There is a hierarchy of commuting soliton equations associated to each symmetric space U/K. When U/K has rank n, the first n flows in the hierarchy give rise to a natural first order non-linear system of partial diffferential equations in n variables, the so called U/K-system. Let G_{m,n} denote the Grassmannian of n-dimensional linear subspaces in R^{m+n}, and G_{m,n}^1 the Grassmannian of space like m-dimensional linear subspaces in the Lorentzian space R^{m+n,1}. In this paper, we use techniques from soliton theory to study submanifolds in space forms whose Gauss-Codazzi equations are gauge equivalent to the G_{m,n}-system or the G_{m,n}^1-system. These include submanifolds with constant sectional curvatures, isothermic surfaces, and submanifolds admitting principal curvature coordinates. The dressing actions of simple elements on the space of solutions of the G_{m,n} and G_{m,n}^1 systems correspond to Bäcklund, Darboux and Ribaucour transformations for submanifolds.
We prove an extension of a theorem of A.Ros on a characterization of seven compact Kaehler submanifolds by holomorphic pinching to certain submanifolds of the complex Grassmannian manifolds.
In this article, I classify the totally geodesic submanifolds in the complex 2-Grassmannians and in the quaternionic 2-Grassmannians. It turns out that for both of these spaces, the earlier classification of maximal totally geodesic submanifolds in Riemannian symmetric spaces of rank 2, published by Chen and Nagano (B.-Y. Chen, T. Nagano, "Totally geodesic submanifolds of symmetric spaces, II", Duke Math. J. 45 (1978), 405--425) is incomplete. For example, G_2(H^n) with n >= 7 contains totally geodesic submanifolds isometric to a HP^2, its metric scaled such that the minimal sectional curvatur…
A submanifold of a Riemannian symmetric space is called parallel if its second fundamental form is a parallel section of the appropriate tensor bundle. We classify parallel submanifolds of the Grassmannian $\rmG^+_2(\R^{n+2})$ which parameterizes the oriented 2-planes of the Euclidean space $\R^{n+2}$\,. Our main result states that every complete parallel submanifold of $\rmG^+_2(\R^{n+2})$\,, which is not a curve, is contained in some totally geodesic submanifold as a symmetric submanifold. This result holds also if the ambient space is the non-compact dual of $\rmG^+_2(\R^{n+2})$\,.
We use Donaldson's approximately holomorphic techniques to build embeddings of a closed symplectic manifold with symplectic form of integer class in the grassmannians Gr(r,N). We assure that these embeddings are asymptotically holomorphic in a precise sense. We study first the particular case of embeddings in the projective space $CP^N$ obtaining control on N. The main reason of our study is the construction of singular determinantal submanifolds as the intersection of the embedding with certain ``generalized Schur cycles'' defined on a product of grassmannians. It is shown that the symplectic…
We introduce the equation of n-dimensional totally geodesic submanifolds of a manifold E as a submanifold of the second order jet space of n-dimensional submanifolds of E. Next we study the geometry of n-Grassmannian equivalent connections, that is linear connections without torsion admitting the same equation of n-dimensional totally geodesic submanifolds. We define the n-Grassmannian structure as the equivalence class of such connections, recovering for n=1 the case of theory of projectively equivalent connections. By introducing the equation of parametrized n-dimensional totally geodesic su…
We use the Cartan representations of $SO(3)$ and $SU(3)$, and an irreducible 14-dimensional representation of $Sp(3)$ to construct certain totally geodesic submanifolds in "skew" position in the complex quadrics, the complex 2-Grassmannians and the quaternionic 2-Grassmannians.
A nonstandard invariant fourth order operator acting on functions on a manifold equipped with an almost Grassmannian structure with an arbitrary trorsion is found by means of the curved translation principle. This operator can be viewed as a Grassmannian analogue of the Paneitz operator well known from conformal geometry. It is obtained by translating a Grassmannian analogue of the Laplace operator to a certain tractor bundle with a specific tractor connection, which is not normal in general.
We fully classify all Lagrangian submanifolds of a complex Grassmannian which are an orbit of a compact group of isometries and have positive Euler characteristic.
Using the Plucker map between grassmannians, we study basic aspects of classic grassmannian geometries. For `hyperbolic' grassmannian geometries, we prove some facts (for instance, that the Plucker map is a minimal isometric embedding) that were previously known in the `elliptic' case.
The classical concept of affine locally symmetric spaces allows a generalization for various geometric structures on a smooth manifold. We remind the notion of symmetry for parabolic geometries and we summarize the known facts for $|1|$--graded parabolic geometries and for almost Grassmannian structures, in particular. As an application of two general constructions with parabolic geometries, we present an example of non--flat Grassmannian symmetric space. Next we observe there is a distinguished torsion--free affine connection preserving the Grassmannian structure so that, with respect to this…
We describe how the loop group maps corresponding to special submanifolds associated to integrable systems may be thought of as certain Grassmann submanifolds of infinite dimensional homogeneous spaces. In general, the associated families of special submanifolds are certain Grassmann submanifolds. An example is given from recent work of the author.
Let Σbe a complete minimal Lagrangian submanifold of \C^n. We identify regions in the Grassmannian of Lagrangian subspaces so that whenever the image of the Gauss map of Σlies in one of these regions, then Σis an affine space.
Combining the tools of geometric analysis with properties of Jordan angles and angle space distributions, we derive a spherical and a Euclidean Bernstein theorem for minimal submanifolds of arbitrary dimension and codimension, under the condition that the Gauss image is contained in some geometrically defined closed region of a Grassmannian manifold. The proof depends on the subharmoncity of an auxiliary function, the Codazzi equations and geometric measure theory.
We derive formulas for the mean curvature of associative 3-folds, coassociative 4-folds, and Cayley 4-folds in the general case where the ambient space has intrinsic torsion. Consequently, we are able to characterize those G2-structures (resp., Spin(7)-structures) for which every associative 3-fold (resp. coassociative 4-fold, Cayley 4-fold) is a minimal submanifold. In the process, we obtain new obstructions to the local existence of coassociative 4-folds in G2-structures with torsion.
We study curvature-adapted submanifolds of general symmetric spaces. We generalize Cartan's theorem for isoparametric hypersurfaces of spheres and Wang's classification of isoparametric Hopf hypersurfaces in complex projective spaces to any compact symmetric space. Our second objective is to investigate such hypersurfaces in some specific symmetric spaces. Various classification results in the Cayley projective and hyperbolic planes and in complex two-plane Grassmannians are obtained under some additional assumptions.
Let U be a real form of a complex semisimple Lie group, and tau, sigma, a pair of commuting involutions on U. This data corresponds to a reflective submanifold of a symmetric space, U/K. We define an associated integrable system, and describe how to produce solutions from curved flats. The solutions are shown to correspond to various special submanifolds, depending on which homogeneous space U/L one projects to. We apply the construction to a question which generalizes, to the context of reflective submanifolds of arbitrary symmetric spaces, the problem of isometric immersions of space forms w…
The $L^2$-metric or Fubini-Study metric on the non-linear Grassmannian of all submanifolds of type $M$ in a Riemannian manifold $(N,g)$ induces geodesic distance 0. We discuss another metric which involves the mean curvature and shows that its geodesic distance is a good topological metric. The vanishing phenomenon for the geodesic distance holds also for all diffeomorphism groups for the $L^2$-metric.
We find many examples of compact Riemannian manifolds $(M,g)$ whose closed minimal hypersurfaces satisfy a lower bound on their index that is linear in their first Betti number. Moreover, we show that these bounds remain valid when the metric $g$ is replaced with $g'$ in a neighbourhood of $g$. Our examples $(M,g)$ consist of certain minimal isoparametric hypersurfaces of spheres; their focal manifolds; the Lie groups $SU(n)$ for $n\leq 17$, and $Sp(n)$ for all $n$; and all quaternionic Grassmannians.
We develop a novel analogue of Euclidean PCA (principal component analysis) for data taking values on a Riemannian symmetric space, using totally geodesic submanifolds as approximating lower dimnsional submanifolds. We illustrate the technique on n-spheres, Grassmannians, n-tori and polyspheres.
Let $A$ be a positive injective operator in a Hilbert space (\h, <,>), and denote by [,] the inner product defined by A: [f,g]=<Af,g>. A closed subspace $\s \subset \h$ is called A-compatible if there exists a closed complement for $\s$, which is orthogonal to $\s$ with respect to the inner product [,]. Equivalently, if there exists a necessarily unique idempotent operator $Q_\s$ such that $R(Q_\s)=\s$, which is symmetric for this inner product. The compatible Grassmannian $Gr_A$ is the set of all A-compatible subspaces of $\h$. By parametrizing it via the one to one correspondence $\s\leftrig…
For a submanifold with flat normal bundle in a space form there is a normal orthonormal basis that simultaneously diagonalizes the corresponding Weingarten operators, and at which these operators satisfy a simple Codazzi symmetry. When the second fundamental form has zero index of relative nullity, the image of the Gauss map as defined by Obata is a submanifold of a generalized Grassmannian manifold, with induced metric given by the third fundamental form, corresponding to the sum of the squares of these operators. In this case, we show that the Riemann curvature tensor of the Gauss image is c…
In the Stiefel manifold $X_{n,k}$, we replace Frankel linear height function by a quadratic one. We prove this is still a Morse-Bott function, whose structure of critical levels presents a dichotomy according to the sign of $n-2k$. The critical submanifolds are no longer Grassmannians but total spaces of fibrations of basis a product of two Grassmannians. We explicitly integrate the gradient flow.
Austere submanifolds in Euclidean space were introduced by Harvey and Lawson in connection with their study of calibrated geometries. The algebraic possibilities for second fundamental forms of 4-dimensional austere submanifolds were classified by Bryant, into three types which we label A, B, and C. In this paper, we show that type A submanifolds correspond exactly to real Kahler submanifolds, we construct new examples of such submanifolds in R^6 and R^10, and we obtain classification results on submanifolds of types B and C with maximal second fundamental forms.
For a given manifold $M$ we consider the non-linear Grassmann manifold $Gr_n(M)$ of $n$-dimensional submanifolds in $M$. A closed $(n+2)$-form on $M$ gives rise to a closed 2-form on $Gr_n(M)$. If the original form was integral, the 2-form will be the curvature of a principal $S^1$-bundle over $Gr_n(M)$. Using this $S^1$-bundle one obtains central extensions for certain groups of diffeomorphisms of $M$. We can realize $Gr_{m-2}(M)$ as coadjoint orbits of the extended group of exact volume preserving diffeomorphisms and the symplectic Grassmannians $SGr_{2k}(M)$ as coadjoint orbits in the group…
We classify 4-dimensional austere submanifolds in Euclidean space ruled by 2-planes. The algebraic possibilities for second fundamental forms of an austere 4-fold M were classified by Bryant, falling into three types which we label A, B, and C. We show that if M is 2-ruled of Type A, then the ruling map from M into the Grassmannian of 2-planes in R^n is holomorphic, and we give a construction for M starting with a holomorphic curve in an appropriate twistor space. If M is 2-ruled of Type B, then M is either a generalized helicoid in R^6 or the product of two classical helicoids in R^3. If M is…
We show that if the variety of minimal rational tangents (VMRT) of a uniruled projective manifold at a general point is projectively equivalent to that of a symplectic or an odd-symplectic Grassmannian, the germ of a general minimal rational curve is biholomorphic to the germ of a general line in a presymplectic Grassmannian. As an application, we characterize symplectic and odd-symplectic Grassmannians, among Fano manifolds of Picard number 1, by their VMRT at a general point and prove their rigidity under global Kähler deformation. Analogous results for $G/P$ associated with a long root were…
We develop a holonomy reduction procedure for general Cartan geometries. We show that, given a reduction of holonomy, the underlying manifold naturally decomposes into a disjoint union of initial submanifolds. Each such submanifold corresponds to an orbit of the holonomy group on the modelling homogeneous space and carries a canonical induced Cartan geometry. The result can therefore be understood as a `curved orbit decomposition'. The theory is then applied to the study of several invariant overdetermined differential equations in projective, conformal and CR-geometry. This makes use of an eq…
The present article is the final part of a series on the classification of the totally geodesic submanifolds of the irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces of rank 2. After this problem has been solved for the 2-Grassmannians in my previous papers cited in the present paper as [K1] and [K2], and for the space SU(3)/SO(3) in [K3], Section 6, we now solve the classification for the remaining irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces of rank 2 and compact type: SU(6)/Sp(3), SO(10)/U(5), E6/(U(1)*Spin(10)), E6/F4, G2/SO(4), SU(3), Sp(2) and G2. Similarly as for the spaces already investigated in the…
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.
In this paper we introduce and study the notion of plurisubharmonic functions in calibrated geometry. These functions generalize the classical plurisubharmonic functions from complex geometry and enjoy many of their important properties. Moreover, they exist in abundance whereas the corresponding pluriharmonics are generally quite scarce. A number of the results established in complex analysis via plurisubharmonic functions are extended to calibrated manifolds. This paper investigates, in depth, questions of: pseudo-convexity and cores, positive phi-currents, Duval-Sibony Duality, and boundari…
In this article, we solve the equivalence problem for 2--nondegenerate CR geometries that have (at every point) a homogeneous space $G/H$ as a maximally symmetric model for $G$ simple real Lie group of CR automorphisms. This completes the classification of real submanifolds in complex space that are maximally symmetric models with a real simple CR automorphism group. In particular, we construct (local) embeddings of these models into complex space.
We introduce two families of soliton hierarchies: the twisted hierarchies associated to symmetric spaces. The Lax pairs of these two hierarchies are Laurent polynomials in the spectral variable. Our constructions gives a hierarchy of commuting flows for the generalized sine-Gordon equation (GSGE), which is the Gauss-Codazzi equation for n-dimensional submanifolds in Euclidean (2n-1)-space with constant sectional curvature -1. In fact, the GSGE is the first order system associated to a twisted Grassmannian system. We also study symmetries for the GSGE.
We investigate dispersionless integrable systems in 3D associated with fourfolds in the Grassmannian Gr(3,5). Such systems appear in numerous applications in continuum mechanics, general relativity and differential geometry, and include such well-known examples as the dispersionless Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation, the Boyer-Finley equation, etc. We prove the equivalence of the four different approaches to integrability, revealing a remarkable correspondence with Einstein-Weyl geometry and the theory of GL(2,R) structures.
In this paper, we prove various results on the topology of the Grassmannian of oriented 3-planes in Euclidean 6-space and compute its cohomology ring. We give self-contained proofs. These spaces come up when studying submanifolds of manifolds with calibrated geometries. We collect these results here for the sake of completeness. As applications of our algebraic topological study we present some results on special Lagrangian-free embeddings of surfaces and 3-manifolds into the Euclidean 4 and 6-space.
It is very well known that Hopf real hypersurfaces in the complex projective space can be locally characterized as tubes over complex submanifolds. This also holds true for some, but not all, Hopf real hypersurfaces in the complex hyperbolic space. The main goal of this paper is to show, in a unified way, how to construct Hopf real hypersurfaces in the complex hyperbolic space from a horizontal submanifold in one of the three twistor spaces of the indefinite complex $2$-plane Grassmannian with respect to the natural para-quaternionic Kähler structure. We also identify these twistor spaces with…
We consider the space $\mathcal{M}$ of Euclidean similarity classes of framed loops in $\mathbb{R}^3$. Framed loop space is shown to be an infinite-dimensional Kähler manifold by identifying it with a complex Grassmannian. We show that the space of isometrically immersed loops studied by Millson and Zombro is realized as the symplectic reduction of $\mathcal{M}$ by the action of the based loop group of the circle, giving a smooth version of a result of Hausmann and Knutson on polygon space. The identification with a Grassmannian allows us to describe the geodesics of $\mathcal{M}$ explicitly. …
For Hitchin's generalised geometries we introduce and analyse the concept of a structured submanifold which encapsulates the classical notion of a calibrated submanifold. Under a suitable integrability condition on the ambient geometry, these generalised calibrated cycles minimise a functional occurring as D-brane energy in type II string theories, involving both so-called NS-NS- and R-R-fields. Further, we investigate the behaviour of calibrated cycles under T-duality and construct non-trivial examples.
Let $Gr(d,n)$ be the Grassmannian of $d$-dimensional linear subspaces of an $n$-dimensional vector space $V$. A submanifold $X\subset Gr(d, n)$ gives rise to a differential system $Σ(X)$ that governs $d$-dimensional submanifolds of $V$ whose Gaussian image is contained in $X$. We investigate a special case of this construction where $X$ is a sixfold in $Gr(4, 6)$. The corresponding system $Σ(X)$ reduces to a pair of first-order PDEs for 2 functions of 4 independent variables. Equations of this type arise in self-dual Ricci-flat geometry. Our main result is a complete description of integrable …
In this article we discuss the geometry of moduli spaces of (1) flat bundles over special Lagrangian submanifolds and (2) deformed Hermitian-Yang-Mills bundles over complex submanifolds in Calabi-Yau manifolds. These moduli spaces reflect the geometry of the Calabi-Yau itself like a mirror. Strominger, Yau and Zaslow conjecture that the mirror Calabi-Yau manifold is such a moduli space and they argue that the mirror symmetry duality is a Fourier-Mukai transformation. We review various aspects of the mirror symmetry conjecture and discuss a geometric approach in proving it. The existence of rig…
The chains studied in this paper generalize Chern-Moser chains for CR structures. They form a distinguished family of one dimensional submanifolds in manifolds endowed with a parabolic contact structure. Both the parabolic contact structure and the system of chains can be equivalently encoded as Cartan geometries (of different types). The aim of this paper is to study the relation between these two Cartan geometries for Lagrangean contact structures and partially integrable almost CR structures. We develop a general method for extending Cartan geometries which generalizes the Cartan geometry i…
