As a tool to address the equivalence problem in sub-Riemannian geometry, we introduce a canonical choice of grading and compatible affine connection, available on any sub-Riemannian manifold with constant symbol. We completely compute these structures for contact manifolds of constant symbol, including the cases where the connections of Tanaka-Webster-Tanno are not defined. We also give an original intrinsic grading on sub-Riemannian (2,3,5)-manifolds, and use this to present the first flatness theorem in this setting.
We construct a canonically defined affine connection in sub-Riemannian contact geometry. Our method mimics that of the Levi-Civita connection in Riemannian geometry. We compare it with the Tanaka-Webster connection in the three-dimensional case.
The canonical connection on a Riemannian almost product manifold is an analogue to the Hermitian connection on an almost Hermitian manifold. In this paper we consider the canonical connection on a class of Riemannian almost product manifolds with non-integrable almost product structure. We construct and characterize an example by a Lie group.
The aim of this paper is to study new classes of Riemannian manifolds endowed with a smooth potential function, including in a general framework classical canonical structures such as Einstein, harmonic curvature and Yamabe metrics, and, above all, gradient Ricci solitons. For the most rigid cases we give a complete classification, while for the others we provide rigidity and obstruction results, characterizations and nontrivial examples. In the final part of the paper we also describe the "nongradient" version of this construction.
We consider a pair of smooth manifolds, which are the counterparts in the even-dimensional and odd-dimensional cases. They are separately an almost complex manifold with Norden metric and an almost contact manifolds with B-metric, respectively. They can be combined as the so-called almost contact complex Riemannian manifold. This paper is a survey with additions of results on differential geometry of canonical-type connections (i.e. metric connections with torsion satisfying a certain algebraic identity) on the considered manifolds.
For an arbitrary Riemannian manifold $X$ and Hermitian vector bundles $E$ and $F$ over $X$ we define the notion of the normal symbol of a pseudodifferential operator $P$ from $E$ to $F$. The normal symbol of $P$ is a certain smooth function from the cotangent bundle $T^*X$ to the homomorphism bundle $Hom (E,F)$ and depends on the metric structures resp. the corresponding connections on $X$, $E$ and $F$. It is shown that by a natural integral formula the pseudodifferential operator $P$ can be recovered from its symbol. Thus, modulo smoothing operators resp. smoothing symbols, we receive a linea…
We show that finite parallel transports of vectors in Riemannian spaces, determined by the multiplication law in the deformed groups of diffeomorphisms, and sequences of infinitesimal parallel transports of vectors along geodesics are equivalent.
We consider strict and complete nearly Kaehler manifolds with the canonical Hermitian connection. The holonomy representation of the canonical Hermitian connection is studied. We show that a strict and complete nearly Kaehler is locally a Riemannian product of homogenous nearly Kaehler spaces, twistor spaces over quaternionic Kaehler manifolds and 6-dimensional nearly Kaehler manifolds. As an application we obtain structure results for totally geodesic Riemannian foliations admitting a compatible Kaehler structure. Finally, we obtain a classification result for the homogenous case, reducing a …
We studied rules of transformations of Christoffel symbols under third type almost geodesic mappings in this paper. From this research, we obtained some new invariants of these mappings. These invariants are analogies of Thomas projective parameter and Weyl projective tensor.
We show how to define a canonical Riemannian metric on a "dessin d'enfants' drawn on a topological surface. This gives a possible explanation of a claim of A. Grothendieck.
We consider sub-Riemannian spaces admitting an isometry group that is maximal in the sense that any linear isometry between the horizontal tangent spaces is realized by a global isometry. We will show that these spaces have a canonical choice of partial connection on their horizontal bundle, which is determined by isometries and generalizes the Levi-Civita connection for the special case of Riemannian model spaces. The number of invariants needed to describe model spaces with the same tangent cone is in general greater than one, and these invariants are not necessarily related to the holonomy …
Let $(M^{n},g)$ be a closed, connected, oriented, $C^{\infty}$, Riemannian, n-manifold with a transversely oriented foliation $\boldkey F$. We show that if $\lbrace X,Y \rbrace$ are basic vector fields, the leaf component of $[X,Y]$, $\Cal{V}[X,Y]$, has vanishing leaf divergence whenever $κ\wedge χ_{\boldkey F}$ is a closed (possibly zero) de Rham cohomology (p+1)-form. Here $κ$ is the mean curvature one-form of the foliation ${\boldkey F}$ and ${χ_{\boldkey F}}$ is its characteristic form. In the codimension-2 case, $κ\wedge χ_{\boldkey F}$ is closed if and only if $κ$ is horizontally closed.…
In sub-Riemannian geometry the coefficients of the Jacobi equation define curvature-like invariants. We show that these coefficients can be interpreted as the curvature of a canonical Ehresmann connection associated to the metric, first introduced in [Zelenko-Li]. We show why this connection is naturally nonlinear, and we discuss some of its properties.
In Riemannian geometry geodesics are integral curves of the Riemannian distance gradient. We extend this classical result to the framework of Information Geometry. In particular, we prove that the rays of level-sets defined by a pseudo-distance are generated by the sum of two tangent vectors. By relying on these vectors, we propose a novel definition of a canonical divergence and its dual function. We prove that the new divergence allows to recover a given dual structure $(\mathrm{g},\nabla,\nabla^*)$ of {a dually convex set on} a smooth manifold $\mathrm{M}$. Additionally, we show that this d…
A fundamental question in Riemannian geometry is to find canonical metrics on a given smooth manifold. In the 1980s, R. Hamilton proposed an approach to this question based on parabolic partial differential equations. The goal is to start from a given initial metric and deform it to a canonical metric by means of an evolution equation. There are various natural evolution equations for Riemannian metrics, including the Ricci flow and the conformal Yamabe flow. In this survey, we discuss the global behavior of the solutions to these equations. In particular, we describe how these techniques can …
Under a nondegeneracy condition, we show that an equiregular sub-Riemannian manifold of step size $r$ admits a canonical, $V$-rigid complement defined from the sub-Riemannian data that is preserved the by action of sub-Riemannian isometries. We explore how the existence of such a complement relates to results from the literature and study the step size 2 case in more detail.
It is well known that there is a unique $Spin(9)$-invariant 8-form on the octonionic plane that naturally yields a canonical differential 8-form on any Riemannian manifold with a weak $Spin(9)$-structure. Over the decades, this invariant has been studied extensively and described in several equivalent ways. In the present article, a new explicit algebraic formula for the $Spin(9)$-invariant 8-form is given. The approach we use generalizes the standard expression of the Kähler 2-form. Namely, the invariant 8-form is constructed only from the two octonion-valued coordinate 1-forms on the octonio…
A Sasaki-like almost contact complex Riemannian manifold is defined as an almost contact complex Riemannian manifold which complex cone is a holomorphic complex Riemannian manifold. Explicit compact and non-compact examples are given. A canonical construction producing a Sasaki-like almost contact complex Riemannian manifold from a holomorphic complex Riemannian manifold is presented and called an $S^1$-solvable extension.
We consider critical points of the global squared $L^2$-norms of the second fundamental form and the mean curvature vector of isometric immersions into a fixed background Riemannian manifold under deformations of the immersion. We use the critical points of the former functional to define canonical representatives of a given integer homology class of the background manifold. We study the fibration ${\mathbb S}^3 \hookrightarrow Sp(2)\stackrel {π_{\circ}}{\rightarrow} {\mathbb S}^7$ from this point of view, showing that the fibers are the canonical generators of the $3$-integer homology of $Sp(…
Each sub-Riemannian geometry with bracket generating distribution enjoys a background structure determined by the distribution itself. At the same time, those geometries with constant sub-Riemannian symbols determine a unique Cartan connection leading to their principal invariants. We provide cohomological description of the structure of these curvature invariants in the cases where the background structure is one of the parabolic geometries. As an illustration, constant curvature models are discussed for certain sub-Riemannian geometries.
Let $(M, g)$ be an asymptotically flat Riemannian $3$-manifold with non-negative scalar curvature and positive mass. We show that each leaf of the canonical foliation through stable constant mean curvature surfaces of the end of $(M, g)$ is uniquely isoperimetric for the volume it encloses.
In this paper we give a construction of Fedosov quantization incorporating the odd variables and an analogous formula to Getzler's pseudodifferential calculus composition formula is obtained. A Fedosov type connection is constructed on the bundle of Weyl tensor Clifford algebras over the cotangent bundle of a Riemannian manifold. The quantum algebra associated with this connection is used to define a deformation of the exterior algebra of Riemannian manifolds.
It is proved by Kawamata that the canonical bundle of a projective manifold is semi-ample if it is big and nef. We give an analytic proof using the Ricci flow, degeneration of Riemannian manifolds and $L^2$-theory. Combined with our earlier results, we construct unique singular Kahler-Einstein metrics with a global Riemannian structure on canonical models. Our approach can be viewed as the Kodaira embedding theorem on singular metric spaces with canonical Kahler metrics.
Let $M$ be a surface with a Riemannian metric and $UM$ the unit tangent bundle over $M$ with the canonical contact sub-Riemannian structure $D$ on $UM$. In this paper, the complete local classification of singularities, under the Legendre fibration $UM$ over $M$, is given for sub-Riemannian geodesics of $(UM, D)$. Legendre singularities of sub-Riemannian geodesics are classified completely also for another Legendre fibration from $UM$ to the space of Riemannian geodesics on $M$. The duality on Legendre singularities is observed related to the pendulum motion.
We solve the local equivalence problem for sub-Riemannian structures on (2n + 1)-dimensional manifolds. We show that two sub-Riemannian structures are locally equivalent if and only if? their corresponding canonical linear connections are equivalent. When n = 1, these connections coincide with the generalized Tanaka-Webster connection of the corresponding contact metric structure. We show that in dimension > 5, there may not be any contact metric manifolds associated with a given sub-Riemannian structure.
A Riemannian metric on a manifold M induces a family of Riemannian metrics on the loop space LM depending on a Sobolev space parameter s. We compute the connection forms of these metrics and the higher symbols of their curvature forms, which take values in pseudodifferential operators. These calculations are used in a followup paper "The Geometry of Loop Spaces II: Characteristic Classes" to construct Chern-Simons classes on the tangent bundle TLM which detect nontrivial elements in the diffeomorphism group of certain Sasakian 5-manifolds associated to Kaehler surfaces.
In this paper, using the structures of cone and bicone fields on vector bundles, the author introduces a ILB (inverse limit of Banach)- manifold structure on $\mathcal M$ the space of Riemannian metrics on a noncompact manifold $M$. In the last section, it is proven that, this way, on the open submanifold $\mathcal{M}_{finite}$ of finite volume metrics, the canonical Riemannian metric is defined.
Length spectra for Riemannian metrics are well studied, while sub-Riemannian length spectra have been largely unexplored. Here we give the length spectrum for a canonical sub-Riemannian structure attached to any compact Lie group by restricting its Killing form to the sum of the root spaces. Surprisingly, the shortest loops are the same in both the Riemannian and sub-Riemannian cases. We provide specific calculations for SU(2) and SU(3).
We show that the extended principal bundle of a Cartan geometry of type $(A(m,\mathbb{R}),GL(m,\mathbb{R}))$, endowed with its extended connection $\hatω$, is isomorphic to the principal $A(m,\mathbb{R})$-bundle of affine frames endowed with the affine connection as defined in classical Kobayashi-Nomizu volume I. Then we classify the local holonomy groups of the Cartan geometry canonically associated to a Riemannian manifold. It follows that if the holonomy group of the Cartan geometry canonically associated to a Riemannian manifold is compact then the Riemannian manifold is locally a product …
We study a new class of rank two sub-Riemannian manifolds encompassing Riemannian manifolds, CR manifolds with vanishing Webster-Tanaka torsion, orthonormal bundles over Riemannian manifolds, and graded nilpotent Lie groups of step two. These manifolds admit a canonical horizontal connection and a canonical sub-Laplacian. We construct on these manifolds an analogue of the Riemannian Ricci tensor and prove Bochner type formulas for the sub-Laplacian. As a consequence, it is possible to formulate on these spaces a sub-Riemannian analogue of the so-called curvature dimension inequality. Sub-Riema…
In the present work, we introduce a linear connection (preserving the almost product structure and the Riemannian metric) on Riemannian almost product manifolds. This connection, called P-connection, is an analogue of the first canonical connection of Lichnerowicz in the Hermitian geometry and the B-connection in the geometry of the almost complex manifolds with Norden metric. Particularly, we consider the P-connection on a the class of manifolds with nonintegrable almost product structure.
Considering Riemannian submersions, we find necessary and sufficient conditions for when sub-Riemannian normal geodesics project to curves of constant first geodesic curvature or constant first and vanishing second geodesic curvatures. We describe a canonical extension of the sub-Riemannian metric and study geometric properties of the obtained Riemannian manifold. This work contains several examples illustrating the results.
Let $(Σ_1,g_1)$ and $(Σ_2,g_2)$ be connected, complete and orientable Riemannian two manifolds. Consider the two canonical Kähler structures $(G^ε,J,Ω^ε)$ on the product 4-manifold $Σ_1\timesΣ_2$ given by $ G^ε=g_1\oplus εg_2$, $ε=\pm 1$ and $J$ is the canonical product complex structure. Thus for $ε=1$ the Kähler metric $G^+$ is Riemannian while for $ε=-1$, $G^-$ is of neutral signature. We show that the metric $G^ε$ is locally conformally flat iff the Gauss curvatures $κ(g_1)$ and $κ(g_2)$ are both constants satisfying $κ(g_1)=-εκ(g_2)$. We also give conditions on the Gauss curvatures for wh…
In the present paper we consider generic Sub-Riemannian structures on the co-rank 1 non-holonomic vector distributions and introduce the associated canonical volume and ''horizontal'' area forms. As in the classical case, the Sub-Riemannian minimal surfaces can be defined as the critical points of the '`horizontal'' area functional. We derive an intrinsic equation for minimal surfaces associated to a generic Sub-Riemannian structure of co-rank 1 in terms of the canonical volume form and the ``horizontal'' normal. The presented construction permits to describe the Sub-Riemannian minimal surface…
An almost Golden Riemannian structure $(φ,g)$ on a manifold is given by a tensor field $φ$ of type (1,1) satisfying the Golden section relation $φ^{2}=φ+1$, and a pure Riemannian metric $g$, i.e., a metric satisfying $g(φX,Y)=g(X,φY)$. We study connections adapted to such a structure, finding two of them, the first canonical and the well adapted, which measure the integrability of $φ$ and the integrability of the $G$-structure corresponding to $(φ,g)$.
The Pontryagin forms on 1-jet bundle of Riemannian metrics, are shown to provide, in a natural way, diffeomorphism-invariant pre-symplectic structures on the space of Riemannian metrics for dimensions $n=4r-2$. The equivariant Pontryagin forms provide canonical moment maps for these structures. In dimension two, the symplectic reduction corresponding to the pre-symplectic form and its moment map attached to the first Pontryagin form, is proved to coincide with the Teichmüller space endowed with the Weil-Petersson symplectic form.
We introduce a new approach for computing curvature of sub-Riemannian manifolds. Curvature is here meant as symplectic invariants of Jacobi curves of geodesics, as introduced by Zelenko and Li. We describe how they can be expressed using a compatible affine connection and induced tensors, without any restriction on our sub-Riemannian manifold or the choice of connection. In particular, we obtain a universal Bonnet-Myers theorem of Riemannian type. We also give universal formulas for the canonical horizontal frame along each geodesic and an algorithm for computing the curvature in general. Seve…
In this paper we construct a distinguished Riemannian geometrization on the dual 1-jet space J^{1*}(T,M) for the multi-time quadratic Hamiltonian functions. Our geometrization includes a nonlinear connection N, a generalized Cartan canonical N-linear connection (together with its local d-torsions and d-curvatures), naturally provided by a given quadratic Hamiltonian function depending on polymomenta.
We study Riemannian geometry of canonical Kahler-Einstein currents on projective Calabi-Yau varieties and canonical models of general type with crepant singularities. We prove that the metric completion of the regular part of such a canonical current is a compact metric length space homeomorphic to the original projective variety, with well-defined tangent cones. We also prove a special degeneration for Kahler-Einstein manifolds of general type as an approach to establish the compactification of the moduli space of Kahler-Einstein manifolds of general type. A number of applications are given f…
In this paper we study relations between various natural structures on F-manifolds. In particular, given an arbitrary Riemannian F-manifold we present a construction of a canonical flat F-manifold associated to it. We also describe a construction of a canonical homogeneous Riemannian F-manifold associated to an arbitrary exact homogeneous flat pencil of metrics satisfying a certain non-degeneracy assumption. In the last part of the paper we construct Legendre transformations for Riemannian F-manifolds.
On a sub-Riemannian manifold, a connection with skew-symmetric torsion is defined as the unique connection from the class of $N$-connections that has this property. Two cases are considered separately: sub-Riemannian structure of even rank, and sub-Riemannian structure of odd rank. The resulting connection, called the canonical connection, is not a metric connection in the case when the sub-Riemannian structure is of even rank. The structure of an almost quasi-Sasakian manifold is defined as an almost contact metric structure of odd rank that satisfies additional requirements. Namely, it is re…
For an equiregular sub-Riemannian manifold M, Popp's volume is a smooth volume which is canonically associated with the sub-Riemannian structure, and it is a natural generalization of the Riemannian one. In this paper we prove a general formula for Popp's volume, written in terms of a frame adapted to the sub-Riemannian distribution. As a first application of this result, we prove an explicit formula for the canonical sub-Laplacian, namely the one associated with Popp's volume. Finally, we discuss sub-Riemannian isometries, and we prove that they preserve Popp's volume. We also show that, unde…
In the present article the geometry of semi-Riemannian manifolds with nonholonomic constraints is studied. These manifolds can be considered as analogues to the sub-Riemannian manifolds, where the positively definite metric is substituted by a nondegenerate metric. To study properties of the exponential map the Christoffel symbols and other differential operators were introduced. We study solutions of the Hamiltonian system and their projections into the underlying manifold. The explicit formulae were found for a specific example of a semi-Riemannian manifold with nonholonomic constraints.
We construct an algebra of nonlinear generalized tensor fields on manifolds in the sense of J.-F. Colombeau, i.e., containing distributional tensor fields as a linear subspace and smooth tensor fields as a faithful subalgebra. The use of a background connection on the manifold allows for a simplified construction based on the existing scalar theory of full diffeomorphism invariant Colombeau algebras on manifolds, still having a canonical embedding of tensor distributions. In the particular case of the Levi-Civita connection on Riemannian manifolds one obtains that this embedding commutes with …
For a subRiemannian manifold and a given Riemannian extension of the metric, we define a canonical global connection. This connection coincides with both the Levi-Civita connection on Riemannian manifolds and the Tanaka-Webster connection on strictly pseudoconvex CR manifolds. We define a notion of normality generalizing Tanaka's notion for CR manifolds to the subRiemannian case. Under the assumption of normality, we construct local frames that simplify computations in a manner analogous to Riemannian normal coordinates. We then use these frames to establish Bianchi Identities and symmetries f…
Gradients are natural first order differential operators depending on Riemannian metrics. The principal symbols of them are related to the enveloping algebra and higher Casimir elements. We give certain relations in the enveloping algebra, which induce not only identities for higher Casimir elements but also all Bochner-Weitzenböck formulas for gradients. As applications, we give some vanishing theorems.
We consider different sub-Laplacians on a sub-Riemannian manifold $M$. Namely, we compare different natural choices for such operators, and give conditions under which they coincide. One of these operators is a sub-Laplacian we constructed previously in \cite{GordinaLaetsch2014a}. This operator is canonical with respect to the horizontal Brownian motion, we are able to define the sub-Laplacian without some a priori choice of measure. The other operator is $\operatorname{div}^ω \operatorname{grad}_{\mathcal{H}}$ for some volume form $ω$ on $M$. We illustrate our results by examples of three Lie…
In the present paper, we study hemi-slant submanifolds of a locally product Riemannian manifold. We prove that the anti-invariant distribution which is involved in the definition of hemi-slant submanifold is integrable and give some applications of this result. We get a necessary and sufficient condition for a proper hemi-slant submanifold to be a hemi-slant product. We also study this type submanifolds with parallel canonical structures. Moreover, we give two characterization theorems for the totally umbilical proper hemi-slant submanifolds. Finally, we obtain a basic inequality involving Ric…
Given a Lorentzian manifold $(M,g_L)$ and a timelike unitary vector field $E$, we can construct the Riemannian metric $g_R=g_L+2ω\otimesω$, being $ω$ the metrically equivalent one form to $E$. We relate the curvature of both metrics, especially in the case of $E$ being Killing or closed, and we use the relations obtained to give some results about $(M,g_L)$.
Let M be a simply connected Riemannian symmetric space, with at most one flat direction. We show that every Riemannian (or unitary) vector bundle with parallel curvature over M is an associated vector bundle of a canonical principal bundle, with the connection inherited from the principal bundle. The problem of finding Riemannian (or unitary) vector bundles with parallel curvature then reduces to finding representations of the structure group of the canonical principal bundle.
The space of all Riemannian metrics on a smooth second countable finite dimensional manifold is itself a smooth manifold modeled on the space of symmetric (0,2)-tensor fields with compact support. It carries a canonical Riemannian metric which is invariant under the action of the diffeomorphism group. We determine its geodesics, exponential mapping, curvature, and Jacobi fields in a very explicit manner.
We study the solvability of the equation for the smooth function F, H=-k F g, on a geodesically complete pseudo-Riemannian manifold (M,g), H being the covariant Hessian of F. A similar equation was considered by Obata and Gallot in the Riemannian case for positive values of the constant k; the result was that the manifold must be the canonical sphere. In this generalized setting we obtain a range of possibilities, depending on the sign of k, the signature of the metric and the value of a certain first integral of the equation: the manifold is shown to be of constant sectional curvature or a wa…
