ associated to a principal $G$-bundle with a connection $D$ whose curvature is pointwise invariant under the quaternionic structures of $T_x M, \ x\in M$, and thus satisfies the Yang-Mills equations. Revisiting a construction of solutions, we prove a local bijection between gauge equivalence classes of instantons on $M$ and equivalence classes of certain holomorphic functions taking values in the Lie algebra of $G^\mathbb{C}$ defined on an appropriate $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$-bundle over $M$. Our reformulation affords…
The pseudo-Riemannian manifold $M=(M^{4n},g), n \geq 2$ is para-quaternionic K\" ahler if $hol(M) \subset sp(n, \RR) \oplus sp(1, \RR).$ If $hol(M) \subset sp(n, \RR),$ than the manifold $M$ is called para-hyperK\" ahler. The other possible definitions of these manifolds use certain parallel para-quaternionic structures in $\End (TM),$ similarly to the quaternionic case. In order to relate these different definitions we study para-quaternionic algebras in details. We describe the reduction method for the para-quaternionic K\" ahler and para-hyperK\" ahler manifolds and give some examples. The …
We classify those manifolds mentioned in the title which have finite topological type. Namely we show any such connected M is isomorphic to a hyperkaehler quotient of a flat quaternionic vector space by an abelian group. We also show that a compact connected and simply connected 3-Sasakian manifold of dimension 4n-1 whose isometry group has rank n+1 is isometric to a 3-Sasakian quotient of a sphere by a torus. As a corollary, a compact connected quaternion-Kaehler 4n-manifold with positive scalar curvature and isometry group of rank n+1 is isometric to the quaternionic projective space or the …
We extend the twistor methods developed in our earlier work on linear deformations of hyperkahler manifolds [arXiv:0806.4620] to the case of quaternionic-Kahler manifolds. Via Swann's construction, deformations of a 4d-dimensional quaternionic-Kahler manifold $M$ are in one-to-one correspondence with deformations of its $4d+4$-dimensional hyperkahler cone $S$. The latter can be encoded in variations of the complex symplectomorphisms which relate different locally flat patches of the twistor space $Z_S$, with a suitable homogeneity condition that ensures that the hyperkahler cone property is pr…
A universal lower bound for the first positive eigenvalue of the Dirac operator on a compact quaternionic Kaehler manifold M of positive scalar curvature is calculated. It is shown that it is equal to the first positive eigenvalue on the quaternionic projective space. For this, the horizontal tangent bundle on the canonical SO(3)-bundle over M is equipped with a hyperkaehlerian structure and the corresponding splitting of the horizontal spinor bundle is considered. The desired estimate is obtained by looking at hyperkaehlerian twistor operators on horizontal spinors.
Mainly motivated by a conjecture of Alesker and Verbitsky, we study a class of fully non-linear elliptic equations on certain compact hyperhermitian manifolds. By adapting the approach of Székelyhidi to the hypercomplex setting, we prove some a priori estimates for solutions to such equations under the assumption of existence of $\mathcal{C}$-subsolutions. In the estimate of the quaternionic Laplacian, we need to further assume the existence of a flat hyperkähler metric. As an application of our results we prove that the quaternionic analogue of the Hessian equation and Monge-Ampère equation f…
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.
We consider locally conformal Kaehler geometry as an equivariant (homothetic) Kaehler geometry: a locally conformal Kaehler manifold is, up to equivalence, a pair (K,Γ) where K is a Kaehler manifold and Γa discrete Lie group of biholomorphic homotheties acting freely and properly discontinuously. We define a new invariant of a locally conformal Kaehler manifold (K,Γ) as the rank of a natural quotient of Γ, and prove its invariance under reduction. This equivariant point of view leads to a proof that locally conformal Kaehler reduction of compact Vaisman manifolds produces Vaisman manifolds and…
In this survey article we describe the geometry of toric hyperkähler varieties, which are hyperkähler quotients of the quaternionic vector spaces by tori. In particular, we discuss the Betti numbers, the cohomology ring, and variation of hyperkähler structures of these spaces with many improved results and proofs.
We prove the $C^0$ estimate for the quaternionic Monge-Ampère equation on compact hyperKähler with torsion manifolds. Our goal is to provide a simpler proof than the one presented by Alesker and Shelukhin.
We study hyperkahler cones and their corresponding quaternion-Kahler spaces. We present a classification of 4(n-1)-dimensional quaternion-Kahler spaces with n abelian quaternionic isometries, based on dualizing superconformal tensor multiplets. These manifolds characterize the geometry of the hypermultiplet sector of perturbative moduli spaces of type-II strings compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold. As an example of our construction, we study the universal hypermultiplet in detail, and give three inequivalent tensor multiplet descriptions. We also comment on the construction of quaternion-Kah…
Mainly motivated by a conjecture of Alesker and Verbitsky, we study a class of elliptic equations on compact hyperhermitian manifolds. By adapting the approach of Székelyhidi to the hypercomplex setting, we prove some a priori estimates for solutions to such equations. In the estimate of the Laplacian we assume the existence of a flat hyperkähler metric. As an application of our results we prove that the quaternionic analogue of the Hessian equation can always be solved on compact flat hyperkähler manifolds.
We first make a little survey of the twistor theory for hypercomplex, generalized hypercomplex, quaternionic or generalized quaternionic manifolds. This last theory was iniated by Pantilie, who shows that any generalized almost quaternionic manifold equipped with an appropriate connection admit a twistor space with an almost generalized complex structure. The aim of this article is to give an integrability criterion for this generalized almost complex structure and to give some examples especially in the case of generalized hyperkähler manifolds using the generalized Bismut connection, introdu…
A hyperkaehler manifold with a circle action fixing just one complex structure admits a natural a hyperholomorphic line bundle. This forms the basis for the construction of a corresponding quaternionic Kaehler manifold in the work of A.Haydys. We construct in this paper the corresponding holomorphic line bundle on twistor space and compute many examples, including monopole and Higgs bundle moduli spaces. We also show that the bundle on twistor space has a natural meromorphic connection which realizes it as the quantum line bundle for the hyperkaehler family of holomorphic symplectic structures…
In a previous paper we proved a lower bound for the spectrum of the Dirac operator on quaternionic Kaehler manifolds. In the present article we show that the only manifolds in the limit case, i.e. the only manifolds where the lower bound is attained as an eigenvalue, are the quaternionic projective spaces. We use the equivalent formulation in terms of the quaternionic Killing equation and show that a nontrivial solution defines a parallel spinor on the associated hyperkaehler manifold.
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.
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.
A manifold (M,I,J,K) is called hypercomplex if I,J,K are complex structures satisfying quaternionic relations. A quaternionic Hermitian metric is called HKT (hyperkaehler with torsion) if $Idω_I = Jd ω_J=Kdω_K$, where $ω_I,ω_J, ω_K$ are Hermitian forms associated with I, J, K. A Hermitian metric $ω$ on a complex manifold is called balanced if $d^*ω=0$. We show that balanced HKT metrics are precisely the quaternionic Calabi-Yau metrics defined in terms of the quaternionic Monge-Ampere equation. In particular, a balanced HKT-metric is unique in its cohomology class, and it always exists if the q…
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.
Let $(M, J^α, α=1,2,3)$ and $(N, {\cal J}^α, α=1,2,3)$ be Hyperkähler manifolds. Suppose that $u_k$ is a sequence of stationary quaternionic maps and converges weakly to $u$ in $H^{1,2}(M,N)$, we derive a blow-up formula for $\lim_{k\to\infty}d(u_k^*{\cal J}^α)$, for $α=1,2,3$, in the weak sense. As a corollary, we show that the maps constructed by Chen-Li [CL2] and by Foscolo [F] can not be tangent maps (c.f [LT], Theorem 3.1) of a stationary quaternionic map satisfing $d(u^*{\cal J}^α)=0$.
We discuss the geometry of the c-map from projective special Kähler to quaternionic Kähler manifolds using the twist construction to provide a global approach to Hitchin's description. As found by Alexandrov et al. and Alekseevsky et al. this is related to the quaternionic flip of Haydys. We prove uniqueness statements for several steps of the construction. In particular, we show that given a hyperKähler manifold with a rotating symmetry, there is essentially only a one parameter degree of freedom in constructing a quaternionic Kähler manifold of the same dimension. We demonstrate how examples…
The generalized Feix--Kaledin construction shows that c-projective $2n$-manifolds with curvature of type $(1,1)$ are precisely the submanifolds of quaternionic $4n$-manifolds which are fixed points set of a special type of quaternionic $S^1$ action $v$. In this paper, we consider this construction in the presence of infinitesimal symmetries of the two geometries. First, we prove that the submaximally symmetric c-projective model with type $(1,1)$ curvature is a submanifold of a submaximally symmetric quaternionic model, and show how this fits into the construction. We give conditions for when …
A hypercomplex manifold is a manifold equipped with a triple of complex structures $I, J, K$ satisfying the quaternionic relations. We define a quaternionic analogue of plurisubharmonic functions on hypercomplex manifolds, and interpret these functions geometrically as potentials of HKT (hyperkähler with torsion) metrics, and prove a quaternionic analogue of A.D. Aleksandrov and Chern-Levine-Nirenberg theorems.
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…
Hypertoric varieties are hyperkähler analogues of toric varieties, and are constructed as abelian hyperkähler quotients of a quaternionic affine space. Just as symplectic toric orbifolds are determined by labelled polytopes, orbifold hypertoric varieties are intimately related to the combinatorics of hyperplane arrangements. By developing hyperkähler analogues of symplectic techniques developed by Goldin, Holm, and Knutson, we give an explicit combinatorial description of the Chen-Ruan orbifold cohomology of an orbifold hypertoric variety in terms of the combinatorial data of a rational coorie…
We compute the hessian of the natural Hermitian form successively on the Calabi family of a hyperkähler manifold, on the twistor space of a 4-dimensional anti-self-dual Riemannian manifold and on the twistor space of a quaternionic Kähler manifold. We show a strong convexity property of the cycle space of twistor lines on the Calabi family of a hyperkähler manifold. We also prove convexity properties of the 1-cycle space of the twistor space of a 4-dimensional anti-self-dual Einstein manifold of non-positive scalar curvature and of the 1-cycle space of the twistor space of a quaternionic Kähle…
Using quaternionic Feix--Kaledin construction we provide a local classification of quaternion-Kähler metrics with a rotating $S^1$-symmetry with the fixed point set submanifold $S$ of maximal possible dimension. For any Kähler manifold $S$ equipped with a line bundle with a unitary connection of curvature proportional to the Kähler form we explicitly construct a holomorphic contact distribution on the twistor space obtained by the quaternionic Feix-Kaledin construction from this data. Conversely, we show that quaternion-Kähler metrics with a rotating $S^1$-symmetry induce on the fixed point se…
Starting from a complex manifold S with a real-analytic c-projective structure whose curvature has type (1,1), and a complex line bundle L with a connection whose curvature has type (1,1), we construct the twistor space Z of a quaternionic manifold M with a quaternionic circle action which contains S as a totally complex submanifold fixed by the action. This extends a construction of hypercomplex manifolds, including hyperkaehler metrics on cotangent bundles, obtained independently by B. Feix and D. Kaledin. When S is a Riemann surface, M is a self-dual conformal 4-manifold, and the quotient o…
We describe a quaternionic-based Ansatz generalizing the Gibbons-Hawking Ansatz to a class of hyperkähler metrics with hidden symmetries. We then apply it to obtain explicit expressions for gravitational instanton metrics of type $D_k$.
We consider the geometry determined by a torsion-free affine connection whose holonomy lies in the subgroup U*(2m), a real form of GL(2m,C), otherwise denoted by SL(m,H).U(1). We show in particular how examples may be generated from quaternionic Kähler or hyperkähler manifolds with a circle action.
Let $S$ be a smooth rational curve on a complex manifold $M$. It is called ample if its normal bundle is positive. We assume that $M$ is covered by smooth holomorphic deformations of $S$. The basic example of such a manifold is a twistor space of a hyperkahler or a 4-dimensional anti-selfdual Riemannian manifold $X$ (not necessarily compact). We prove "a holography principle" for such a manifold: any meromorphic function defined in a neighbourhood $U$ of $S$ can be extended to $M$, and any section of a holomorphic line bundle can be extended from $U$ to $M$. This is used to define the notion o…
We consider triholomorphic maps from an almost hyper-Hermitian manifold $\mathcal{M}^{4m}$ into a hyperKähler manifold $\mathcal{N}^{4n}$. This means that $u \in W^{1,2}$ satisfies a quaternionic del-bar equation. We work under the assumption that $u$ is locally strongly approximable in $W^{1,2}$ by smooth maps: then such maps are almost stationary harmonic (when $\mathcal{M}$ is hyperKähler as well, then stationary harmonic). We show that in this more general situation the classical $ε$-regularity result still holds. We then address compactness issues for a weakly converging sequence $u_\ell …
A hypercomplex manifold is a manifold equipped with three complex structures I, J, K satisfying the quaternionic relations. Let M be a 4-dimensional compact smooth manifold equipped with a hypercomplex structure, and E be a vector bundle on M. We show that the moduli space of anti-self-dual connections on E is also hypercomplex, and admits a strong HKT metric. We also study manifolds with (4,4)-supersymmetry, that is, Riemannian manifolds equipped with a pair of strong HKT-structures that have opposite torsion. In the language of Hitchin's and Gualtieri's generalized complex geometry, (4,4)-ma…
We study the existence of three classes of Hermitian metrics on certain types of compact complex manifolds. More precisely, we consider balanced, SKT and astheno-Kähler metrics. We prove that the twistor spaces of compact hyperkähler and negative quaternionic-Kähler manifolds do not admit astheno-Kähler metrics. Then we provide examples of astheno-Kähler structures on toric bundles over Kähler manifolds. In particular, we find examples of compact complex non-Kähler manifolds which admit a balanced and an astheno-Kähler metrics, thus answering to a question in [52] (see also [24]). One of these…
