We study when the Jacobi operator associated to the Weyl conformal curvature tensor has constant eigenvalues on the bundle of unit spacelike or timelike tangent vectors. This leads to questions in the conformal geometry of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds which generalize the Osserman conjecture to this setting. We also study similar questions related to the skew-symmetric curvature operator defined by the Weyl conformal curvature tensor.
Motivated by the study of Weyl structures on conformal manifolds admitting parallel weightless forms, we define the notion of conformal product of conformal structures and study its basic properties. We obtain a classification of Weyl manifolds carrying parallel forms, and we use it to investigate the holonomy of the adapted Weyl connection on conformal products. As an application we describe a new class of Einstein-Weyl manifolds of dimension 4.
Conformally recurrent pseudo-Riemannian manifolds of dimension n>4 are investigated. The Weyl tensor is represented as a Kulkarni-Nomizu product. If the square of the Weyl tensor is nonzero, a covariantly constant symmetric tensor is constructed, that is quadratic in the Weyl tensor. Then, by Grycak's theorem, the explicit expression of the traceless part of the Ricci tensor is obtained, up to a scalar function. The Ricci tensor has at most two distinct eigenvalues, and the recurrence vector is an eigenvector. Lorentzian conformally recurrent manifolds are then considered. If the square of the…
Einstein-Weyl geometry is a triple (D,g,w), where D is a symmetric connection, [g] is a conformal structure and w is a covector such that: (i) connection D preserves the conformal class [g], that is, Dg=wg; (ii) trace-free part of the symmetrised Ricci tensor of D vanishes. Three-dimensional Einstein-Weyl structures arise naturally on solutions of second-order dispersionless integrable PDEs in 3D. In this context, [g] coincides with the characteristic conformal structure and is therefore uniquely determined by the equation. On the contrary, the covector w is a somewhat more mysterious object, …
This article examines the coincidence of the projective and conformal Weyl tensors associated to a given connection D. The connection may be a general Weyl connection associated to a conformal class of metrics [g]. The main result for n>3 is that the Weyl tensors coincide iff D is the Levi-Civita connection of an Einstein metric.
In all dimensions and arbitrary signature, we demonstrate the existence of a new local potential -- a double (2,3)-form -- for the Weyl curvature tensor, and more generally for all tensors with the symmetry properties of the Weyl curvature tensor. The classical four-dimensional Lanczos potential for a Weyl tensor -- a double (2,1)-form -- is proven to be a particular case of the new potential: its double dual.
In the literature different concepts of compatibility between a projective structure and a conformal structure on a differentiable manifold are used. In particular compatibility in the sense of Weyl geometry is slightly more general than compatibility in the Riemannian sense. An often cited paper [Ehlers-Pirani-Schild:1972] introduces still another criterion which is natural from the physical point of view: every light like geodesics of of the conformal structure is a geodesics of the projective structure. Their claim that this type of compatibility is sufficient for introducing a Weylian metr…
The problem of characterizing conformally Einstein manifolds by tensorial conditions has been tackled recently in papers by M. Listing, and in work by A. R. Gover and P. Nurowski. Their results apply to metrics satisfying a "non-degeneracy" condition on the Weyl tensor \W. We investigate the geometry of the foliations arising on conformally Einstein spaces (with Riemannian signature) where this condition fails, which then allows us to characterize a general class of locally conformally Einstein Riemannian manifolds with degenerate Weyl tensor.
Weyl derivatives, Weyl-Lie derivatives and conformal submersions are defined, then used to generalize the Jones-Tod correspondence between selfdual 4-manifolds with symmetry and Einstein-Weyl 3-manifolds with an abelian monopole. In this generalization, the conformal symmetry is replaced by a particular kind of conformal submersion with one dimensional fibres. Special cases are studied in which the conformal submersion is holomorphic, affine, or projective. All scalar-flat Kahler metrics with such a holomorphic conformal submersion, and all four dimensional hypercomplex structures with a compa…
We prove that, in a space-time of dimension n>3 with a velocity field that is shear-free, vorticity-free and acceleration-free, the covariant divergence of the Weyl tensor is zero if the contraction of the Weyl tensor with the velocity is zero. The other way, if the covariant divergence of the Weyl tensor is zero, then the contraction of the Weyl tensor with the velocity has recurrent geodesic derivative. This partly extends a property found in Generalised Robertson-Walker spacetimes, where the velocity is also eigenvector of the Ricci tensor. Despite the simplicity of the statement, the proof…
We prove theorems about the Ricci and the Weyl tensors on generalized Robertson-Walker space-times of dimension $n\ge 3$. In particular, we show that the concircular vector introduced by Chen decomposes the Ricci tensor as a perfect fluid term plus a term linear in the contracted Weyl tensor. The Weyl tensor is harmonic if and only if it is annihilated by Chen's vector, and any of the two conditions is necessary and sufficient for the GRW space-time to be a quasi-Einstein (perfect fluid) manifold. Finally, the general structure of the Riemann tensor for Robertson-Walker space-times is given, i…
Starting from a real analytic surface $\mathcal{M}$ with a real analytic conformal Cartan connection A. Borówka constructed a minitwistor space of an asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein-Weyl manifold with $\mathcal{M}$ being the boundary. In this article, starting from a symmetry of conformal Cartan connection, we prove that symmetries of conformal Cartan connection on $\mathcal{M}$ can be extended to symmetries of the obtained Einstein-Weyl manifold.
Peng Wu recently announced a beautiful characterization of conformally Kaehler, Einstein metrics of positive scalar curvature on compact oriented 4-manifolds via the condition det (W^+) > 0. In this note, we buttress his claim by providing an entirely different proof of his result. We then present further consequences of our method, which builds on techniques previously developed in (LeBrun 2015).
We introduce the concept of a Clifford-Weyl structure on a conformal manifold, which consists of an even Clifford structure parallel with respect to the tensor product of a metric connection on the Clifford bundle and a Weyl structure on the manifold. We show that the Weyl structure is necessarily closed except for some "generic" low-dimensional instances, where explicit examples of non-closed Clifford-Weyl structures can be constructed.
In this paper, we will give a local version of the Hamilton-Ivey type pinching estimate of the gradient shrinking soliton with vanishing Weyl tensor, and then give a complete classification on gradient shrinking solitons with vanishing Weyl tensor.
A Riemannian manifold is called Osserman (conformally Osserman, respectively), if the eigenvalues of the Jacobi operator of its curvature tensor (Weyl tensor, respectively) are constant on the unit tangent sphere at every point. Osserman Conjecture asserts that every Osserman manifold is either flat or rank-one symmetric. We prove that both the Osserman Conjecture and its conformal version, the Conformal Osserman Conjecture, are true, modulo a certain assumption on algebraic curvature tensors in $\mathbb{R}^16$. As a consequence, we show that a Riemannian manifold having the same Weyl tensor a…
The equations governing anti-self-dual and Einstein-Weyl conformal geometries can be regarded as `master dispersionless systems' in four and three dimensions respectively. Their integrability by twistor methods has been established by Penrose and Hitchin. In this note we present, in specially adapted coordinate systems, explicit forms of the corresponding equations and their Lax pairs. In particular, we demonstrate that any Lorentzian Einstein-Weyl structure is locally given by a solution to the Manakov-Santini system, and we find a system of two coupled third-order scalar PDEs for a general a…
We prove new lower bounds for the first eigenvalue of the Dirac operator on compact manifolds whose Weyl tensor or curvature tensor, respectively, is divergence free. In the special case of Einstein manifolds, we obtain estimates depending on the Weyl tensor.
The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the Schouten-Weyl tensor on the three-dimensional Lie groups with left-invariant Lorenzian metrics. The left-invariant Lorentzian metrics on the three-dimensional Lie groups with squared length zero Schouten-Weyl tensor are studied. Moreover, the three-dimensional metric Lie groups with almost harmonic (i.e. with zero curl and divergence) Schouten-Weyl tensor are investigated. In addition, the question about the harmonicity of contraction of the Schouten-Weyl tensor is considered.
We consider four (real or complex) dimensional hyper-Kähler metrics with a conformal symmetry K. The three-dimensional space of orbits of K is shown to have an Einstein-Weyl structure which admits a shear-free geodesics congruence for which the twist is a constant multiple of the divergence. In this case the Einstein-Weyl equations reduce down to a single second order PDE for one function. The Lax representation, Lie point symmetries, hidden symmetries and the recursion operator associated with this PDE are found, and some group invariant solutions are considered.
If a smooth compact 4-manifold M admits a Kaehler-Einstein metric g of positive scalar curvature, Gursky showed that its conformal class [g] is an absolute minimizer of the Weyl functional among all conformal classes with positive Yamabe constant. Here we prove that, with the same hypotheses, [g] also minimizes of the Weyl functional on a different open set of conformal classes, most of which have negative Yamabe constant. An analogous minimization result is then proved for Einstein metrics g which are Hermitian, but not Kaehler.
The very definition of an Einstein metric implies that all its geometry is encoded in the Weyl tensor. With this in mind, in this paper we derive higher-order Bochner type formulas for the Weyl tensor on a four dimensional Einstein manifold. In particular, we prove a second Bochner type formula which, formally, extends to the covariant derivative level the classical one for the Weyl tensor obtained by Derdzinski in 1983. As a consequence, we deduce some integral identities involving the Weyl tensor and its derivatives on a compact four dimensional Einstein manifold.
A Hermitian Einstein-Weyl manifold is a complex manifold admitting a Ricci-flat Kaehler covering W, with the deck transform acting on W by homotheties. If compact, it admits a canonical Vaisman metric, due to Gauduchon. We show that a Hermitian Einstein-Weyl structure on a compact complex manifold is determined by its volume form. This result is a conformal analogue of Calabi's theorem stating the uniqueness of Kaehler metrics with a given volume form in a given Kaehler class. We prove that a solution of a conformal version of complex Monge-Ampere equation is unique. We conjecture that a Hermi…
A recent result of M. Kourganoff states that if $D$ is a closed, reducible, non-flat, Weyl connection on a compact conformal manifold $M$, then the universal covering of $M$, endowed with the metric whose Levi-Civita covariant derivative is the pull-back of $D$, is isometric to $\mathbb{R}^q\times N$ for some irreducible, incomplete Riemannian manifold $N$. Moreover, he characterized the case where the dimension of $N$ is $2$ by showing that $M$ is then a mapping torus of some Anosov diffeomorphism of $T^{q+1}$. We show that in this case one necessarily has $q=1$ or $q=2$.
This paper derives new identities for the Weyl tensor on a gradient Ricci soliton, particularly in dimension four. First, we prove a Bochner-Weitzenböck type formula for the norm of the self-dual Weyl tensor and discuss its applications, including connections between geometry and topology. In the second part, we are concerned with the interaction of different components of Riemannian curvature and (gradient and Hessian of) the soliton potential function. The Weyl tensor arises naturally in these investigations. Applications here are rigidity results.
We study the question of integrability of a compatible almost complex structure on a compact symplectic 4-manifold, under various natural assumptions on the curvature of the associated almost Kahler metric.
We prove the vanishing of the first Betti number on compact manifolds admitting a Weyl structure whose Ricci tensor satisfies certain positivity conditions, thus obtaining a Bochner-type vanishing theorem in Weyl geometry. We also study compact Hermitian-Weyl manifolds with non-negative symmetric part of the Ricci tensor of the canonical Weyl connection and show that every such manifold has first Betti number $b_1 =1$ and Hodge numbers $h^{p,0} =0$ for $p>0$, $h^{0,1} =1$, $h^{0,q} =0$ for $q>1$.
In this paper, we study vacuum static spaces with the complete divergence of the Bach tensor and Weyl tensor. First, we prove that the vanishing of complete divergence of the Bach tensor and Weyl tensor implies the harmonicity of the metric, and we present examples in which these conditions do not imply Bach flatness. As an application, we prove the non-existence of multiple black holes in vacuum static spaces with zero scalar curvature. On the other hand, we prove the Besse conjecture under these conditions, which are weaker than harmonicity or Bach flatness. Moreover, we show a rigidity resu…
Given the Riemann, or the Weyl, or a generalized curvature tensor K, a symmetric tensor $b_{ij}$ is named `compatible' with the curvature tensor if $b_i{}^m K_{jklm} + b_j{}^m K_{kilm} + b_k{}^m K_{ijlm} = 0$. Amongst showing known and new properties, we prove that they form a special Jordan algebra, i.e. the symmetrized product of K-compatible tensors is K-compatible.
In the presented paper left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metrics on four-dimensional Lie groups with zero Schouten-Weyl tensor are investigated. The complete classification of these metric Lie groups is obtained in terms of the structure constants of corresponding Lie algebras.
We compute the evolution equation of the Weyl tensor under the Ricci flow of a Riemannian manifold and we discuss some consequences for the classification of locally conformally flat Ricci solitons.
We prove that a $4$-dimensional simply connected, compact critical metric of the volume functional with harmonic anti-self dual Weyl tensor and boundary isometric to a standard sphere $\mathbb{S}^{3}$ is isometric to a geodesic ball in a simply connected space form $\mathbb{R}^{4}$, $\mathbb{H}^{4}$ or $\mathbb{S}^{4}.$
The aim of this paper is to study complete (noncompact) steady $m$-quasi-Einstein manifolds satisfying a fourth-order vanishing condition on the Weyl tensor. In this case, we are able to prove that a steady $m$-quasi-Einstein manifold ($m>1$) on a simply connected $n$-dimensional manifold $(M^{n},g)$, $(n\geq4),$ with nonnegative Ricci curvature and zero radial Weyl curvature must be a warped product with $(n-1)-$dimensional Einstein fiber, provided that $M$ has fourth order divergence-free Weyl tensor (i.e., ${\rm div}^{4}W=0$).
We apply the theory of Weyl structures for parabolic geometries developed by A. Cap and J. Slovak in to compute, for a quaternionic contact (qc) structure, the Weyl connection associated to a choice of scale, i.e. to a choice of Carnot-Carathéodory metric in the conformal class. The result of this computation has applications to the study of the conformal Fefferman space of a qc manifold. In addition to this application, we are also able to easily compute a tensorial formula for the qc analog of the Weyl curvature tensor in conformal geometry and the Chern-Moser tensor in CR geometry. This ten…
In this paper we consider an Einstein-type equation which generalizes important geometric equations, like static and critical point equations. We prove that a complete Einstein-type manifold with fourth-order divergence-free Weyl tensor and zero radial Weyl curvature is locally a warped product with $(n-1)$-dimensional Einstein fibers, provided that the potential function is proper. As a consequence, we prove a result about the nonexistence of multiple black holes in static spacetimes.
We study complex 4-manifolds with holomorphic self-dual conformal structures, and we obtain an interpretation of the Weyl tensor of such a manifold as the projective curvature of a field of cones on the ambitwistor space. In particular, its vanishing is implied by the existence of some compact, simply-connected, null-geodesics. We also relate the Cotton-York tensor of an umbilic hypersurface to the Weyl tensor of the ambient. As a consequence, a conformal 3-manifold or a self-dual 4-manifold admitting a rational curve as a null-geodesic is conformally flat. We show that the projective structur…
We characterize manifolds which are locally conformally equivalent to either complex projective space or to its negative curvature dual in terms of their Weyl curvature tensor. As a byproduct of this investigation, we classify the conformally complex space forms if the dimension is at least 8. We also study when the Jacobi operator associated to the Weyl conformal curvature tensor of a Riemannian manifold has constant eigenvalues on the bundle of unit tangent vectors and classify such manifolds which are not conformally flat in dimensions congruent to 2 mod 4.
In this paper we introduce the notion of generalized quasi--Einstein manifold, that generalizes the concepts of Ricci soliton, Ricci almost soliton and quasi--Einstein manifolds. We prove that a complete generalized quasi--Einstein manifold with harmonic Weyl tensor and with zero radial Weyl curvature, is locally a warped product with $(n-1)$--dimensional Einstein fibers. In particular, this implies a local characterization for locally conformally flat gradient Ricci almost solitons, similar to that proved for gradient Ricci solitons.
On four-dimensional closed manifolds we introduce a class of canonical Riemannian metrics, that we call weak harmonic Weyl metrics, defined as critical points in the conformal class of a quadratic functional involving the norm of the divergence of the Weyl tensor. This class includes Einstein and, more in general, harmonic Weyl manifolds. We prove that every closed four-manifold admits a weak harmonic Weyl metric, which is the unique (up to dilations) minimizer of the functional in a suitable conformal class. In general the problem is degenerate elliptic due to possible vanishing of the Weyl t…
