The exceptional holonomy groups are G2 in 7 dimensions, and Spin(7) in 8 dimensions. Riemannian manifolds with these holonomy groups are Ricci-flat. This is a survey paper on constructions for compact 7- and 8-manifolds with holonomy G2 and Spin(7).
The simplest such constructions work by using techniques from complex geometry and Calabi-Yau analysis to resolve the singularities of a torus orbifold T^7/G or T^8/G, for G a finite group preserving a flat G2 or Spin(7)-structure on T^7 or T^8. There are also more complicated constructions which begin with a Calabi-Yau manifold or orbifold.
All the material in this paper is covered in much more detail in the author's book, "Compact manifolds with special holonomy", Oxford University Press, 2000.
We show that the $G_2$-manifolds and certain ${\rm Spin}(7)$-manifolds are endowed with natural Riemannian twistorial structures. Along the way, the exceptional holonomy representations are reviewed and other related facts are considered.
This is a survey article, to appear in the Proceedings of the 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians. (Revised, with added and updated references.)
The exceptional holonomy groups are G2 in 7 dimensions, and Spin(7) in 8 dimensions. Riemannian manifolds with these holonomy groups are Ricci-flat. This is a survey paper on exceptional holonomy, in two parts. Part I introduces the exceptional holonomy groups, and explains constructions for compact 7- and 8-manifolds with holonomy G2 and Spin(7). The simplest such constructions work by using techniques from complex geometry and Calabi-Yau analysis to resolve the singularities of a torus orbifold T^7/G or T^8/G, for G a finite group preserving a flat G2 or Spin(7)-structure on T^7 or T^8. Ther…
In the paper we introduce a boundary value problem for a G_{2} structure on a 7-manifold with boundary, with prescribed 3-form on the boundary. We make some general observations about this problem and then study in more detail reductions to 4 and 3 dimensions by imposing symmetry. The 3-dimensional reduction admits a dual variational formulation in terms of solutions of the real Monge-Ampere equation
We investigate cohomogeneity-one metrics whose principal orbit is an Aloff-Wallach space SU(3)/U(1). In particular, we are interested in metrics whose holonomy is contained in Spin(7). Complete metrics of this kind which are not product metrics have exactly one singular orbit. We prove classification results for metrics on tubular neighborhoods of various singular orbits. Since the equation for the holonomy reduction has only few explicit solutions, we make use of power series techniques. In order to prove the convergence and the smoothness near the singular orbit, we apply methods developed b…
In this paper we review $G_2$ and $Spin(7)$ geometries in relation with a special type of metric structure which we call warped-like product metric. We present a general ansatz of warped-like product metric as a definition of warped-like product. Considering fiber-base decomposition, the definition of warped-like product is regarded as a generalization of multiply-warped product manifolds, by allowing the fiber metric to be non block diagonal. For some special cases, we present explicit example of $(3+3+2)$ warped-like product manifolds with $Spin(7)$ holonomy of the form $M=F\times B$, where …
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 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 $S^3\times S^3$.
We study mirror symmetry of type II strings on manifolds with the exceptional holonomy groups $G_2$ and Spin(7). Our central result is a construction of mirrors of Spin(7) manifolds realized as generalized connected sums. In parallel to twisted connected sum $G_2$ manifolds, mirrors of such Spin(7) manifolds can be found by applying mirror symmetry to the pair of non-compact manifolds they are glued from. To provide non-trivial checks for such geometric mirror constructions, we give a CFT analysis of mirror maps for Joyce orbifolds in several new instances for both the Spin(7) and the $G_2$ ca…
Let G be one of the Ricci-flat holonomy groups SU(n), Sp(n), Spin(7) or G_2, and M a compact manifold of dimension 2n, 4n, 8 or 7, respectively. We prove that the natural map from the moduli space of torsion-free G-structures on M to the moduli space of Ricci-flat metrics is open, and that the image is a smooth manifold. For the exceptional cases G = Spin(7) and G_2 we extend the result to asymptotically cylindrical manifolds.
A list of possible holonomy groups contained the exceptional, non-compact Lie group $\mathrm{G}_2^{*}$ was provided by Fino and Kath. The classification is due to the corresponding holonomy algebras and divided into Type I, II and III, depending on the dimension of the socle being 1,2 or 3, respectively. It was also shown by Fino and Kath that all algebras of Type I, and by the author that all of Type III are indeed be realizable as a holonomy algebras by metrics with signature (4,3). This article proves that this is also true for all Type II algebras. Thus, there exists a realization by a met…
For a conformal manifold, we describe a new relation between the ambient obstruction tensor of Fefferman and Graham and the holonomy of the normal conformal Cartan connection. This relation allows us to prove several results on the vanishing and the rank of the obstruction tensor, for example for conformal structures admitting twistor spinors or normal conformal Killing forms. As our main tool we introduce the notion of a conformal holonomy distribution and show that its integrability is closely related to the exceptional conformal structures in dimensions five and six that were found by Nurow…
Fino and Kath determined all possible holonomy groups of seven-dimensional pseu\-do-Rie\-man\-nian manifolds contained in the exceptional, non-compact, simple Lie group $\mathrm{G}_2^*$ via the corresponding Lie algebras. They are distinguished by the dimension of their maximal semi-simple subrepresentation on the tangent space, the socle. An algebra is called of Type I, II or III if the socle has dimension 1, 2 or 3 respectively. This article proves that each possible holonomy group of Type III can indeed be realized by a metric of signature $(4,3)$. For this purpose, metrics are explicitly c…
We clarify the global geometry of two 1-parameter families of cohomogeneity one Spin(7) holonomy metrics with generic orbit the Aloff--Wallach space $N(1,-1) \cong \mathrm{SU}(3)/\mathrm{U}(1)$ and singular orbits $S^5$ and $\mathbb{C}P^2$, which at short distance were shown to exist by Reidegeld. The two families fit into the geography of previously known families of cohomogeneity one metrics with exceptional holonomy and provide a Spin(7) analogue of the well-known conifold transition in the setting of Calabi--Yau 3-folds. Furthermore, we discover that there is another transition to families…
Given a generic 2-plane field on a 5-dimensional manifold we consider its (3,2)-signature conformal metric [g] as defined in math.DG/0406400. Every conformal class [g] obtained in this way has very special conformal holonomy: it must be contained in the split-real-form of the exceptional group G_2. In this note we show that for special 2-plane fields on 5-manifolds the conformal classes [g] have the Fefferman-Graham ambient metrics which, contrary to the general Fefferman-Graham metrics given as a formal power series, can be written in an explicit form. We propose to study the relations betwee…
In his 1910 "Five Variables" paper, Cartan solved the equivalence problem for the geometry of $(2, 3, 5)$ distributions and in doing so demonstrated an intimate link between this geometry and the exceptional simple Lie groups of type $\textrm{G}_2$. He claimed to produce a local classification of all such (complex) distributions which have infinitesimal symmetry algebra of dimension at least $6$ (and which satisfy a natural uniformity condition), but in 2013 Doubrov and Govorov showed that this classification misses a particular distribution $\bf E$. We produce a closed form for the Fefferman-…
We prove that the Cauchy problem for parallel null vector fields on smooth Lorentzian manifolds is well posed. The proof is based on the derivation and analysis of suitable hyperbolic evolution equations given in terms of the Ricci tensor and other geometric objects. Moreover, we classify Riemannian manifolds satisfying the constraint conditions for this Cauchy problem. It is then possible to characterise certain holonomy reductions of globally hyperbolic manifolds with parallel null vector in terms of flow equations for Riemannian special holonomy metrics. For exceptional holonomy groups thes…
Metrics of exceptional holonomy are vacuum solutions to the Einstein equation. In this paper we describe manifolds with holonomy contained in Spin(7) preserved by a three-torus symmetry in terms of tri-symplectic geometry of four-manifolds. These complement examples that have appeared in the context of domain wall problems in supergravity.
There are three types of Dolbeault complexes arising from representations of holonomy group on a Riemannian manifold, two of which are dual to each other. Such a complex is elliptic if and only if its generator satisfies an algebraic condition. As applications, we give all Dolbeault complexes on a compact Riemannian manifold with exceptional holonomy. Each cohomology can be described by harmonic forms.
The exceptional holonomy groups are G2 in 7 dimensions, and Spin(7) in 8 dimensions. In a previous paper (Invent. math. 123 (1996), 507-552) the author constructed the first examples of compact 8-manifolds with holonomy Spin(7), by resolving orbifolds T^8/G, where T^8 is the 8-torus and G a finite group of automorphisms of T^8. This paper describes a different construction of compact 8-manifolds with holonomy Spin(7). We start with a Calabi-Yau 4-orbifold Y with isolated singularities, and an isometric, antiholomorphic involution σof Y fixing only the singular points. Let Z=Y/<σ>. Then Z is an…
We study the geometric structure of Lorentzian spin manifolds, which admit imaginary Killing spinors. The discussion is based on the cone construction and a normal form classification of skew-adjoint operators in signature $(2,n-2)$. Derived geometries include Brinkmann spaces, Lorentzian Einstein-Sasaki spaces and certain warped product structures. Exceptional cases with decomposable holonomy of the cone are possible.
Manifolds with exceptional holonomy play an important role in string theory, supergravity and M-theory. It is explained how one can find the holonomy algebra of an arbitrary Riemannian or Lorentzian manifold. Using the de~Rham and Wu decompositions, this problem is reduced to the case of locally indecomposable manifolds. In the case of locally indecomposable Riemannian manifolds, it is known that the holonomy algebra can be found from the analysis of special geometric structures on the manifold. If the holonomy algebra $\mathfrak{g}\subset\mathfrak{so}(1,n-1)$ of a locally indecomposable Loren…
This is the sequel to "Asymptotically Locally Euclidean metrics with holonomy SU(m)", math.AG/9905041. Let G be a subgroup of U(m), and X a resolution of C^m/G. We define a special class of Kahler metrics g on X called Quasi Asymptotically Locally Euclidean (QALE) metrics. These satisfy a complicated asymptotic condition, implying that g is asymptotic to the Euclidean metric on C^m/G away from its singular set. When C^m/G has an isolated singularity, QALE metrics are just ALE metrics. Our main interest is in Ricci-flat QALE Kahler metrics on X. We prove an existence result for Ricci-flat QALE …
Let G be a nontrivial finite subgroup of U(m) acting freely on C^m - 0. Then C^m/G has an isolated quotient singularity at 0. Let X be a resolution of C^m/G, and g a Kahler metric on X. We say that g is Asymptotically Locally Euclidean (ALE) if it is asymptotic in a certain way to the Euclidean metric on C^m/G. In this paper we study Ricci-flat ALE Kahler metrics on X. We show that if G is a subgroup of SU(m) acting freely on C^m - 0, and X is a crepant resolution of C^m/G, then there is a unique Ricci-flat ALE Kahler metric in each Kahler class. This is proved using a version of the Calabi co…
The main aim of the paper is to develop the "Floer theory" associated to Calabi-Yau 3-folds, exending the analogy of Thomas' "holomorphic Casson invariant". The treatment in the body of the paper is largely formal, assuming appropriate compactness properties of moduli spaces of $G_{2}$-instantons, but in the last section we make some remarks about these compactness isssues. Section 3 of the paper contains a general dscussion of deformations of the equations, for gauge field and submanifolds, associated to manifolds with exceptional holonomy.
Starting from a 6-dimensional nilpotent Lie group N endowed with an invariant SU(3) structure, we construct a homogeneous conformally parallel G_2-metric on an associated solvmanifold. We classify all half-flat SU(3) structures that endow the rank-one solvable extension of N with a conformally parallel G_2 structure. By suitably deforming the SU(3) structures obtained, we are able to describe the corresponding non-homogeneous Ricci-flat metrics with holonomy contained in G_2. In the process we also find a new metric with exceptional holonomy.
There is a rich theory of so-called (strict) nearly Kaehler manifolds, almost-Hermitian manifolds generalising the famous almost complex structure on the 6-sphere induced by octonionic multiplication. Nearly Kaehler 6-manifolds play a distinguished role both in the general structure theory and also because of their connection with singular spaces with holonomy group the compact exceptional Lie group G2: the metric cone over a Riemannian 6-manifold M has holonomy contained in G2 if and only if M is a nearly Kaehler 6-manifold. A central problem in the field has been the absence of any complete …
We show that the standard definitions of Sasaki structures have elegant and simplifying interpretations in terms of projective differential geometry. For Sasaki-Einstein structures we use projective geometry to provide a resolution of such structures into geometrically less rigid components; the latter elemental components are separately, complex, orthogonal, and symplectic holonomy reductions of the canonical projective tractor/Cartan connection. This leads to a characterisation of Sasaki-Einstein structures as projective structures with certain unitary holonomy reductions. As an immediate ap…
Piecewise Euclidean structures (identified solid Euclidean polyhedra) on topological 3-dimensional manifolds and pseudo-manifolds are constructed so that they admit pseudo-foliations, a generalized type of foliation. The construction of non-manifold point neighborhoods is done to preserve as much of the geometric, and vector space, structure of Euclidean space as possible. This enables structures, such as foliations and calibrations, to generalize over to pseudo-manifolds. The main result is that the cone of any compact topological surfaces can be given a piecewise flat metric structure that a…
We consider euclidean D-branes wrapping around manifolds of exceptional holonomy in dimensions seven and eight. The resulting theory on the D-brane---that is, the dimensional reduction of 10-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory---is a cohomological field theory which describes the topology of the moduli space of instantons. The 7-dimensional theory is an N_T = 2 (or balanced) cohomological theory given by an action potential of Chern-Simons type. As a by-product of this method, we construct a related cohomological field theory which describes the monopole moduli space on a 7-manifold o…
We give a new construction of compact Riemannian 7-manifolds with holonomy $G_2$. Let $M$ be a torsion-free $G_2$-manifold (which can have holonomy a proper subgroup of $G_2$) such that $M$ admits an involution $ι$ preserving the $G_2$-structure. Then $M/{\langle ι\rangle}$ is a $G_2$-orbifold, with singular set $L$ an associative submanifold of $M$, where the singularities are locally of the form $\mathbb R^3 \times (\mathbb R^4 / \{\pm 1\})$. We resolve this orbifold by gluing in a family of Eguchi-Hanson spaces, parametrized by a nonvanishing closed and coclosed $1$-form $λ$ on $L$. Much of…
Asymptotically cylindrical Ricci-flat manifolds play a key role in constructing Topological Quantum Field Theories. It is particularly important to understand their behavior at the cylindrical ends and the natural restrictions on the geometry. In this paper we show that an orientable, connected, asymptotically cylindrical manifold (M,g) with Ricci-flat metric g can have at most two cylindrical ends. In the case where there are two such cylindrical ends then there is reduction in the holonomy group Hol(g) and (M,g) is a cylinder.
We present a systematic calculation of the volumes of compact manifolds which appear in physics: spheres, projective spaces, group manifolds and generalized flag manifolds. In each case we state what we believe is the most natural scale or normalization of the manifold, that is, the generalization of the unit radius condition for spheres. For this aim we first describe the manifold with some parameters, set up a metric, which induces a volume element, and perform the integration for the adequate range of the parameters; in most cases our manifolds will be either spheres or (twisted) products o…
We consider the connected-sum method of constructing compact Riemannian 7-manifolds with holonomy G_2 developed in math.DG/0012189. The method requires pairs of projective complex threefolds endowed with anticanonical K3 divisors, the latter `matching' via a certain non-holomorphic map. Suitable examples of threefolds were previously obtained in math.DG/0012189 by blowing up curves in Fano threefolds. In this paper, we give further suitable algebraic threefolds using theory of K3 surfaces with non-symplectic involution due to Nikulin. These threefolds are not obtainable from Fano threefolds, a…
