We generalise the notion of contact manifold by allowing the contact distribution to have codimension two. There are special features in dimension six. In particular, we show that the complex structure on a three-dimensional complex contact manifold is determined solely by the underlying contact distribution.
The fundamental 2-form of an invariant almost Hermitian structure on a 6-dimensional Lie group is described in terms of an action by SO(4)xU(1) on complex projective 3-space. This leads to a combinatorial description of the classes of almost Hermitian structures on the Iwasawa and other nilmanifolds.
We classify nilmanifolds with an invariant symplectic half-flat structure. We solve the half-flat evolution equations in one example, writing down the resulting Ricci-flat metric. We study the geometry of the orbit space of 6-manifolds with an SU(3)-structure preserved by a U(1) action, giving characterizations in the symplectic half-flat and integrable case.
Motivated by the physical concept of special geometry two mathematical constructions are studied, which relate real hypersurfaces to tube domains and complex Lagrangean cones respectively. Me\-thods are developed for the classification of homogeneous Riemannian hypersurfaces and for the classification of linear transitive reductive algebraic group actions on pseudo Riemannian hypersurfaces. The theory is applied to the case of cubic hypersurfaces, which is the case most relevant to special geometry, obtaining the solution of the two classification problems and the description of the correspond…
Given a parabolic geometry, it is sometimes possible to find special metrics characterised by some invariant conditions. In conformal geometry, for example, one asks for an Einstein metric in the conformal class. Einstein metrics have the special property that their geodesics are distinguished, as unparameterised curves, in the sense of parabolic geometry. This property characterises the Einstein metrics. In this article we initiate a study of corresponding phenomena for other parabolic geometries, in particular for the hypersurface CR and contact Legendrean cases.
The local supertwistor formalism, which involves a superconformal connection acting on the bundle of such objects over superspace, is used to investigate superconformal geometry in six dimensions. The geometry corresponding to (1, 0) and (2, 0) off-shell conformal supergravity multiplets, as well the associated finite super-Weyl transformations, are derived.
This article is a survey about or introduction to certain aspects of the complex geometry of a hypothetical complex structure on the six-sphere. We discuss a result of Peternell--Campana--Demailly on the algebraic dimension of a hypothetical complex six-sphere and give some examples. We also give an overview over an application of Huckleberry--Kebekus--Peternell on the group of biholomorphisms of such a complex six-sphere.
We construct metrics with the holonomy group SU(2) on the tangent bundles of weighted complex projective lines and give a geometric description of the moduli space of special Kahler metrics on a K3-surface in the neighborhood of the flat orbifold $T^4/Z_3$.
A theorem of Lawson and Simons states that the only stable minimal submanifolds in complex projective spaces are complex submanifolds. We generalize their result to the cases of quaternionic and octonionic projective spaces. Our approach gives a unified viewpoint towards conformal and projective geometries.
We review a recent series of $G_2$ manifolds constructed via solvable Lie groups obtained in math.DG/0409137. They carry two related distinguished metrics, one negative Einstein and the other in the conformal class of a Ricci-flat metric.
We study the classification of special almost hermitian manifolds in Gray and Hervella's type classes. We prove that the exterior derivatives of the symplectic form and the complex volume form contain all the information about the intrinsic torsion of the $\SUn(n)$-structure. Furthermore, we apply the obtained results to almost hyperhermitian geometry. Thus, we show that the exterior derivatives of the three K{ä}hler forms of an almost hyperhermitian manifold are sufficient to determine the three covariant derivatives of such forms, i.e., the three mentioned exterior derivatives determine the …
This paper is motivated by a relatively recent work by Joyce in special Lagrangian geometry, but the basic idea of the present paper goes back to an earlier pioneering work of Donaldson in Yang--Mills gauge theory; Donaldson discovered a global structure of a (compactified) moduli space of Yang--Mills instantons, and a key step to that result was the proof of surjectivity of Taubes' gluing construction. In special Lagrangian geometry we have currently no such a global understanding of (compactified) moduli spaces, but in the present paper we determine a neighbourhood of a `boundary' point. It …
We study the special algebraic properties of alternating 3-forms in 6 and 7 dimensions and introduce a diffeomorphism-invariant functional on the space of differential 3-forms on a closed manifold M in these dimensions. Restricting the functional to closed forms in a fixed cohomology class, we find that a critical point which is generic in a suitable sense defines in the 6-dimensional case a complex threefold with trivial canonical bundle and in 7 dimensions a Riemannian manifold with holonomy G2. This approach gives a direct method of finding a local moduli space, with its special geometry, f…
We investigate geometric properties of indecomposable but non-irreducible Lorentzian manifolds, which are total spaces of circle bundles. We investigate under which conditions these manifolds are complete and give examples which fulfill the obtained conditions. In particular we investigate the Einstein equation for these spaces yielding examples for complete compact Ricci flat Lorentzian manifolds and manifolds with timelike Killing vector fields. Finally we study their holonomy and obtain in particular complete examples for Lorentzian manifolds with holonomy of so called type 4.
We consider nearly Kähler 6-manifolds with effective 2-torus symmetry. The multi-moment map for the $T^2$-action becomes an eigenfunction of the Laplace operator. At regular values, we prove the $T^2$-action is necessarily free on the level sets and determines the geometry of three-dimensional quotients. An inverse construction is given locally producing nearly Kähler six-manifolds from three-dimensional data. This is illustrated for structures on the Heisenberg group.
The subject of this paper is six-dimensional nearly (para-)Kähler geometry with pseudo-Riemannian metrics. Firstly, we derive the analogue of the well-known exterior differential system characterising a nearly Kähler manifold and prove applications to the automorphism group of a nearly (para-)Kähler structure. Secondly, we prove existence and uniqueness results for left-invariant nearly (para-)Kähler structures on Lie groups $G \times G$ where $G$ is three-dimensional and simple.
We outline the solution of the Killing spinor equations of the heterotic supergravity. In addition, we describe the classification of all half supersymmetric solutions.
The geometry that is defined by the scalars in couplings of Einstein-Maxwell theories in N=2 supergravity in 4 dimensions is denoted as special Kaehler geometry. There are several equivalent definitions, the most elegant ones involve the symplectic duality group. The original construction used conformal symmetry, which immediately clarifies the symplectic structure and provides a way to make connections to quaternionic geometry and Sasakian manifolds.
This paper is a survey on special geometric structures that admit conformal Killing spinors based on lectures, given at the ``Workshop on Special Geometric Structures in String Theory'', Bonn, September 2001 and at ESI, Wien, November 2001. We discuss the case of Lorentzian signature and explain which geometries occur up to dimension 6.
The moduli space of the Calabi-Yau three-folds, which play a role as superstring ground states, exhibits the same {\em special geometry} that is known from nonlinear sigma models in $N=2$ supergravity theories. We discuss the symmetry structure of special real, complex and quaternionic spaces. Maps between these spaces are implemented via dimensional reduction. We analyze the emergence of {\em extra} and {\em hidden} symmetries. This analysis is then applied to homogeneous special spaces and the implications for the classification of homogeneous quaternionic spaces are discussed.
We introduce special Lagrangian submanifolds in C^m and in (almost) Calabi-Yau manifolds, and survey recent results on singularities of special Lagrangian submanifolds, and their application to the SYZ Conjecture. The paper is aimed at graduate students in Geometry, String Theorists, and others wishing to learn the subject. Special Lagrangian m-folds in C^m are defined, and ways of constructing them described. 'Almost Calabi-Yau manifolds' (a generalization of Calabi-Yau manifolds useful in special Lagrangian geometry) are introduced, and the deformation theory, obstruction theory, and moduli …
Given a special Kahler manifold M, we give a new, direct proof of the relationship between the quaternionic structure on its cotangent bundle and the variation of Hodge structures on the complexification of TM.
We develop a unifed theory to study geometry of manifolds with different holonomy groups. They are classified by (1) real, complex, quaternion or octonion number they are defined over and (2) being special or not. Specialty is an orientation with respect to the corresponding normed algebra A. For example, special Riemannian A-manifolds are oriented Riemannian, Calabi-Yau, Hyperkahler and G_2-manifolds respectively. For vector bundles over such manifolds, we introduce (special) A-connections. They include holomorphic, Hermitian Yang-Mills, Anti-Self-Dual and Donaldson-Thomas connections. Simila…
We introduce the notion of $\varepsilonη\,$-Einstein $\varepsilon\,$-contact metric three-manifold, which includes as particular cases $η\,$-Einstein Riemannian and Lorentzian (para) contact metric three-manifolds, but which in addition allows for the Reeb vector field to be null. We prove that the product of an $\varepsilonη\,$-Einstein Lorentzian $\varepsilon\,$-contact metric three-manifold with an $\varepsilonη\,$-Einstein Riemannian contact metric three-manifold carries a bi-parametric family of Ricci-flat Lorentzian metric-compatible connections with isotropic, totally skew-symmetric, cl…
The Chen-Teo gravitational instanton is an asymptotically flat, toric, Ricci flat family of metrics on $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2\setminus S^1$, that provides a counterexample to the classical Euclidean Black Hole Uniqueness conjecture. In this paper we show that the Chen-Teo instanton is Hermitian and non-Kähler. It follows that all known examples of gravitational instantons are Hermitian.
Having fixed a Kaehler class and the unique corresponding hyperkaehler metric, we prove that all special Lagrangian submanifolds of an irreducible symplectic 4-fold X are bi-Lagrangian and that they are obtained by complex submanifolds via a sort of "hyperkaehler rotation trick"; thus they retain part of the rigidity of complex submanifolds: indeed all special Lagrangian submanifolds of X turn out to be real analytic.
We show that, for mechanical system with external forces, the equations of deviations of solution curves of the corresponding Lagrange equations,determine a nonlinear connection on the second order osculator (second order tangent) bundle. In particular, Jacobi equations in Finsler and Riemann spaces determine such a nonlinear connection.
The target space geometry of abelian vector multiplets in ${\cal N}= 2$ theories in four and five space-time dimensions is called special geometry. It can be elegantly formulated in terms of Hessian geometry. In this review, we introduce Hessian geometry, focussing on aspects that are relevant for the special geometries of four- and five-dimensional vector multiplets. We formulate ${\cal N}= 2$ theories in terms of Hessian structures and give various concrete applications of Hessian geometry, ranging from static BPS black holes in four and five space-time dimensions to topological string theor…
This paper gives a leisurely introduction to Calabi-Yau manifolds and special Lagrangian submanifolds from the differential geometric point of view, followed by a survey of recent results on singularities of special Lagrangian submanifolds, and their application to the SYZ Conjecture. It is aimed at graduate students in Geometry, String Theorists, and others wishing to learn the subject, and is designed to be fairly self-contained. It is based on lecture courses given at Nordfjordeid, Norway and MSRI, Berkeley in June and July 2001. We introduce Calabi-Yau m-folds via holonomy groups, Kahler g…
In this paper we generalize special geometry to arbitrary signatures in target space. We formulate the definitions in a precise mathematical setting and give a translation to the coordinate formalism used in physics. For the projective case, we first discuss in detail projective Kaehler manifolds, appearing in N=1 supergravity. We develop a new point of view based on the intrinsic construction of the line bundle. The topological properties are then derived and the Levi-Civita connection in the projective manifold is obtained as a particular projection of a Levi-Civita connection in a `mother' …
We give an intrinsic definition of the special geometry which arises in global N=2 supersymmetry in four dimensions. The base of an algebraic integrable system exhibits this geometry, and with an integrality hypothesis any special Kahler manifold is so related to an integrable system. The cotangent bundle of a special Kahler manifold carries a hyperkahler metric. We also define special geometry in supergravity in terms of the special geometry in global supersymmetry.
It is known that the hard Lefschetz action, together with Kähler identities for Kähler (resp. hyperkähler) manifolds, determines a $\mathfrak{su}(1,1)_{sup}$ (resp. $\mathfrak{sp}(1,1)_{sup}$) Lie superalgebra action on differential forms. In this paper, we explain the geometric origin of this action, and we also generalize it to manifolds with other holonomy groups. For semi-flat Calabi-Yau (resp. hyperkähler) manifolds, these symmetries can be enlarged to a $\mathfrak{so}(2,2)_{sup}$ (resp. $\mathfrak{su}(2,2)_{sup}$) action.
We investigate the special Kähler geometry of the base of the Hitchin integrable system in terms of spectral curves and topological recursion. The Taylor expansion of the special Kähler metric about any point in the base may be computed by integrating the $g = 0$ Eynard-Orantin invariants of the corresponding spectral curve over cycles. In particular, we show that the Donagi-Markman cubic is computed by the invariant $W^{(0)}_3$. We use topological recursion to go one step beyond this and compute the symmetric quartic of second derivatives of the period matrix.
We classify maximal quartic generalised projective special real curves up to equivalence. A maximal quartic generalised projective special real curve consists of connected components of the intersection of the hyperbolic points of a quartic homogeneous real polynomial $h:\mathbb{R}^2\to\mathbb{R}$ and its level set $\{h=1\}$. Two such curves are called equivalent if they are related by a linear coordinate transformation. As an application of our results we prove that quartic generalised projective special real manifolds that are homogeneous spaces have non-regular boundary behaviour, meaning t…
We exploit the spinor description of four-dimensional Walker geometry, and conformal rescalings of such, to describe the local geometry of four-dimensional neutral geometries with algebraically degenerate self-dual Weyl curvature and an integrable distribution of alpha-planes (algebraically special real alpha-geometry). In particular, we determine the behaviour of (four-dimensional neutral) Walker geometry under conformal rescalings and provide a derivation of the hyperheavenly equation from conformal rescaling formulae.
This is a survey of recent contributions to the area of special Kaehler geometry. It is based on lectures given at the 21st Winter School on Geometry and Physics held in Srni in January 2001.
The article consists of the Russian and English variants of Ph.D. Thesis in which the answers is given on the following questions: 1. how to construct the spinor formalism for n=6; 2. how to construct the spinor formalism for n=8; 3. how to prolong the Riemannian connection from the tangent bundle into the spinor one with the base: a complex analytical 6-dimensional Riemannian space; 4. how to construct the real and complex representations of this bundles; 5. how to construct the curvature spinors and to investigate its properties; 6. how to obtain the canonical form of a bilinear form for the…
One purpose of this article is to draw attention to the seminal work of J. Mealy in 1989 on calibrations in semi-riemannian geometry where split SLAG geometry was first introduced. The natural setting is provided by doing geometry with the complex numbers C replaced by the double numbers D, where i with i^2 = -1 is replaced by tau with tau^2 = 1. A rather surprising amount of complex geometry carries over, almost untouched, and this has been the subject of many papers. We briefly review this material and, in particular, we discuss Hermitian D-manifolds with trivial canonical bundle, which prov…
We show there is a class of symplectic Lie algebra representations over any field of characteristic not 2 or 3 that have many of the exceptional algebraic and geometric properties of both symmetric three forms in two dimensions and alternating three forms in six dimensions. All nonzero orbits are coisotropic and the covariants satisfy relations generalising classical identities of Eisenstein and Mathews. The main algebraic result is that suitably generic elements of these representation spaces can be uniquely written as the sum of two elements of a naturally defined Lagrangian subvariety. We g…
It is shown that Electromagnetism creates geometry different from Riemannian geometry. General geometry including Riemannian geometry as a special case is constructed. It is proven that the most simplest special case of General Geometry is geometry underlying Electromagnetism. Action for electromagnetic field and Maxwell equations are derived from curvature function of geometry underlying Electromagnetism. And it is shown that equation of motion for a particle interacting with electromagnetic field coincides exactly with equation for geodesics of geometry underlying Electromagnetism.