We study balanced Hermitian structures on almost abelian Lie algebras, i.e. on Lie algebras with a codimension-one abelian ideal. In particular, we classify six-dimensional almost abelian Lie algebras which carry a balanced structure. It has been conjectured by A. Fino and L. Vezzoni that a compact complex manifold admitting both a balanced metric and a SKT metric necessarily has a Kähler metric: we prove this conjecture for compact almost abelian solvmanifolds with left-invariant complex structures. Moreover, we investigate the behaviour of the flow of balanced metrics introduced by L. Bedulli and L. Vezzoni and of the anomaly flow by D. H. Phong, S. Picard and X. Zhang on almost abelian Lie groups. In particular, we show that the anomaly flow preserves the balanced condition and that locally conformally Kähler metrics are fixed points.
The invariant balanced Hermitian geometry of nilmanifolds of dimension 6 is described. We prove that the holonomy group of the associated Bismut connection reduces to a proper subgroup of SU(3) if and only if the complex structure is abelian. As an application we show that if J is abelian then any invariant balanced J-Hermitian structure provides solutions of the Strominger system.
We study the intrinsic geometrical structure of hypersurfaces in 6-manifolds carrying a balanced Hermitian SU(3)-structure, which we call {\em balanced} SU(2)-{\em structures}. We provide conditions which imply that such a 5-manifold can be isometrically embedded as a hypersurface in a manifold with a balanced SU(3)-structure. We show that any 5-dimensional compact nilmanifold has an invariant balanced SU(2)-structure as well as new examples of balanced Hermitian SU(3)-metrics constructed from balanced SU(2)-structures. Moreover, for $n=3,4$, we present examples of compact manifolds, endowed w…
This paper extends the nonabelian Hodge correspondence for Kaehler manifolds to a larger class of hermitian metrics on complex manifolds called balanced of Hodge-Riemann type. Essentially, it grows out of a few key observations so that the known results, especially the Donaldson-Uhlenbeck-Yau theorem and Corlette's theorem, can be applied in our setting. Though not necessarily Kaehler, we show that the Sampson-Siu Theorem proving that harmonic maps are pluriharmonic remains valid for a slightly smaller class by using the known argument. Special important examples include those balanced metrics…
The Bott-Chern cohomology of 6-dimensional nilmanifolds endowed with invariant complex structure is studied with special attention to the cases when balanced or strongly Gauduchon Hermitian metrics exist. We consider complex invariants introduced by Angella and Tomassini and by Schweitzer, which are related to the $\partial \bar\partial$-lemma condition and defined in terms of the Bott-Chern cohomology, and show that the vanishing of some of these invariants is not a closed property under holomorphic deformations. In the balanced case, we determine the spaces that parametrize deformations in t…
Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a $2n$-dimensional unimodular Lie algebra equipped with a Hermitian structure $(J,F)$ such that the complex structure $J$ is abelian and the fundamental form $F$ is balanced. We prove that the holonomy group of the associated Bismut connection reduces to a subgroup of $SU(n-k)$, being $2k$ the dimension of the center of $\mathfrak{g}$. We determine conditions that allow a unimodular Lie algebra to admit this particular type of structures. Moreover, we give methods to construct them in arbitrary dimensions and classify them if the Lie algebra is 8-dimensional and nilpotent…
We study locally conformally balanced metrics on almost abelian Lie algebras, namely solvable Lie algebras admitting an abelian ideal of codimension one, providing characterizations in every dimension. Moreover, we classify six-dimensional almost abelian Lie algebras admitting locally conformally balanced metrics and study some compatibility results between different types of special Hermitian metrics on almost abelian Lie groups and their compact quotients. We end by classifying almost abelian Lie algebras admitting locally conformally hyperkähler structures.
In this article, we study Hermitian manifolds whose Bismut-Strominger connection has parallel torsion tensor, which will be called {\em Bismut torsion parallel manifolds,} or {\em BTP} manifolds for short. We obtain a necessary and sufficient condition characterizing this class in terms of the curvature tensor. In particular, Bismut flat or Bismut Kähler-like manifolds are {\em BTP} manifolds, known by our earlier results. We also obtain structural results for non-balanced {\em BTP} manifolds, and classification theorems for non-balanced {\em BTP} threefolds and balanced {\em BTP} threefolds.
We study the positive Hermitian curvature flow on the space of left-invariant metrics on complex Lie groups. We show that in the nilpotent case, the flow exists for all positive times and subconverges in the Cheeger-Gromov sense to a soliton. We also show convergence to a soliton when the complex Lie group is almost abelian. That is, when its Lie algebra admits a (complex) co-dimension one abelian ideal. Finally, we study solitons in the almost-abelian setting. We prove uniqueness and completely classify all left-invariant, almost-abelian solitons, giving a method to construct examples in arbi…
We first study the degeneration of a sequence of Hermitian-Yang-Mills metrics with respect to a sequence of balanced metrics on a Calabi-Yau threefold $\hat{X}$ that degenerates to the balanced metric constructed by Fu, Li, and Yau on the complement of finitely many (-1,-1)-curves in $\hat{X}$. Then under some assumptions we show the existence of Hermitian-Yang-Mills metrics on bundles over a family of threefolds $X_t$ with trivial canonical bundles obtained by performing conifold transitions on $\hat{X}$.
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…
A hypercomplex structure on a differentiable manifold consists of three integrable almost complex structures that satisfy quaternionic relations. If, in addition, there exists a metric on the manifold which is Hermitian with respect to the three structures, and such that the corresponding Hermitian forms are closed, the manifold is said to be hyperkaehler. In the paper "Non-Hermitian Yang-Mills connections", Kaledin and Verbitsky proved that the twistor space of a hyperkaehler manifold admits a balanced metric; these were first studied in the article "On the existence of special metrics in com…
On a Hermitian manifold we construct a symmetric $(1,1)$- tensor $H$ using the torsion and the curvature of the Chern connection. On a compact balanced Hermitian manifold we find necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of the tensor $H$ for a harmonic $1$-form to be analytic and for an analytic $1$-form to be harmonic. We prove that if $H$ is positive definite then the first Betti number $b_1 = 0$ and the Hodge number $h^{1,0} = 0$. We obtain an obstruction to the existence of Killing vector fields in terms of the Ricci tensor of the Chern connection: if the Chern form of the Chern connec…
We generalize Yau's estimates for the complex Monge-Ampere equation on compact manifolds in the case when the background metric is no longer Kahler. We prove $C^{\infty}$ a priori estimates for a solution of the complex Monge-Ampere equation when the background metric is Hermitian (in complex dimension two) or balanced (in higher dimensions), giving an alternative proof of a theorem of Cherrier. We relate this to recent results of Guan-Li.
In this article, we examine the behavior of the Riemannian and Hermitian curvature tensors of a Hermitian metric, when one of the curvature tensors obeys all the symmetry conditions of the curvature tensor of a Kähler metric. We will call such metrics G-Kähler-like or Kähler-like, for lack of better terminologies. Such metrics are always balanced when the manifold is compact, so in a way they are more special than balanced metrics, which drew a lot of attention in the study of non-Kähler Calabi-Yau manifolds. In particular we derive various formulas on the difference between the Riemannian and…
We study the structure of Lie groups admitting left invariant abelian complex structures in terms of commutative associative algebras. If, in addition, the Lie group is equipped with a left invariant Hermitian structure, it turns out that such a Hermitian structure is Kähler if and only if the Lie group is the direct product of several copies of the real hyperbolic plane by a euclidean factor. Moreover, we show that if a left invariant Hermitian metric on a Lie group with an abelian complex structure has flat first canonical connection, then the Lie group is abelian.
A locally conformal SKT (shortly LCSKT) structure is a Hermitian structure $(J, g)$ whose Bismut torsion 3-form $H$ satisfies the condition $dH = α\wedge H$, for some closed non-zero 1-form $α$. This condition was introduced in [6] as a generalization of the SKT (or pluriclosed) condition $dH= 0$. In this paper, we characterize the almost abelian Lie algebras admitting a Hermitian structure $(J, g)$ such that $dH = α\wedge H$, for some closed 1-form $α$. As an application we classifiy LCSKT almost abelian Lie algebras in dimension $6$. Finally, we also study on almost abelian Lie algebras the …
We review some constructions and properties of complex manifolds admitting pluriclosed and balanced metrics. We prove that for a 6-dimensional solvmanifold endowed with an invariant complex structure J having holomorphically trivial canonical bundle the pluriclosed flow has a long time solution for every invariant initial datum. Moreover, we state a new conjecture about the existence of balanced and SKT metrics on compact complex manifolds. We show that the conjecture is true for nilmanifolds of dimension 6 and 8 and for 6-dimensional solvmanifolds with holomorphically trivial canonical bundle…
Let (J,g) be a Hermitian structure on a compact nilmanifold M with invariant complex structure J and compatible metric g, which is not required to be invariant. We give classifications of 6-dimensional nilmanifolds M admitting strong Kähler with torsion, balanced or locally conformal Kähler structures (J,g).
For a certain maximal unipotent family of Abelian varieties over the punctured disc, we show that after a base change, one can complete the family over a disc such that the whole degeneration can be simultaneously balanced embedded into a projective space by the theta functions. Then we study the relationship between the balanced filling-in and the Gromov-Hausdorff limit of flat Kähler metrics on the nearby fibers.
On a complex manifold an Hermitian metric which is simultaneously SKT and balanced has to be necessarily Kähler. It has been conjectured that if a compact complex manifold (M,J) has an SKT metric and a balanced metric both compatible with J, then (M, J) is necessarily Kähler. We show that the conjecture is true for nilmanifolds.
Small deformations of the complex structure do not always preserve special metric properties in the Hermitian non-Kähler setting. In this paper, we find necessary conditions for the existence of smooth curves of balanced metrics $\{ω_t\}_t$ which start with a fixed balanced metric $ω$ for $t=0$, along a differentiable family of complex manifolds $\{M_t\}_t$.
Given any non-compact real simple Lie group G of inner type and even dimension, we prove the existence of an invariant complex structure J and a Hermitian balanced metric with vanishing Chern scalar curvature on G and on any compact quotient $M=G/Γ$, with $Γ$ a cocompact lattice. We also prove that (M,J) does not carry any pluriclosed metric, in contrast to the case of even dimensional compact Lie groups, which admit pluriclosed but not balanced metrics.
We consider a dimensional reduction of the (deformed) Hermitian Yang-Mills condition on $S^1$-invariant Kähler Einstein $6$-manifolds. This allows us to reformulate the (deformed) Hermitian Yang-Mills equations in terms of data on the quotient Kähler $4$-manifold. In particular, we apply this construction to the canonical bundle of $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2$ endowed with the Calabi ansatz metric to find explicit abelian $SU(3)$ instantons and we show that these are determined by the spectrum of $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2$. We also find $1$-parameter families of explicit deformed Hermitian Yang-Mill…
In this paper we investigate the existence of invariant SKT, balanced and generalized Kähler structures on compact quotients $Γ\backslash G$, where $G$ is an almost nilpotent Lie group whose nilradical has one-dimensional commutator and $Γ$ is a lattice of $G$. We first obtain a characterization of Hermitian almost nilpotent Lie algebras $\mathfrak{g}$ whose nilradical $\mathfrak{n}$ has one-dimensional commutator and a classification result in real dimension six. Then, we study the ones admitting SKT and balanced structures and we examine the behaviour of such structures under flows. In parti…
We introduce a new geometric flow of Hermitian metrics which evolves an initial metric along the second derivative of the Chern scalar curvature. The flow depends on the choice of a background metric, it always reduces to a scalar equation and preserves some special classes of Hermitian structures, as balanced and Gauduchon metrics. We show that the flow has always a unique short-time solution and we provide a stability result when the background metric is Kaehler-Einstein with nonpositive scalar curvature.
On an almost Hermitian manifold, we have two Hermitian scalar curvatures with respect to any canonical Hermitian connection defined by P. Gauduchon. Explicit formulas of these two Hermitian scalar curvatures are obtained in terms of Riemannian scalar curvature, norms of decompositions of covariant derivative of the fundamental 2-form with respect to the Levi-Civita connection, and the codifferential of the Lee form. Then we get some inequalities of various total scalar curvatures and some characterization results of the Kähler metric, balanced metric, locally conformally Kähler metric and the …
Oeljeklaus-Toma (OT) manifolds are higher dimensional analogues of Inoue-Bombieri surfaces and their construction is associated to a finite extension $K$ of $Q$ and a subgroup of units $U$. We characterize the existence of pluriclosed metrics (also known as strongly K\" ahler with torsion (SKT) metrics) on any OT manifold $X(K, U)$ purely in terms of number-theoretical conditions, yielding restrictions on the third Betti number $b_3$ and the Dolbeault cohomology group $H^{2,1}_{\overline{\partial}}$. Combined with the main result in [D20], these numerical conditions render explicit examples of…
We investigate the geometry of Hermitian manifolds endowed with a compact Lie group action by holomorphic isometries with principal orbits of codimension one. In particular, we focus on a special class of these manifolds constructed by following Bérard-Bergery which includes, among the others, the holomorphic line bundles on $\mathbb C\mathbb P^{m-1}$, the linear Hopf manifolds and the Hirzebruch surfaces. We characterize their invariant special Hermitian metrics, such as balanced, Kähler-like, pluriclosed, locally conformally Kähler, Vaisman, Gauduchon. Furthermore, we construct new examples …
We show that the existence of a left-invariant pluriclosed Hermitian metric on a unimodular Lie group with a left-invariant abelian complex structure forces the group to be $2$-step nilpotent. Moreover, we prove that the pluriclosed flow starting from a left-invariant Hermitian metric on a $2$-step nilpotent Lie group preserves the Strominger Kähler-like condition.
We consider a notion of balanced metrics for triples (X,L,E) which depend on a parameter α, where X is smooth complex manifold with an ample line bundle L and E is a holomorphic vector bundle over X. For generic choice of α, we prove that the limit of a convergent sequence of balanced metrics leads to a Hermitian-Einstein metric on E and a constant scalar curvature Kähler metric in c_1(L). For special values of α, limits of balanced metrics are solutions of a system of coupled equations relating a Hermitian-Einstein metric on E and a Kähler metric in c_1(L). For this, we compute the top two te…
We study 4-dimensional second-Chern-Einstein almost-Hermitian manifolds. In the compact case, we observe that under a certain hypothesis the Riemannian dual of the Lee form is a Killing vector field. We use that observation to describe 4-dimensional compact second-Chern-Einstein locally conformally symplectic manifolds and we give some examples of such manifolds. Finally, we study the second-Chern-Einstein problem on unimodular almost-abelian Lie algebras, classifying those that admit a left-invariant second-Chern-Einstein metric with a parallel non-zero Lee form.
We study the interplay between the following types of special non-Kähler Hermitian metrics on compact complex manifolds: it locally conformally Kähler, $k$-Gauduchon, balanced and locally conformally balanced and prove that a locally conformally Kähler compact nilmanifold carrying a balanced or a $k$-Gauduchon metric is necessarily a torus. Combined with a result of Fino and Vezzoni from 2016, this leads to the fact that a compact complex 2-step nilmanifold endowed with whichever two of the following types of metrics: balanced, pluriclosed and locally conformally Kähler is a torus. Moreover, w…
A Hermitian metric on a complex manifold is called SKT (strong Kähler with torsion) if the Bismut torsion $3$-form $H$ is closed. As the conformal generalization of the SKT condition, we introduce a new type of Hermitian structure, called \emph{locally conformal SKT} (or shortly LCSKT). More precisely, a Hermitian structure $(J,g)$ is said to be LCSKT if there exists a closed non-zero $1$-form $α$ such that $d H = α\wedge H$. In the paper we consider non-trivial LCSKT structures, i.e. we assume that $d H \neq 0$ and we study their existence on Lie groups and their compact quotients by lattices…
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…
