In a recent article the first three authors proved that in dimension $4m+1$ all homotopy spheres that bound parallelizable manifolds admit Einstein metrics of positive scalar curvature which, in fact, are Sasakian-Einstein. They also conjectured that all such homotopy spheres in dimension $4m-1, m\geq2$ admit Sasakian-Einstein metrics \cite{BGK}, and proved this for the simplest case, namely dimension $7.$ In this paper we describe computer programs that show that this conjecture is also true for 11-spheres and 15-spheres. Moreover, a program is given that determines the partition of the 8610 deformation classes of Sasakian-Einstein metrics into the 28 distinct oriented diffomorphism types in dimension $7.$
Here we generalize the Gromoll-Meyer construction of an exotic 7-sphere by producing geometric models of exotic 8, 10 and Kervaire spheres as quotients of sphere bundles over spheres by free isometric actions. We give a geometric application at the end.
We prove the existence of an abundance of new Einstein metrics on odd dimensional spheres including exotic spheres, many of them depending on continuous parameters. The number of families as well as the number of parameter grows double exponentially with the dimension. Our method of proof uses Brieskorn-Pham singularities to realize spheres (and exotic spheres) as circle orbi-bundles over complex algebraic orbifolds, and lift a Kaehler-Einstein metric from the orbifold to a Sasakian-Einstein metric on the sphere.
We prove the existence of Sasakian-Einstein metrics on infinitely many rational homology spheres in all odd dimensions greater than 3. In dimension 5 we obain somewhat sharper results. There are examples where the number of effective parameters in the Einstein metric grows exponentially with dimension.
The first part of the paper is to improve the fundamental theory of isoparametric functions on general Riemannian manifolds. Next we focus our attention on exotic spheres, especially on "exotic" 4-spheres (if exist) and the Gromoll-Meyer sphere. In particular, as one of main results we prove: there exists no properly transnormal function on any exotic 4-sphere if it exists. Furthermore, by projecting an $S^3$-invariant isoparametric function on $Sp(2)$, we construct a properly transnormal but not an isoparametric function on the Gromoll-Meyer sphere with two points as the focal varieties.
This paper extends widely the work in \cite{GT13}. Existence and non-existence results of isoparametric functions on exotic spheres and Eells-Kuiper projective planes are established. In particular, every homotopy $n$-sphere ($n>4$) carries an isoparametric function (with certain metric) with 2 points as the focal set, in strong contrast to the classification of cohomogeneity one actions on homotopy spheres \cite{St96} ( only exotic Kervaire spheres admit cohomogeneity one actions besides the standard spheres ). As an application, we improve a beautiful result of Bérard-Bergery \cite{BB77} ( s…
We construct a co-dimension $3$ completely non-holonomic sub-bundle on the Gromoll-Meyer exotic $7$ sphere based on its realization as a base space of a Sp(2)-principal bundle with the structure group Sp(1). The same method is valid for constructing a co-dimension 3 completely non-holonomic sub-bundle on the standard 7 sphere (or more general on a $4n+3$ dimensional standard sphere). In the latter case such a construction based on the Hopf bundle is well-known. Our method provides an alternated simple proof for the standard sphere $\mathbb{S}^7$.
A construction of Kaehler-Einstein metrics using Galois coverings, studied by Arezzo-Ghigi-Pirola, is generalized to orbifolds. By applying it to certain orbifold covers of P^n which are trivial set theoretically, one obtains new Einstein metrics on odd-dimensional spheres. The method also gives Kaehler-Einstein metrics on degree 2 Del Pezzo surfaces with A_1 or A_2-singularities.
We give an elementary treatment of the existence of complete Kahler-Einstein metrics with nonpositive Einstein constant and underlying manifold diffeomorphic to the tangent bundle of the (n+1)-sphere.
In this paper we demonstrate the existence of Sasakian-Einstein structures on certain 2-connected rational homology 7-spheres. These appear to be the first non-regular examples of Sasakian-Einstein metrics on simply connected rational homology spheres. We also briefly describe the rational homology 7-spheres that admit regular positive Sasakian structures.
This paper was withdrawn by the author due to an error in the proof of the main result; essentially the parameter R used in the proof may depend on the manifold (M, g), not just on dimension and pinching constant.
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 for an arbitrarily given closed Riemannian manifold $M$ admitting a point $p \in M$ with a single cut point, every closed Riemannian manifold $N$ admitting a point $q \in N$ with a single cut point is diffeomorphic to $M$ if the radial curvatures of $N$ at $q$ are sufficiently close in the sense of $L^1$-norm to those of $M$ at $p$. Our result hence not only produces a weak version of the Cartan--Ambrose--Hicks theorem in the case where underlying manifolds admit a point with a single cut point, but also is a kind of a weak version of the Blaschke conjecture for spheres proved by …
We construct a new infinite family of models of exotic 7-spheres. These models are direct generalizations of the Gromoll-Meyer sphere. From their symmetries, geodesics and submanifolds half of them are closer to the standard 7-sphere than any other known model for an exotic 7-sphere.
We construct new complete, compact, inhomogeneous Einstein metrics on S^{m+2} sphere bundles over 2n-dimensional Einstein-Kahler spaces K_{2n}, for all n \ge 1 and all m \ge 1. We also obtain complete, compact, inhomogeneous Einstein metrics on warped products of S^m with S^2 bundles over K_{2n}, for m>1. Additionally, we construct new complete, non-compact Ricci-flat metrics with topologies S^m times R^2 bundles over K_{2n} that generalise the higher-dimensional Taub-BOLT metrics, and with topologies S^m \times R^{2n+2} that generalise the higher-dimensional Taub-NUT metrics, again for m>1.
As our main theorem, we prove that a Lipschitz map from a compact Riemannian manifold $M$ into a Riemannian manifold $N$ admits a smooth approximation via immersions if the map has no singular points on $M$ in the sense of F.H. Clarke, where $\dim M \leq \dim N$. As its corollary, we have that if a bi-Lipschitz homeomorphism between compact manifolds and its inverse map have no singular points in the same sense, then they are diffeomorphic. We have three applications of the main theorem: The first two of them are two differentiable sphere theorems for a pair of topological spheres including th…
This paper is based on a talk presented by the first author at the Short Program on Riemannian Geometry that took place at the Centre de Recherche Mathématiques, Université de Montréal, during the period June 28-July 16, 2004. It is a report on our joint work with János Kollár concerning the existence of an abundance of Einstein metrics on odd dimensional spheres, including exotic spheres.
A metric with positive sectional curvature on the Gromoll-Meyer exotic 7-sphere is constructed explicitly. The proof relies on a 2-parameter family of left invariant metrics on Sp(2) and a one-parameter family of conformal deformations via an isoparametric function F on it. One byproduct is a metric with positive sectional curvature on a homotopy (but not diffeomorphic) $RP^7$.
We provide explicit, simple, geometric formulas for free involutions rho of Euclidean spheres that are not conjugate to the antipodal involution. Therefore the quotient S^n/rho is a manifold that is homotopically equivalent but not diffeomorphic to RP^n. We use these formulas for constructing explicit non-trivial elements in pi_1 Diff(S^5) and pi_1 Diff(S^13) and to provide explicit formulas for non-cancellation phenomena in group actions.
In this note we adapt the work of Hall to find quasi-Einstein metrics on sphere bundles over products of Fano Kaehler-Einstein manifolds, as well as bundles where only one end is blown down.
The invariant metric affine connections on Berger spheres which are Einstein with skew torsion are determined in both Riemannian and Lorentzian signature. Expressions of such connections are explicitly given. In particular, every Berger sphere with Lorentzian signature admits invariant metric affine connections Einstein with skew-torsion up to $\mathbb{S}^3$. For Riemannian signature, the existence of such connections strongly depends on the dimension of the sphere and on the scale of the deformation used for the Berger metric. In particular, there are Riemaniann Berger spheres, not Einstein, …
Hamiltonian stationary Lagrangian spheres in Kaehler-Einstein surfaces are minimal. We prove that in the family of non-Einstein Kaehler surfaces given by the product $Σ_1\timesΣ_2$ of two complete orientable Riemannian surfaces of different constant Gauss curvatures, there is only a (non minimal) Hamiltonian stationary Lagrangian sphere. This example is defined when the surfaces $Σ_1$ and $ Σ_2$ are spheres.
We show that the minimal volume entropy of closed manifolds remains unaffected when nonessential manifolds are added in a connected sum. We combine this result with the stable cohomotopy invariant of Bauer-Furuta in order to present an infinite family of four-manifolds with the following properties: 1) They have positive minimal volume entropy. 2) They satisfy a strict version of the Gromov-Hitchin-Thorpe inequality, with a minimal volume entropy term. 3) They nevertheless admit infinitely many distinct smooth structures for which no compatible Einstein metric exists.
In this paper we have investigated some aspects of gradient $ρ$-Einstein Ricci soliton in a complete Riemannian manifold. First, we have proved that the compact gradient $ρ$-Einstein soliton is isometric to the Euclidean sphere by showing that the scalar curvature becomes constant. Second, we have showed that in a non-compact gradient $ρ$-Einstein soliton satisfying some integral condition, the scalar curvature vanishes.
We show that the moduli space of nonnegatively curved metrics on each member of a large class of 2-connected 7-manifolds, including each smooth manifold homeomorphic to $S^7$, has infinitely many connected components. The components are distinguished using the Kreck-Stolz $s$-invariant computed for metrics constructed by Goette, Kerin and Shankar. The invariant is computed by extending each metric to the total space of an orbifold disc bundle and applying generalizations of the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theorem for orbifolds with boundary. We develop methods for computing characteristic class…
We studied isometric stochastic flows of a Stratonovich stochastic differential equation on spheres, i.e. on the standard sphere and Gromoll-Meyer exotic sphere. The standard sphere $S^7_s$ can be constructed as the quotient manifold $\mathrm{Sp}(2, \mathbb{H})/S^3$ with the so-called ${\bullet}$-action of $S^3$, whereas the Gromoll-Meyer exotic sphere $Σ^7_{GM}$ as the quotient manifold $\mathrm{Sp}(2, \mathbb{H})/S^3$ with respect to the so-called ${\star}$-action of $S^3$. The Stratonovich stochastic differential equation which describes a continuous-time stochastic process on the standard …
As seen in the works of Calabi, Cheng-Yau and Loftin, affine sphere equations have a close relationship with Kaehler-Einstein metrics. The main purpose of this note is to show that an equation analogous to those of hyperbolic affine spheres arises naturally from Kaehler-Einstein metrics on Einstein toric surfaces. The case for the remaining toric surfaces with Kaehler-Ricci solitons will also be discussed.
Stochastic flows of Stratonovich stochastic differential equations on exotic spheres have been studied. The consequences of the choice of exotic differential structure on stochastic processes taking place on the topological space $S^{m+n+1}$ as state space of the processes have been investigated. More precisely, we have investigated the properties of stochastic processes where the state spaces of the stochastic processes under consideration are $({m+n+1})$-dimensional differentiable manifolds which are homeomorphic but not necessarily diffeomorphic to standard ${(m+n+1)}$-dimensional sphere. T…
Leon Green obtained remarkable rigidity results for manifolds of positive scalar curvature with large conjugate radius and/or injectivity radius. Using $C^{k,α}$ convergence techniques, we prove several differentiable stability and sphere theorem versions of these results and apply those also to the study of Einstein manifolds.
We show that there exists a universal positive constant $\varepsilon_0 > 0$ with the following property: Let $g$ be a positive Einstein metric on $S^4$. If the Yamabe constant of the conformal class $[g]$ satisfies $$ Y(S^4, [g]) >\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} Y(S^4, [g_{\mathbb S}]) - \varepsilon_0 $$ where $g_{\mathbb S}$ denotes the standard round metric on $S^4$, then, up to rescaling, $g$ is isometric to $g_{\mathbb S}$. This is an extension of Gursky's gap theorem for positive Einstein metrics on the four-sphere.
A new infinite series of Einstein metrics is constructed explicitly on S^2 x S^3, and the non-trivial S^3-bundle over S^2, containing infinite numbers of inhomogeneous ones. They appear as a certain limit of a nearly extreme 5-dimensional AdS Kerr black hole. In the special case, the metrics reduce to the homogeneous Einstein metrics studied by Wang and Ziller. We also construct an inhomogeneous Einstein metric on the non-trivial S^{d-2}-bundle over S^2 from a d-dimensional AdS Kerr black hole. Our construction is a higher dimensional version of the method of Page, which gave an inhomogeneous …
In this paper, we are concerned with interactions between isoparametric theory and differential topology. Two foliations are called equivalent if there exists a diffeomorphism between the foliated manifolds mapping leaves to leaves. Using differential topology, we obtain several results towards the classification problem of isoparametric foliations up to equivalence. In particular, we show that each homotopy $n$-sphere has the "same" isoparametric foliations as the standard sphere $S^n$ has except for $n=4$, reducing the classification problem on homotopy spheres to that on the standard sphere…
This paper concerns obstruction flatness of hypersurfaces $Σ$ that arise as unit sphere bundles $S(E)$ of Griffiths negative Hermitian vector bundles $(E, h)$ over Kähler manifolds $(M, g).$ We prove that if the curvature of $(E, h)$ satisfies a splitting condition and $(M,g)$ has constant Ricci eigenvalues, then $S(E)$ is obstruction flat. If, in addition, all these eigenvalues are strictly less than one and $(M,g)$ is complete, then we show that the corresponding ball bundle admits a complete Kähler-Einstein metric.
We study eta-Einstein geometry as a class of distinguished Riemannian metrics on contact metric manifolds. In particular, we use a previous solution of the Calabi problem for Sasakian geometry to prove the existence of eta-Einstein structures on many different compact manifolds, including exotic spheres. We also relate these results to the existence of Einstein-Weyl structures.
We present a complete classification of Einstein metrics on the space M = I \times S^3, where I is the interval (0,l) or (0,\infty) or their closures, and we consider separate metric functions f and h (functions of I) for the base and fiber of the Hopf fibration S^1 -> S^3 -> S^2. All such metrics yielding smooth and complete manifolds are included and discussed. The results are surprisingly rich, including many well-known examples and several one-parameter families of metrics with a variety of geometries.
The aim of this paper is to study Sasakian immersions of compact Sasakian manifolds into the odd-dimensional sphere equipped with the standard Sasakian structure. We obtain a complete classification of such manifolds in the Einstein and $η$-Einstein cases when the codimension of the immersion is $4$. Moreover, we exhibit infinite families of compact Sasakian $η$--Einstein manifolds which cannot admit a Sasakian immersion into any odd-dimensional sphere. Finally, we show that, after possibly performing a ${\mathcal {D}}$-homothetic deformation, a homogeneous Sasakian manifold can be Sasakian im…
It is a well known fact that, if $Σ$ is an Einstein hypersurface with positive scalar curvature, then it is a round sphere. We give a stable version of this result showing that if a hypersurface is almost Einstein in a $L^p$-sense, then it is $W^{2, \, p}$ - close to the round sphere. The result is given in a quantitative way.
Any strictly pseudoconvex domain in C2 carries a complete Kahler-Einstein metric, the Cheng-Yau metric, with ``conformal infinity'' the CR structure of the boundary. It is well known that not all CR structures on the 3-sphere arise in this way. In this paper, we study CR structures on the 3-sphere satisfying a different filling condition: boundaries at infinity of (complete) selfdual Einstein metrics. We prove that (modulo contactomorphisms) they form an infinite dimensional manifold, transverse to the space of CR structures which are boundaries of complex domains (and therefore of Kahler-Eins…
A differential operator introduced by A. Gray on the unit sphere bundle of a Kähler-Einstein manifold is studied. A lower bound for the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian for the Sasaki metric on the unit sphere bundle of a Kähler-Einstein manifold is derived. Some rigidity theorems classifying complex space forms amongst compact Hermitian surfaces and the product of two projective lines amongst all Kähler-Einstein surfaces are then derived.
In this paper we extend some well-known rigidity results for conformal changes of Einstein metrics to the class of generalized quasi-Einstein (GQE) metrics, which includes gradient Ricci solitons. In order to do so, we introduce the notions of conformal diffeomorphisms and vector fields that preserve a GQE structure. We show that a complete GQE metric admits a structure-preserving, non-homothetic complete conformal vector field if and only if it is a round sphere. We also classify the structure-preserving conformal diffeomorphisms. In the compact case, if a GQE metric admits a structure-preser…
Gromoll and Meyer have represented a certain exotic 7-sphere $Σ^7$ as a biquotient of the Lie group $G = Sp(2)$. We show for a 2-parameter family of left invariant metrics on $G$ that the induced metric on $Σ^7$ has strictly positive sectional curvature at all points outside four subvarieties of codimension $\geq 1$ which we describe explicitly.
In contrast to the homogeneous case, we show that there are compact cohomogeneity one manifolds, that do not support invariant metrics of non-negative sectional curvature. In fact we exhibit infinite families of such manifolds including the exotic Kervaire spheres. Such examples exist for any codimension of the singular orbits except for the case where both are equal to two, where existence of non-negatively curved metrics is known.
We derive a precise asymptotic expansion of the complete Kähler-Einstein metric on the punctured Riemann sphere with three or more omitting points. By using Schwarzian derivative, we prove that the coefficients of the expansion are polynomials on the two parameters which are uniquely determined by the omitting points. Futhermore, we use the modular form and Schwarzian derivative to explicitly determine the coefficients in the expansion of the complete Kähler-Einstein metric for punctured Riemann sphere with $3, 4, 6$ or $12$ omitting points.
