A torsion-free G_2 structure admitting an infinitesimal isometry is shown to give rise to a 4-manifold equipped with a complex symplectic structure and a 1-parameter family of functions and 2-forms linked by second order equations. Reversing the process in various special cases leads to the construction of explicit metrics with holonomy equal to G_2.
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 …
Positive Quaternion Kaehler Manifolds are Riemannian manifolds with holonomy contained in Sp(n)Sp(1) and with positive scalar curvature. Conjecturally, they are symmetric spaces. We prove this conjecture in dimension 20 under additional assumptions and we provide recognition theorems for quaternionic projective spaces (in low dimensions) as well as the real Grassmanian (which is Positive Quaternion Kaehler).
We construct left invariant quaternionic contact (qc) structures on Lie groups with zero and non-zero torsion and with non-vanishing quaternionic contact conformal curvature tensor, thus showing the existence of non-flat quaternionic contact manifolds. We prove that the product of the real line with a seven dimensional manifold, equipped with a certain qc structure, has a quaternionic Kaehler metric as well as a metric with holonomy contained in Spin(7). As a consequence we determine explicit quaternionic Kaehler metrics and Spin(7)-holonomy metrics which seem to be new. Moreover, we give expl…
We prove the following theorem for Holomorphic Foliations in compact complex kaehler manifolds: if there is a compact leaf with finite holonomy, then every leaf is compact with finite holonomy. As corollary we reobtain stability theorems for compact foliations in Kaehler manifolds of Edwards-Millett-Sullivan and Hollman.
We study almost Hermitian structures admitting a Hermitian connexion with totally skew-symmetric torsion or equivalently, those almost Hermitian structures with totally skew-symmetric Nijenhuis tensor. We investigate up to what extent the Nijenhuis tensor fails to be parallel with respect to the characteristic connexion. This is naturally described by means of an extension of the notion of Killing form to almost Hermitian geometry. In this context, we also make an essentially self-contained survey of nearly-Kaehler geometry, but from the perspective of non-integrable holonomy systems.
We derive sufficient conditions for the vanishing of plurigenera, $p_m(J), m>0$, on compact (l|k)-strong, $ω^l\wedge \partial\bar\partial ω^k=0$, Kaehler manifolds with torsion. In particular, we show that the plurigenera of compact (l|k)-strong manifolds, k<n-1, for which the holonomy of the unique Hermitian connection with skew-symmetric torsion is contained in SU(n) vanish. As a consequence all generalized k-Gauduchon manifolds with holonomy of the Hermitian connection with skew-symmetric torsion contained in SU(n) do not admit holomorphic (n,0) forms. Furthermore we show that all conformal…
The mobility of a Kaehler metric is the dimension of the space of metrics with which it is c-projectively equivalent. The mobility is at least two if and only if the Kaehler metric admits a nontrivial hamiltonian 2-form. After summarizing this relationship, we present necessary conditions for a Kaehler metric to have mobility at least three: its curvature must have nontrivial nullity at every point. Using the local classification of Kaehler metrics with hamiltonian 2-forms, we describe explicitly the Kaehler metrics with mobility at least three and hence show that the nullity condition on the …
We study almost Kaehler manifolds whose curvature tensor satisfies the third curvature condition of Gray. We show that the study of manifolds within this class reduces to the study of a subclass having the property that the torsion of the first canonical Hermitian connection has the simplest possible algebraic form. This allows to understand the structure of the Kaehler nullity of an almost Kaehler manifold with parallel torsion.
By making use of the symplectic reduction and the cohomogeneity method, we give a general method for constructing Hamiltonian minimal submanifolds in Kaehler manifolds with symmetries. As applications, we construct infinitely many nontrivial complete Hamiltonian minimal submanifolds in CP^n and C^n.
We define reduction of locally conformal Kaehler manifolds, considered as conformal Hermitian manifolds, and we show its equivalence with an unpublished construction given by Biquard and Gauduchon. We show the compatibility between this reduction and Kaehler reduction of the universal cover. By a recent result of Kamishima and the second author, in the Vaisman case (that is, when a metric in the conformal class has parallel Lee form) if the manifold is compact its universal cover comes equipped with the structure of Kaehler cone over a Sasaki compact manifold. We show the compatibility between…
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…
We consider compactification of type IIA supergravity on nearly Kaehler manifolds. These represent a simple class of SU(3) structure manifolds which includes S^6 and CP^3. We exhibit for the first time an explicit reduction ansatz in this context, obtaining an N=2 gauged supergravity in 4d with a single vector and hypermultiplet. We verify that supersymmetric solutions of the 4d theory lift to 10d solutions. Along the way, we discuss questions related to encountering both electric and magnetic charges in the 4d theory.
We consider the question: can the isotropy representation of an irreducible pseudo-Riemannian symmetric space be realized as a conformal holonomy group? Using recent results of Cap, Gover and Hammerl, we study the representations of SO(2,1), PSU(2,1) and PSp(2,1) as isotropy groups of irreducible symmetric spaces of signature (3,2), (4,4) and (6,8), respectively, describing the geometry induced by a conformal holonomy reduction to the corresponding subgroups. In the case of SO(2,1) we show that conformal manifolds with such a holonomy reduction are always locally conformally flat and hence thi…
We consider locally conformal Kaehler geometry as an equivariant (homothetic) Kaehler geometry: a locally conformal Kaehler manifold is, up to equivalence, a pair (K,Γ) where K is a Kaehler manifold and Γa discrete Lie group of biholomorphic homotheties acting freely and properly discontinuously. We define a new invariant of a locally conformal Kaehler manifold (K,Γ) as the rank of a natural quotient of Γ, and prove its invariance under reduction. This equivariant point of view leads to a proof that locally conformal Kaehler reduction of compact Vaisman manifolds produces Vaisman manifolds and…
In this article, we give a theorem of reduction of the structure group of a principal bundle P with regular structure group G. Then, when G is in the classes of Lie groups defined by T.Robart [13], we define the closed holonomy group of a connection as the minimal closed Lie subgroup of G for which the previous theorem of reduction can be applied. We also prove an infinite dimensional version of the Ambrose-Singer theorem: the Lie algebra of the holonomy group is spanned by the curvature elements.
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
Let M be a Kaehler manifold with a free, holomorphic and Hamiltonian action of the standard n-torus T. We give a simple, explicit and canonical formula for the Kaehler potential on the Kaehler reduction of M. As a consequence we can derive improvements of several classical results known for more general Hamiltonian reductions. Among these are a forms-level proof of the Duistermaat-Heckman theorem; an elementary proof of Atiyah's proof of the convexity of the moment image of a complexified T-orbit; another formula due to Biquard-Gauduchon for the Kaehler potential; and a formula in terms of mom…
This paper analyses the parabolic geometries generated by a free 3-distribution in the tangent space of a manifold. It shows the existence of normal Fefferman constructions over CR and Lagrangian contact structures corresponding to holonomy reductions to SO(4,2) and SO(3,3), respectively. There is also a fascinating construction of a `dual' distribution when the holonomy reduces to $G_2'$. The paper concludes with some holonomy constructions for free $n$-distributions for $n>3$.
For a stratified symplectic space, a suitable concept of stratified Kaehler polarization, defined in terms of an appropriate Lie-Rinehart algebra, encapsulates Kaehler polarizations on the strata and the behaviour of the polarizations across the strata and leads to the notion of stratified Kaehler space. This notion establishes an intimate relationship between nilpotent orbits, singular reduction, invariant theory, reductive dual pairs, Jordan triple systems, symmetric domains, and pre-homogeneous spaces; in particular, in the world of singular Poisson geometry, the closures of principal holom…
IAs is well known, when D6 branes wrap a special lagrangian cycle on a non compact CY 3-fold in such a way that the internal string frame metric is Kahler there exists a dual description, which is given in terms of a purely geometrical eleven dimensional background with an internal metric of $G_2$ holonomy. It is also known that when D6 branes wrap a coassociative cycle of a non compact $G_2$ manifold in presence of a self-dual two form strength the internal part of the string frame metric is conformal to the $G_2$ metric and there exists a dual description, which is expressed in terms of a pu…
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…
This paper analyses the parabolic geometries generated by a free $n$-distribution in the tangent space of a manifold. It shows that certain holonomy reductions of the associated normal Tractor connections, imply preferred connections with special properties, along with Riemannian or sub-Riemannian structures on the manifold. It constructs examples of these holonomy reductions in the simplest cases. The main results, however, lie in the free 3-distributions. In these cases, there are normal Fefferman constructions over CR and Lagrangian contact structures corresponding to holonomy reductions to…
Given a compact Lie group, endowed with a bi-invariant Riemannian metric, its complexification inherits a Kaehler structure having twice the kinetic energy of the metric as its potential, and Kaehler reduction with reference to the adjoint action yields a stratified Kaehler structure on the resulting adjoint quotient. Exploiting classical invariant theory, in particular bisymmetric functions and variants thereof, we explore the singular Poisson-Kaehler geometry of this quotient. Among other things we prove that, for various compact groups, the real coordinate ring of the adjoint quotient is ge…
Anti-diagonal toric generalized K$\ddot{a}$hler structures of symplectic type on a compact toric symplectic manifold were investigated in \cite{Wang2} . In this article, we consider \emph{general} toric generalized K$\ddot{a}$hler structures of symplectic type, without requiring them to be anti-diagonal. Such a structure is characterized by a triple $(τ, C, F)$ where $τ$ is a strictly convex function defined in the interior of the moment polytope $Δ$ and $C, F$ are two constant anti-symmetric matrices. We prove that underlying each such a structure is a \emph{canonical} toric K$\ddot{a}$hler s…
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 …
We study a system of equations on a compact complex manifold, that couples the scalar curvature of a Kaehler metric with a spectral function of a first-order deformation of the complex structure. The system comes from an infinite-dimensional Kaehler reduction, which is a hyperkaehler reduction for a particular choice of the spectral function. The system can be formally complexified using a flat connection on the space of first-order deformations that are compatible with a Kaehler metric. We describe a variational characterization of the equations, a Futaki invariant for the system, and a gener…
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…
The aim of this paper and its sequel is to introduce and classify the holonomy algebras of the projective Tractor connection. After a brief historical background, this paper presents and analyses the projective Cartan and Tractor connections, the various structures they can preserve, and their geometric interpretations. Preserved subbundles of the Tractor bundle generate foliations with Ricci-flat leaves. Contact- and Einstein-structures arise from other reductions of the Tractor holonomy, as do U(1) and $Sp(1, \mathbb{H})$ bundles over a manifold of smaller dimension.
We show that any dimension $6$ nearly Kähler (or nearly para-Kähler) geometry arises as a projective manifold equipped with a $\textrm{G}_2^{(*)}$ holonomy reduction. In the converse direction we show that if a projective manifold is equipped with a parallel $7$-dimensional cross product on its standard tractor bundle then the manifold is: a Riemannian nearly Kähler manifold, if the cross product is definite, otherwise, if the cross product has the other algebraic type, the manifold is in general stratified with nearly Kähler and nearly para-Kähler parts separated by a hypersurface which canon…
We use the procedure of reduction of Courant algebroids to reduce strong KT, hyper KT and generalized Kaehler structures on Courant algebroids. This allows us to recover results from the literature as well as explain from a different angle some of the features observed there in. As an example, we prove that the moduli space of instantons of a bundle over a SKT/HKT/generalized Kähler manifold is endowed with the same type of structure as the original manifold.
The classifications of holonomy groups in Lorentzian and in Euclidean signature are quite different. A group of interest in Lorentzian signature in n dimensions is the maximal proper subgroup of the Lorentz group, SIM(n-2). Ricci-flat metrics with SIM(2) holonomy were constructed by Kerr and Goldberg, and a single four-dimensional example with a non-zero cosmological constant was exhibited by Ghanam and Thompson. Here we reduce the problem of finding the general $n$-dimensional Einstein metric of SIM(n-2) holonomy, with and without a cosmological constant, to solving a set linear generalised L…
We analyse the relationship between the components of the intrinsic torsion of an SU(3) structure on a 6-manifold and a G_2 structure on a 7-manifold. Various examples illustrate the type of SU(3) structure that can arise as a reduction of a metric with holonomy G_2.
Let $E_G$ be a stable principal $G$--bundle over a compact connected Kaehler manifold, where $G$ is a connected reductive linear algebraic group defined over the complex numbers. Let $H\subset G$ be a complex reductive subgroup which is not necessarily connected, and let $E_H\subset E_G$ be a holomorphic reduction of structure group. We prove that $E_H$ is preserved by the Einstein-Hermitian connection on $E_G$. Using this we show that if $E_H$ is a minimal reductive reduction in the sense that there is no complex reductive proper subgroup of $H$ to which $E_H$ admits a holomorphic reduction o…