Recently twisted K-theory has received much attention due to its applications in string theory and the announced result by Freed, Hopkins and Telemann relating the twisted equivariant K-theory of a compact Lie group to its Verlinde algebra. Rather than considering gerbes as separate objects, in twisted K-theory one considers a gerbe as being part of the data for a twisted vector bundle. There is also a notion of a connection in a twisted vector bundle and Kapustin has studied some aspects of the holonomy of such connections. In this note I study the holonomy of connections in twisted principal bundles and show that it can best be defined as a functor rather than a map. Even for the case which Kapustin studied the results in this paper give a more general picture.
We introduce a notion of twisted pure spinor in order to characterize, in a unified way, all the special Riemannian holonomy groups just as a classical pure spinor characterizes the special Kähler holonomy. Motivated by certain curvature identities satisfied by manifolds admitting parallel twisted pure spinors, we also introduce the Clifford monopole equations as a natural geometric generalization of the Seiberg-Witten equations. We show that they restrict to the Seiberg-Witten equations in 4 dimensions, and that they admit non-trivial solutions on manifolds with special Riemannian holonomy.
This paper is a step towards realizing T-duality and Hori formulae for loop spaces. Here we prove T-duality and Hori formulae for winding q-loop spaces, which are infinite dimensional subspaces of loop spaces.
We give a new construction of the holonomy groupoid of a regular foliation in terms of a partial connection on a diffeological principal bundle of germs of transverse parametrisations. We extend these ideas to construct a novel holonomy groupoid for any foliated bundle, which we prove sits at the top of a hierarchy of diffeological jet holonomy groupoids associated to the foliated bundle.
Our main aim is to associate a holonomy Lie groupoid to the connective structure of an abelian gerbe. The construction has analogies with a procedure for the holonomy Lie groupoid of a foliation, in using a locally Lie groupoid and a globalisation procedure. We show that path connections and 2-holonomy on line bundles may be formulated using the notion of a connection pair on a double category, due to Brown-Spencer, but now formulated in terms of double groupoids using the thin fundamental groupoids introduced by Caetano-Mackaay-Picken. To obtain a locally Lie groupoid to which globalisation a…
We define the equivariant holonomy of an invariant connection on a principal U(1)-bundle. The properties of the ordinary holonomy are generalized to the equivariant setting. In particular, equivariant U(1)-bundles with connection are shown to be classified by its equivariant holonomy modulo isomorphisms. We also show that the equivariant holonomy can be used to obtain results about equivariant prequantization and anomaly cancellation.
In this paper we introduce a generalisation of the notion of holonomy for connections over a bundle map on a principal fibre bundle. We prove that, as in the standard theory on principal connections, the holonomy groups are Lie subgroups of the structure group of the principle fibre bundle and we also derive a straightforward generalisation of the Reduction Theorem.
Hermitian bundle gerbes with connection are geometric objects for which a notion of surface holonomy can be defined for closed oriented surfaces. We systematically introduce bundle gerbes by closing the pre-stack of trivial bundle gerbes under descent. Inspired by structures arising in a representation theoretic approach to rational conformal field theories, we introduce geometric structure that is appropriate to define surface holonomy in more general situations: Jandl gerbes for unoriented surfaces, D-branes for surfaces with boundaries, and bi-branes for surfaces with defect lines.
We give a new, connected-sum-like construction of Riemannian metrics with special holonomy G_2 on compact 7-manifolds. The construction is based on a gluing theorem for appropriate elliptic partial differential equations. As a prerequisite, we also obtain asymptotically cylindrical Riemannian manifolds with holonomy SU(3) building up on the work of Tian and Yau. Examples of new topological types of compact 7-manifolds with holonomy G_2 are constructed using Fano 3-folds.
The Wess-Zumino term in two-dimensional conformal field theory is best understood as a surface holonomy of a bundle gerbe. We define additional structure for a bundle gerbe that allows to extend the notion of surface holonomy to unoriented surfaces. This provides a candidate for the Wess-Zumino term for WZW models on unoriented surfaces. Our ansatz reproduces some results known from the algebraic approach to WZW models.
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 construct propose an anzatz for Spin(7) metrics as an R-bundle over closed G2 structures. These G2 structures are R3 bundles over 4-dimensional compact quaternion Kahler spaces. The inspiration for the anzatz metric comes from the Bryant-Salamon construction of G2 holonomy metrics and from the fact that the twistor space of any compact quaternion Kahler space is Kahler-Einstein. The reduction of the holonomy to a subgroup of Spin(7) gives non linear system relating three unknown functions of one variable. We obtain a particular solution and we find that the resulting metric is a Calabi-Yau …
Let (M,I,J,K) be a compact hypercomplex manifold admitting an HKT-metric. Assume that the canonical bundle of (M,I) is trivial as a holomorphic line bundle. We show that the holonomy of Obata connection on M is contained in SL(n,H). In Appendix we apply these arguments to compact nilmanifolds equipped with abelian hypercomplex structures, showing that such manifolds have holonomy in SL(n,H).
This paper is concerned with the holonomy of a class of spaces which includes Landsberg spaces of Finsler geometry. The methods used are those of Lie groupoids and algebroids as developed by Mackenzie. We prove a version of the Ambrose-Singer Theorem for such spaces. The paper ends with a discussion of how the results may be extended to Finsler spaces and homogeneous nonlinear connections in general.
We completely explore the system of ODE's which is equivalent to the existence of a parallel $Spin(7)$-structure on the cone over a 7-dimensional 3-Sasakian manifold. The one-dimensional family of solutions of this system is constructed. The solutions of this family correspond to metrics with holonomy SU(4) which generalize the Calabi metrics.
We define a notion of connection in a fibre bundle that is compatible with a singular foliation of the base. Fibre bundles equipped with such connections are in plentiful supply, arising naturally for any Lie groupoid-equivariant bundle, and simultaneously generalising regularly foliated bundles in the sense of Kamber-Tondeur and singular foliations. We define hierarchies of diffeological holonomy groupoids associated to such bundles, which arise from the parallel transport of jet/germinal conservation laws. We show that the groupoids associated in this manner to trivial singularly foliated bu…
We show that the holonomy invariance of a function on the tangent bundle of a manifold, together with very mild regularity conditions on the function, is equivalent to the existence of local parallelisms compatible with the function in a natural way. Thus, in particular, we obtain a characterization of generalized Berwald manifolds. We also construct a simple example of a generalized Berwald manifold which is not Berwald.
We show that the Igusa-Klein topological torsion and the Bismut-Lott analytic torsion are equivalent for any flat vector bundle whose holonomy is a finite subgroup of $\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbb{Q})$. Our proof uses Artin's induction theorem in representation theory to reduce the problem to the special case of trivial flat line bundles, which is a recent result of Puchol, Zhu and the second author. The idea of using Artin's induction theorem appeared in a paper of Ohrt on the same topic, of which our present work is an improvement.
We describe the infinitesimal moduli space of pairs $(Y, V)$ where $Y$ is a manifold with $G_2$ holonomy, and $V$ is a vector bundle on $Y$ with an instanton connection. These structures arise in connection to the moduli space of heterotic string compactifications on compact and non-compact seven dimensional spaces, e.g. domain walls. Employing the canonical $G_2$ cohomology developed by Reyes-Carrión and Fernández and Ugarte, we show that the moduli space decomposes into the sum of the bundle moduli $H^1_{\check{d}_A}(Y,\mathrm{End}(V))$ plus the moduli of the $G_2$ structure preserving the i…
This paper is a continuation of math.DG/0408005. We first construct special Lagrangian submanifolds of the Ricci-flat Stenzel metric (of holonomy SU(n)) on the cotangent bundle of S^n by looking at the conormal bundle of appropriate submanifolds of S^n. We find that the condition for the conormal bundle to be special Lagrangian is the same as that discovered by Harvey-Lawson for submanifolds in R^n in their pioneering paper. We also construct calibrated submanifolds in complete metrics with special holonomy G_2 and Spin(7) discovered by Bryant and Salamon on the total spaces of appropriate bun…
For the ``Hopf bundle'' $S^1\to S^{2n,1} \to {\mathbb H}^n$, horizontal lifts of simple closed curves are studied. Let $γ$ be a piecewise smooth, simple closed curve on a complete totally geodesic surface $S$ in the base space. Then the holonomy displacement along $γ$ is given by $$ V(γ)=e^{λA(γ) i} $$ where $A(γ)$ is the area of the region on the surface $S$ surrounded by $γ$; $λ=1/2 $ or 0 depending on whether $S$ is a complex submanifold or not. We also carry out a similar investigation for the complex Heisenberg group ${\mathbb R} \to {\mathcal H}^{2n+1} \to {\mathbb C}^n$.
A classic theorem in the theory of connections on principal fiber bundles states that the evaluation of all holonomy functions gives enough information to characterize the bundle structure (among those sharing the same structure group and base manifold) and the connection up to a bundle equivalence map. This result and other important properties of holonomy functions has encouraged their use as the primary ingredient for the construction of families of quantum gauge theories. However, in these applications often the set of holonomy functions used is a discrete proper subset of the set of holon…
An SU(3)- or SU(1,2)-structure on a 6-dimensional manifold N^6 can be defined as a pair of a 2-form omega and a 3-form rho. We prove that any analytic SU(3)- or SU(1,2)-structure on N^6 with d omega^2 =0 can be extended to a parallel Spin(7)- or Spin_0(3,4)-structure Phi that is defined on the trivial disc bundle N^6\times B_epsilon(0) for a sufficiently small epsilon>0. Furthermore, we show by an example that Phi is not uniquely determined by (omega,rho) and discuss if our result can be generalized to non-trivial bundles.
We present a construction of closed 7-manifolds of holonomy G_2, which generalises Kovalev's twisted connected sums by taking quotients of the pieces in the construction before gluing. This makes it possible to realise a wider range of topological types, and Crowley, Goette and the author arXiv:1505.02734 use this to exhibit examples of closed 7-manifolds with disconnected moduli space of holonomy G_2 metrics.
This paper generalizes Bismut's equivariant Chern character to the setting of abelian gerbes. In particular, associated to an abelian gerbe with connection, an equivariantly closed differential form is constructed on the space of maps of a torus into the manifold. These constructions are made explicit using a new local version of the higher Hochschild complex, resulting in differential forms given by iterated integrals. Connections to two dimensional topological field theories are indicated. Similarly, this local higher Hochschild complex is used to calculate the 2-holonomy of an abelian gerbe…
The motivation for this paper stems \cite{CR} from the need to construct explicit isomorphisms of (possibly nontrivial) principal $G$-bundles on the space of loops or, more generally, of paths in some manifold $M$, over which I consider a fixed principal bundle $P$; the aforementioned bundles are then pull-backs of $P$ w.r.t. evaluation maps at different points. The explicit construction of these isomorphisms between pulled-back bundles relies on the notion of {\em parallel transport}. I introduce and discuss extensively at this point the notion of {\em generalized gauge transformation between…
Bryant and Salamon gave a construction of metrics of G2 holonomy on the total space of the bundle of anti-self-dual (ASD) 2-forms over a 4-dimensional self-dual Einstein manifold. We generalise it by considering the total space of an SO(3) bundle (with fibers R^3) over a 4-dimensional base, with a connection on this bundle. We make essentially the same ansatz for the calibrating 3-form, but use the curvature 2-forms instead of the ASD ones. We show that the resulting 3-form defines a metric of G2 holonomy if the connection satisfies a certain second-order PDE. This is exactly the same PDE that…
This paper shows how to construct anomaly free world sheet actions in string theory with $D$-branes. Our method is to use Deligne cohomology and bundle gerbe theory to define geometric objects which are naturally associated to $D$-branes and connections on them. The holonomy of these connections can be used to cancel global anomalies in the world sheet action.
A pp-wave is a Lorentzian manifold with a parallel light-like vector field satisfying a certain curvature condition. We introduce generalisations of pp-waves, on one hand by allowing the vector field to be recurrent and on the other hand by weakening the curvature condition. These generalisations are related to the screen holonomy of the Lorentzian manifold. While pp-waves have a trivial screen holonomy there are no restrictions on the screen holonomy of the manifolds with the weaker curvature condition.
We introduce horizontal holonomy groups, which are groups defined using parallel transport only along curves tangent to a given subbundle $D$ of the tangent bundle. We provide explicit means of computing these holonomy groups by deriving analogues of Ambrose-Singer's and Ozeki's theorems. We then give necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of the horizontal holonomy groups for existence of solutions of two problems on foliated manifolds: determining when a foliation can be either (a) totally geodesic or (b) endowed with a principal bundle structure. The subbundle $D$ plays the role of an…
We study the uniqueness of minimal submanifolds and the stability of the mean curvature flow in several well-known model spaces of manifolds of special holonomy. These include the Stenzel metric on the cotangent bundle of spheres, the Calabi metric on the cotangent bundle of complex projective spaces, and the Bryant--Salamon metrics on vector bundles over certain Einstein manifolds. In particular, we show that the zero sections, as calibrated submanifolds with respect to their respective ambient metrics, are unique among compact minimal submanifolds and are dynamically stable under the mean cu…
Narasimhan and Ramadas showed that the Gribov ambiguity was maximal for the product SU(2) bundle over S^3. Specifically they showed that the holonomy group of the Coulomb connection is dense in the connected component of the identity of the gauge group. Instead of base manifold S^3, we consider here a base manifold with a boundary. In this with-boundary case we must include boundary conditions on the connection forms. We will use the so-called conductor (a.k.a Dirichlet) boundary conditions on connections. With these boundary conditions, we will first show that the space of connections is a C^…
We prove that Fefferman spaces, associated to non--degenerate CR structures of hypersurface type, are characterised, up to local conformal isometry, by the existence of a parallel orthogonal complex structure on the standard tractor bundle. This condition can be equivalently expressed in terms of conformal holonomy. Extracting from this picture the essential consequences at the level of tensor bundles yields an improved, conformally invariant analogue of Sparling's characterisation of Fefferman spaces.
Recently, at least 50 million of novel examples of compact $G_2$ holonomy manifolds have been constructed as twisted connected sums of asymptotically cylindrical Calabi-Yau threefolds. The purpose of this paper is to study mirror symmetry for compactifications of Type II superstrings in this context. We focus on $G_2$ manifolds obtained from building blocks constructed from dual pairs of tops, which are the closest to toric CY hypersurfaces, and formulate the analogue of the Batyrev mirror map for this class of $G_2$ holonomy manifolds, thus obtaining several millions of novel dual superstring…
Categorical bundles provide a natural framework for gauge theories involving multiple gauge groups. Unlike the case of traditional bundles there are distinct notions of triviality, and hence also of local triviality, for categorical bundles. We study categorical principal bundles that are product bundles in the categorical sense, developing the relationship between functorial sections of such bundles and trivializations. We construct functorial cocycles with values in categorical groups using a suitable family of locally defined functions on the object space of the base category. Categorical p…
We show that on an HKT manifold the holonomy of the Obata connection is contained in SL(n,H) if and only if the Lee form is an exact one form. As an application, we show compact HKT manifolds with holomorphically trivial canonical bundle which are not balanced. A simple criterion for non-existence of HKT metric on hypercomplex manifold is given in terms of the Ricci-type tensors of the Obata connection.
Given a principal bundle with a connection, we look for an asymptotic expansion of the holonomy of a loop in terms of its length. This length is defined relative to some Riemannian or sub-Riemannian structure. We are able to give an asymptotic formula that is independent of choice of gauge.
We consider a class of $S^{1}$-bundles whose total space admits a nowhere vanishing recurrent lightlike vector field with respect to a Lorentzian metric. This metric can be modified such that its restricted holonomy group is indecomposable and reducible. We apply Hodge theory to construct examples with Hermitian screen holonomy. Finally, we construct complete pp-waves.
Consider the principal $U(n)$ bundles over Grassmann manifolds $U(n)\rightarrow U(n+m)/U(m) \stackrelπ\rightarrow G_{n,m}$. Given $X \in U_{m,n}(\mathbb{C})$ and a 2-dimensional subspace $\mathfrak{m}' \subset \mathfrak{m} $ $ \subset \mathfrak{u}(m+n), $ assume either $\mathfrak{m}'$ is induced by $X,Y \in U_{m,n}(\mathbb{C})$ with $X^{*}Y = μI_n$ for some $μ\in \mathbb{R}$ or by $X,iX \in U_{m,n}(\mathbb{C})$. Then $\mathfrak{m}'$ gives rise to a complete totally geodesic surface $S$ in the base space. Furthermore, let $γ$ be a piecewise smooth, simple closed curve on $S$ parametrized by $0\…
It has been argued by Witten and others that in the presence of a nontrivial B-field, D-brane charges in type IIB string theories are measured by twisted K-theory. In joint work with Bouwknegt, Carey and Murray it was proved that twisted K-theory is canonically isomorphic to bundle gerbe K-theory, whose elements are ordinary vector bundles on a principal projective unitary bundle, with an action of the bundle gerbe determined by the principal projective unitary bundle. The principal projective unitary bundle is in turn determined by the twist. In this paper, we study in more detail the Chern-W…
In this paper, we study the semi-stable twisted holomorphic vector bundles over compact Gauduchon manifolds. By using Uhlenbeck--Yau's continuity method, we show that the existence of approximate Hermitian--Einstein structure and the semi-stability of twisted holomorphic vector bundles are equivalent over compact Gauduchon manifolds. As its application, we show that the Bogomolov type inequality is also valid for a semi-stable twisted holomorphic vector bundle.
Recently, for a family of ungraded Dirac operators over some space $B$ J. Lott constructed an index gerbe. In the present paper we show (in analogy to the holonomy formula for the determinant bundle in the graded case) that the holonomy of the index gerbe (a priori a hermitean line bundle with connection over the free loop space $LB$) coincides with an adiabatic limit of determinant bundles of an associated family of graded Dirac operators over $LB$.
We use Dirac operator techniques to establish a sharp lower bound for the first eigenvalue of the twisted Dolbeault Laplacian on holomorphic line bundles over compact Kähler manifolds.
Usually bundle gerbes are considered as objects of a 2-groupoid, whose 1-morphisms, called stable isomorphisms, are all invertible. I introduce new 1-morphisms which include stable isomorphisms, trivializations and bundle gerbe modules. They fit into the structure of a 2-category of bundle gerbes, and lead to natural definitions of surface holonomy for closed surfaces, surfaces with boundary, and unoriented closed surfaces.
Consider the principal $U(n)$ bundles over Grassmann manifolds $U(n)\rightarrow U(n+m)/U(m) \stackrelπ\rightarrow G_{n,m}$. Given $X \in U_{m,n}(\mathbb{C})$ and a 2-dimensional subspace $\mathfrak{m}' \subset \mathfrak{m} $ $ \subset \mathfrak{u}(m+n), $ assume either $\mathfrak{m}'$ is induced by $X,Y \in U_{m,n}(\mathbb{C})$ with $X^{*}Y = μI_n$ for some $μ\in \mathbb{R}$ or by $X,iX \in U_{m,n}(\mathbb{C})$. Then $\mathfrak{m}'$ gives rise to a complete totally geodesic surface $S$ in the base space. Furthermore, let $γ$ be a piecewise smooth, simple closed curve on $S$ parametrized by $0\…
Consider $D_{n,m} = U(n,m)/\left(U(n) \times U(m)\right)$, the dual of the the Grassmannian manifold and the principal $U(n)$ bundle over $D_{n,m},$ $U(n)\rightarrow U(n,m)/U(m) \stackrelπ \rightarrow D_{n,m}$. Given a nontrivial $X \in M_{m \times n}(\mathbb{C}),$ consider a two dimensional subspace $\mathfrak{m}' \subset \mathfrak{m} \subset \mathfrak{u}(n,m), $ induced by $X, iX \in M_{m \times n}(\mathbb{C}),$ and a complete oriented surface $S,$ related to $(X,g) \in M_{m \times n}(\mathbb{C}) \times U(n,m), $ in the base space $D_{n,m}$ with a complex structure from $\mathfrak{m}'.$ Let …
We discuss contravariant connections on Poisson manifolds. For vector bundles, the corresponding operational notion of a contravariant derivative had been introduced by Izu Vaisman. We show that these connections play an important role in the study of global properties of Poisson manifolds and we use them to define Poisson holonomy and new invariants of Poisson manifolds.
Let $π:P\to B$ be a smooth $G$-bundle over a compact Riemannian manifold $B$ and $c$ a smooth loop in $B$ of constant seed $a(>0)$, where $G$ is compact semi-simple Lie group. In this paper, we prove that the holonomy map ${\rm hol}_c:\mathcal A_P^{H^s}\to G$ is a homothetic submersion of coefficient $a$, where $s$ is a non-negative integer, $\mathcal A_P^{H^s}$ is the Hilbert space of all $H^s$-connections of the bundle $P$. In particular, we prove that, if $s=0$, then ${\rm hol}_c$ has minimal regularizable fibres. From this fact, we can derive that each component of the inverse image of any…
We give a description of the delocalized twisted cohomology of an orbifold and the Chern character of a twisted vector bundle in terms of supersymmetric Euclidean field theories. This includes the construction of a twist functor for $1|1$-dimensional EFTs from the data of a gerbe with connection.
Consider the principal $U(n)$ bundles over the dual of Grassmann manifolds $U(n)\ra U(n,m)/U(m) \stackrelπ\ra D_{n,m}$. Given a 2-dimensional subspace $\frakm' \subset \frakm $ $ \subset \mathfrak{u}(n,m), $ assume either $\frakm'$ is induced by $X,Y \in U_{m,n}(\bbc)$ with $X^{*}Y = μI_n$ for some $μ\in \bbr$ or by $X,iX \in U_{m,n}(\bbc)$. Then $\frakm'$ gives rise to a complete totally geodesic surface $S$ in the base space. Furthermore, let $γ$ be a piecewise smooth, simple closed curve on $S$ parametrized by $0\leq t\leq 1$, and $\wtγ$ its horizontal lift on the bundle $U(n) \ra π^{-1}(S)…
Let $X$ be a smooth projective variety over $\mathbb C$. We prove that a twisted Higgs vector bundle $(\calE\, ,θ)$ on $X$ admits an Einstein--Hermitian connection if and only if $(\calE\, ,θ)$ is polystable. A similar result for twisted vector bundles (no Higgs fields) was proved by S. Wang in \cite{Wa}. Our approach is simpler.
We study the Dirac spectrum on compact Riemannian spin manifolds $M$ equipped with a metric connection $\nabla$ with skew torsion $T\inΛ^3 M$ in the situation where the tangent bundle splits under the holonomy of $\nabla$ and the torsion of $\nabla$ is of `split' type. We prove an optimal lower bound for the first eigenvalue of the Dirac operator with torsion that generalizes Friedrich's classical Riemannian estimate.
The connection between Yang--Mills gauge fields on $4$-dimensional orientable compact Riemannian manifolds and modified Lévy Laplacians is studied. A modified Lévy Laplacian is obtained from the Lévy Laplacian by the action of an infinite dimensional rotation. Under the assumption that the 4-manifold has a nontrivial restricted holonomy group of the bundle of self-dual 2-forms, the following is proved. There is a modified Lévy Laplacian such that a parallel transport in some vector bundle over the 4-manifold is a solution of the Laplace equation for this modified Lévy Laplacian if and only if …
We prove the Kobayashi-Hitchin correspondence and the approximate Kobayashi-Hitchin correspondence for twisted holomorphic vector bundles on compact Kähler manifolds. More precisely, if $X$ is a compact manifold and $g$ is a Gauduchon metric on $X$, a twisted holomorphic vector bundle on $X$ is $g-$polystable if and only if it is $g-$Hermite-Einstein, and if $X$ is a compact Kähler manifold and $g$ is a Kähler metric on $X$, then a twisted holomorphic vector bundle on $X$ is $g-$semistable if and only if it is approximate $g-$Hermite-Einstein.
We give a construction of $G_2$ and $Spin(7)$ instantons on exceptional holonomy manifolds constructed by Bryant and Salamon, by using an ansatz of spherical symmetry coming from the manifolds being the total spaces of rank-4 vector bundles. In the $G_2$ case, we show that, in the asymptotically conical model, the connections are asymptotic to Hermitian Yang-Mills connections on the nearly Kähler $S^3\times S^3$.
