In this paper we introduce a new algebraic device, which enables us to treat the quaternions as though they were a commutative field. This is of interest both for its own sake, and because it can be applied to develop an "algebraic geometry" of noncompact hypercomplex manifolds.
The basic building blocks of the theory are AH modules, which should be thought of "vector spaces" over the quaternions. An AH-module is a left module over the quaternions H, together with a real vector subspace. There are natural concepts of linear map and tensor product of AH-modules, which have many of the properties of linear maps and tensor products of vector spaces. However, the definition of tensor product of AH-modules is strange and has some unexpected properties.
Let M be a hypercomplex manifold. Then there is a natural class of H-valued "q-holomorphic functions" on M, satisfying a quaternionic analogue of the Cauchy-Riemann equations, which are analogues of holomorphic functions on complex manifolds. The vector space of q-holomorphic functions A on M is an AH-module.
Now some pairs of q-holomorphic functions can be multiplied together to get another q-holomorphic function, but other pairs cannot. So A has a kind of partial algebra structure. It turns out that this structure can be very neatly described using the quaternionic tensor product and AH-morphisms, and that A has the structure of an "H-algebra", a quaternionic analogue of commutative algebra.
Given a quaternionic manifold $M$ with a certain $\mathrm{U}(1)$-symmetry, we construct a hypercomplex manifold $M'$ of the same dimension. This construction generalizes the quaternionic Kähler/hyper-Kähler-correspondence. As an example of this construction, we obtain a compact homogeneous hypercomplex manifold which does not admit any hyper-Kähler structure. Therefore our construction is a proper generalization of the quaternionic Kähler/hyper-Kähler-correspondence.
We study the quaternionic Calabi-Yau problem in HKT geometry introduced by Alesker and Verbitsky on 8-dimensional 2-step nilmanifolds with an abelian hypercomplex structure. We show that the quaternionic Monge-Ampère equation on these manifolds can always be solved for every data which is invariant by the action of a 3-dimensional torus.
We review the map between hypercomplex manifolds that admit a closed homothetic Killing vector (i.e. `conformal hypercomplex' manifolds) and quaternionic manifolds of 1 dimension less. This map is related to a method for constructing supergravity theories using superconformal techniques. An explicit relation between the structure of these manifolds is presented, including curvatures and symmetries. An important role is played by `ξtransformations', relating connections on quaternionic manifolds, and a new type `\hatξtransformations' relating complex structures on conformal hypercomplex manifol…
A hypercomplex manifold $M$ is a manifold equipped with three complex structures satisfying quaternionic relations. Such a manifold admits a canonical torsion-free connection preserving the quaternion action, called Obata connection. A quaternionic Hermitian metric is a Riemannian metric on which is invariant with respect to unitary quaternions. Such a metric is called HKT if it is locally obtained as a Hessian of a function averaged with quaternions. HKT metric is a natural analogue of a Kahler metric on a complex manifold. We push this analogy further, proving a quaternionic analogue of Buch…
We review the general properties of target spaces of hypermultiplets, which are quaternionic-like manifolds, and discuss the relations between these manifolds and their symmetry generators. We explicitly construct a one-to-one map between conformal hypercomplex manifolds (i.e. those that have a closed homothetic Killing vector) and quaternionic manifolds of one quaternionic dimension less. An important role is played by 'ξ-transformations', relating complex structures on conformal hypercomplex manifolds and connections on quaternionic manifolds. In this map, the subclass of conformal hyper-Kae…
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 study quaternionic Bott-Chern cohomology on compact hypercomplex manifolds and adapt some results from complex geometry to the quaternionic setting. For instance, we prove a criterion for the existence of HKT metrics on compact hypercomplex manifolds of real dimension 8 analogous to the one given by Teleman [35] and Angella-Dloussky-Tomassini [3] for compact complex surfaces.
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…
Given a hypercomplex manifold with a rotating vector field (and additional data), we construct a conical hypercomplex manifold. As a consequence, we associate a quaternionic manifold to a hypercomplex manifold of the same dimension with a rotating vector field. This is a generalization of the HK/QK-correspondence. As an application, we show that a quaternionic manifold can be associated to a conical special complex manifold of half its dimension. Furthermore, a projective special complex manifold (with a canonical c-projective structure) associates with a quaternionic manifold. The latter is a…
A hypercomplex manifold is a manifold equipped with a triple of complex structures satisfying the quaternionic relations. A holomorphic Lagrangian variety on a hypercomplex manifold with trivial canonical bundle is a holomorphic subvariety which is calibrated by a form associated with the holomorphic volume form; this notion is a generalization of the usual holomorphic Lagrangian subvarieties known in hyperkaehler geometry. An HKT (hyperkaehler with torsion) metric on a hypercomplex manifold is a metric determined by a local potential, in a similar way to the Kaehler metric. We prove that a ba…
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 nilmanifold is a quotient of a nilpotent group $G$ by a co-compact discrete subgroup. A complex nilmanifold is one which is equipped with a $G$-invariant complex structure. We prove that a complex nilmanifold has trivial canonical bundle. This is used to study hypercomplex nilmanifolds (nilmanifolds with a triple of $G$-invariant complex structures which satisfy quaternionic relations). We prove that a hypercomplex nilmanifold admits an HKT (hyperkahler with torsion) metric if and only if the underlying hypercomplex structure is abelian. Moreover, any $G$-invariant HKT-metric on a nilmanifol…
Almost hypercomplex manifolds with Hermitian and Norden metrics and more specially the corresponding quaternionic Kaehler manifolds are considered. Some necessary and sufficient conditions the investigated manifolds be isotropic hyper-Kaehlerian and flat are found. It is proved that the quaternionic Kaehler manifolds with the considered metric structure are Einstein for dimension at least 8. The class of the non-hyper-Kaehler quaternionic Kaehler manifold of the considered type is determined.
Unit tangent bundles $UM$ of semi-Riemannian manifolds $M$ are shown to be examples of dynamical Legendrian contact structures, which were defined in recent work [25] of Sykes-Zelenko to generalize leaf spaces of 2-nondegenerate CR manifolds. In doing so, Sykes-Zelenko extended the classification in Porter-Zelenko [20] of regular, 2-nondegenerate CR structures to those that can be recovered from their leaf space. The present paper treats dynamical Legendrian contact structures associated with 2-nondegenerate CR structures which were called "strongly regular" in Porter-Zelenko, named "L-contact…
We characterise the integrability of any co-CR quaternionic structure in terms of the curvature and a generalized torsion of the connection. Also, we apply this result to obtain, for example, the following. (1) New co-CR quaternionic structures built on vector bundles over a quaternionic manifold M, whose twistor spaces are holomorphic vector bundles over the twistor space Z of M. Moreover, all the holomorphic vector bundles over Z, which are positive and isotypic when restricted to the twistor lines, are obtained this way. (2) Under generic dimensional conditions, any manifold endowed with an…
We show that, in quaternionic geometry, the Ward transform is a manifestation of the functoriality of the basic correspondence between the $ρ$-quaternionic manifolds and their twistor spaces. We apply this fact, together with the Penrose transform, to obtain existence results for hypercomplex manifolds and for harmonic morphisms from hyper-Kaehler manifolds.
In this paper, firstly we study some left invariant Riemannian metrics on para-hypercomplex 4-dimensional Lie groups. In each Lie group, the Levi-Civita connection and sectional curvature have been given explicitly. We also show these spaces have constant negative scalar curvatures. Then by using left invariant Riemannian metrics introduced in the first part, we construct some left invariant Randers metrics of Berwald type. The explicit formulas for computing flag curvature have been obtained in all cases. Some of these Finsler Lie groups are of non-positive flag curvature.
The paper develops the fundamentals of quaternionic holomorphic curve theory. The holomorphic functions in this theory are conformal maps from a Riemann surface into the 4-sphere, i.e., the quaternionic projective line. Basic results such as the Riemann-Roch Theorem for quaternionic holomorphic vector bundles, the Kodaira embedding and the Pluecker relations for linear systems are proven. Interpretations of these results in terms of the differential geometry of surfaces in 3- and 4-space are hinted at throughout the paper. Applications to estimates of the Willmore functional on constant mean c…
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 discuss the Euclidean limit of hyperbolic SU(2)-monopoles, framed at infinity, from the point of view of pluricomplex geometry. More generally, we discuss the geometry of hypercomplex manifolds arising as limits of pluricomplex manifolds.
Tubular neighborhoods play an important role in differential topology. We have applied these constructions to geometry of almost Hermitian manifolds. At first, we consider deformations of tensor structures on a normal tubular neighborhood of a submanifold in a Riemannian manifold.Further, an almost hyperHermitian structure has been constructed on the tangent bundle TM with help of the Riemannian connection of an almost Hermitian structure on a manifold M then, we consider an embedding of the almost Hermitian manifold M in the corresponding normal tubular neighborhood of the null section in the…
An important problem in quaternionic hyperbolic geometry is to classify ordered $m$-tuples of pairwise distinct points in the closure of quaternionic hyperbolic n-space, $\overline{{\bf H}_\bh^n}$, up to congruence in the holomorphic isometry group ${\rm PSp}(n,1)$ of ${\bf H}_\bh^n$. In this paper we concentrate on two cases: $m=3$ in $\overline{{\bf H}_\bh^n}$ and $m=4$ on $\partial{\bf H}_\bh^n$ for $n\geq 2$. New geometric invariants and several distance formulas in quaternionic hyperbolic geometry are introduced and studied for this problem. The congruence classes are completely described…
We investigate the geometry of the Kodaira moduli space $M$ of sections of $π:Z\to {\mathbb P}^1$, the normal bundle of which is allowed to jump from ${\mathcal O}(1)^{n}$ to ${\mathcal O}(1)^{n-2m}\oplus {\mathcal O}(2)^{m}\oplus {\mathcal O}^{m}$. In particular, we identify the natural assumptions which guarantee that the Obata connection of the hypercomplex part of $M$ extends to a logarithmic connection on $M$.
Modelled on a real hypersurface in a quaternionic manifold, we introduce a quaternionic analogue of CR structure, called quaternionic CR structure. We define the strong pseudoconvexity of this structure as well as the notion of quaternionic pseudohermitian structure. Following the construction of the Tanaka-Webster connection in complex CR geometry, we construct a canonical connection associated with a quaternionic pseudohermitian structure, when the underlying quaternionic CR structure satisfies the ultra-pseudoconvexity which is stronger than the strong pseudoconvexity. Comparison to Biquard…
We study the Penrose transform for the `quaternionic objects' whose twistor spaces are complex manifolds endowed with locally complete families of embedded Riemann spheres with positive normal bundles.
Motivated by the analogies between the projective and the almost quaternionic geometries, we study the generalized planar curves and mappings. We follow, recover, and extend the classical approach as developed by Mikes and Sinyukov. Then we exploit the impact of the general results in the almost quaternionic geometry. In particular we show, that the natural class of H--planar curves coincides with the class of all geodesics of the so called Weyl connections and preserving this class turns out to be the necessary and sufficient condition on diffeomorphisms to become morphisms of almost quaterni…
The fibre bundles adjoint to generalized almost quaternionic structures are studied. The most important classes of generalized almost quaternionic manifolds are considered.
Almost para-quaternionic structures on smooth manifolds of dimension $2n$ are equivalent to almost Grassmannian structures of type $(2,n)$. We remind the equivalence and exhibit some interrelations between subjects that were previously studied independently from the para-quaternionic and the Grassmannian point of view. In particular, we relate the respective normalization conditions, distinguished curves and twistor constructions.
We describe the 8-dimensional Wolf spaces as cohomogeneity one SU(3)-manifolds, and discover perturbations of the quaternion-kaehler metric on the simply-connected 8-manifold G_2/SO(4) that carry a closed fundamental 4-form but are not Einstein.
We provide a general criteria for the integrability of the almost para-quaternionic structure of an almost para-quaternionic manifold (M,P) of dimension bigger or equal to eight, in terms of the integrability of two or three sections of the defining rank three vector bundle P. We relate it with the integrability of the canonical almost complex structure of the twistor space and to the integrability of the canonical almost para-complex structure of the reflector space of (M,P). We show that (M, P) has plenty of locally defined, compatible, complex and para-complex structures, provided that P is…
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 …
We establish quaternionic contact (qc) versions of the so called Almost Schur Lemma, which give estimations of the qc scalar curvature on a compact qc manifold to be a constant in terms of the norm of the $[-1]$-component and the norm of the trace-free part of the $[3]$-component of the horizontal qc Ricci tensor and the torsion endomorphism, under certain positivity conditions.
Notions of self-dual and anti self-dual almost quaternionic structures are introduced. The complete classification of self-dual and anti self-dual generalized Kaehler manifolds is obtained.
This paper describes the foundations of a differential geometry of a quaternionic curves. The Frenet-Serret equations and the evolutes and evolvents of a particular quaternionic curve are accordingly determined. This new formulation takes benefit of the quaternionic structure and the results are much simpler than the present formulations of quaternionic curves.
This is the first comprehensive introduction to the authors' recent attempts toward a better understanding of the global concepts behind spinor representations of surfaces in 3-space. The important new aspect is a quaternionic-valued function theory, whose "meromorphic functions" are conformal maps into quaternions, which extends the classical complex function theory on Riemann surfaces. The first results along these lines were presented at the ICM 98 in Berlin. An important new invariant of the quaternionic holomorphic theory is the Willmore energy. For quaternionic holomorphic curves in the …
The Alesker-Poincare pairing for smooth valuations on manifolds is expressed in terms of the Rumin differential operator acting on the cosphere-bundle. It is shown that the derivation operator, the signature operator and the Laplace operator acting on smooth valuations are formally self-adjoint with respect to this pairing. As an application, the product structure of the space of SU(2)- and translation invariant valuations on the quaternionic line is described. The principal kinematic formula on the quaternionic line is stated and proved.
In this article we discuss the interaction between the geometry of a quaternion-Kahler manifold M and that of the Grassmannian G(3,g) of oriented 3-dimensional subspaces of a compact Lie algebra g. This interplay is described mainly through the moment mapping induced by the action of a group G of quaternionic isometries on M. We give an alternative expression for the endomorphisms I_{1},I_{2},I_{3}, both in terms of the holonomy representation of M and the structure of the Grassmannian's tangent space. A correspondence between the solutions of respective twistor-type equations on M and G(3,g) …
Following the Cartans's original method of equivalence supported by methods of parabolic geometry, we provide a complete solution for the equivalence problem of quaternionic contact structures, that is, the problem of finding a complete system of differential invariants for two quaternionic contact manifolds to be locally diffeomorphic. This includes an explicit construction of the corresponding Cartan geometry and detailed information on all curvature components.
The purpose of this paper is to describe certain natural 4-vector fields on quaternionic flag manifolds, which geometrically determine the Bruhat cell decomposition. This structure naturally descends from the symplectic group, where it is related to the dressing action given by the Iwasawa decomposition of the general linear group over the quaternions.
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.
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), QKT-connection. We study the geometry of QKT-connections. We find conditions to the existence of a QKT-connection and prove that if it exists it is unique. Studying conformal transformations we obtain a lot of (compact) examples of QKT manifolds. We present a (local) description of 4-dimensional homogeneous QKT structures relying on the known result of naturally reductive homogeneous Riemannian manifolds. We con…
We consider the moduli space M_r of polygons with fixed side lengths in five-dimensional eucledian space. We analyze the local structure of its singularities and exhibit a real-analytic equivalence between M_r and a weighted quotient of the n-fold product of the quaternionic projective line HP^1 by the diagonal PSL(2,H)-action. We explore the relation between M_r and the fixed point set of an anti-symplectic involution on a GIT quotient Gr(2,4)^n/SL(4,C). We generalize the Gel'fand-MacPherson correspondence to more general complex Grassmannians and to the quaternionic context, and realize our …
In this note, we prove that the CR manifold which is induced from the canonical parabolic geometry of a quaternionic contact (qc) manifold via a Fefferman-type construction is equivalent to the CR twistor space of the qc manifold defined by O. Biquard.
A tensor invariant is defined on a quaternionic contact manifold in terms of the curvature and torsion of the Biquard connection involving derivatives up to third order of the contact form. This tensor, called quaternionic contact conformal curvature, is similar to the Weyl conformal curvature in Riemannian geometry and to the Chern-Moser tensor in CR geometry. It is shown that a quaternionic contact manifold is locally quaternionic contact conformal to the standard flat quaternionic contact structure on the quaternionic Heisenberg group, or equivalently, to the standard 3-sasakian structure o…
We introduce the notion of abelian almost contact structures on an odd dimensional real Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$. This a sufficient condition for the structure to be normal. We investigate correspondences with even dimensional real Lie algebras endowed with an abelian complex structure, and with Kähler Lie algebras when $\mathfrak g$ carries a compatible inner product. The classification of 5-dimensional Sasakian Lie algebras with abelian structure is obtained. Later, we introduce and study abelian almost 3-contact structures on real Lie algebras of dimension $4n+3$. These are given by triple…
Let Z be a compact complex (2n+1)-manifold which carries a {\em complex contact structure}, meaning a codimension-1 holomorphic sub-bundle D of TZ which is maximally non-integrable. If Z admits a Kähler-Einstein metric of positive scalar curvature, we show that it is the Salamon twistor space of a quaternion-Kähler manifold (M^{4n}, g). If Z also admits a second complex contact structure, then Z= CP_{2n+1}. As an application, we give several new characterizations of the Riemannian manifold HP_n=Sp(n+1)/( Sp(n)\times Sp(1)).
