McLean proved that the moduli space of coassociative deformations of a compact coassociative 4-submanifold C in a G_2-manifold (M,phi,g) is a smooth manifold of dimension equal to b^2_+(C). In this paper, we show that the moduli space of coassociative deformations of a noncompact, asymptotically cylindrical coassociative 4-fold C in an asymptotically cylindrical G_2-manifold (M,phi,g) is also a smooth manifold. Its dimension is the dimension of the positive subspace of the image of H^2_cs(C,R) in H^2(C,R).
Coassociative submanifolds are 4-dimensional calibrated submanifolds in $G_{2}$-manifolds. In this paper, we construct explicit examples of coassociative submanifolds in $Λ^{2}_{-} S^{4}$, which is the complete $G_{2}$-manifold constructed by Bryant and Salamon. Classifying the Lie groups which have 3- or 4-dimensional orbits, we show that the only homogeneous coassociative submanifold is the zero section of $Λ^{2}_{-} S^{4}$ up to the automorphisms and construct many cohomogeneity one examples explicitly. In particular, we obtain examples of non-compact coassociative submanifolds with conical…
In an earlier paper, we proved that given an asymptotically cylindrical G_2-manifold M with a Calabi-Yau boundary X, the moduli space of coassociative deformations of an asymptotically cylindrical coassociative 4-fold C in M with a fixed special Lagrangian boundary L in X is a smooth manifold of dimension dim(V_+), where V_+ is the positive subspace of the image of H^2_{cs}(C,R) in H^2(C,R). In order to prove this we used the powerful tools of Fredholm Theory for noncompact manifolds which was developed by Lockhart and McOwen, and independently by Melrose. In this paper, we extend our result t…
We study the natural structure on the moduli space of deformations of compact coassociative submanifolds. We show that a G2-manifold with a T^4-action of isomorphisms such that the orbits are coassociative tori is locally equivalent to a minimal 3-manifold in R^{3,3} = H^2(T^4,R) with positive induced metric. By studying minimal surfaces in quadrics we show how to construct minimal 3-manifold cones in R^{3,3} and hence G2-metrics from equations similar to a set of affine Toda equations. The relation to semi-flat special Lagrangian fibrations and the Monge-Ampère equation are explained.
We study the problem of counting instantons with coassociative boundary condition in (almost) G_(2)-manifolds. This is analog to the open Gromov-Witten theory for counting holomorphic curves with Lagrangian boundary condition in Calabi-Yau manifolds. We explain its relationship with the Seiberg-Witten invariants for coassociative submanifolds.
In G2 manifolds, 3-dimensional associative submanifolds (instantons) play a role similar to J-holomorphic curves in symplectic geometry. In [21], instantons in G2 manifolds were constructed from regular J-holomorphic curves in coassociative submanifolds. In this exposition paper, after reviewing the background of G2 geometry, we explain the main ingredients in the proofs in [21]. We also construct new examples of instantons.
Coassociative 4-folds are a particular class of 4-dimensional submanifolds which are defined in a 7-dimensional manifold M with a G_2 structure given by a `positive' differential 3-form, sometimes called G_2-form. Assuming that a G_2-form on M is closed, we study deformations of a compact coassociative submanifold N with boundary contained in fixed, codimension 1 submanifold S of M with a compatible Hermitian symplectic structure. We show that `small' coassociative deformations of N with special Lagrangian boundary in S are unobstructed and form a smooth moduli space of finite dimension not gr…
Every closed, oriented, real analytic Riemannian 3-manifold can be isometrically embedded as a special Lagrangian submanifold of a Calabi-Yau 3-fold, even as the real locus of an antiholomorphic, isometric involution. Every closed, oriented, real analytic Riemannian 4-manifold whose bundle of self-dual 2-forms is trivial can be isometrically embedded as a coassociative submanifold in a G_2-manifold, even as the fixed locus of an anti-G_2 involution. These results, when coupled with McLean's analysis of the moduli spaces of such calibrated submanifolds, yield a plentiful supply of examples of c…
We derive formulas for the mean curvature of associative 3-folds, coassociative 4-folds, and Cayley 4-folds in the general case where the ambient space has intrinsic torsion. Consequently, we are able to characterize those G2-structures (resp., Spin(7)-structures) for which every associative 3-fold (resp. coassociative 4-fold, Cayley 4-fold) is a minimal submanifold. In the process, we obtain new obstructions to the local existence of coassociative 4-folds in G2-structures with torsion.
In an earlier paper, we proved that, under certain hypotheses, the moduli space of an asymptotically cylindrical special Lagrangian submanifold with fixed boundary of an asymptotically cylindrical Calabi-Yau 3-fold is a smooth manifold. Here we prove the analogous result for an asymptotically cylindrical special Lagrangian submanifold with moving boundary.
Given a coassociative 4-fold N with a conical singularity in a varphi-closed 7-manifold M (a manifold endowed with a distinguished closed 3-form varphi), we construct a smooth family, {N'(t): t\in(0,tau)} for some tau>0, of (smooth, nonsingular,) compact coassociative 4-folds in M which converge to N in the sense of currents, in geometric measure theory, as t tends to 0. This realisation of desingularizations of N is achieved by gluing in an asymptotically conical coassociative 4-fold in R^7, dilated by t, then deforming the resulting compact submanifold of M to the required coassociative 4-fo…
Given an asymptotically cylindrical special Lagrangian submanifold L in an asymptotically cylindrical Calabi-Yau 3-fold X, we determine conditions on a decay rate gamma which make the moduli space of (local) special Lagrangian deformations of L in X a smooth manifold and show that it has dimension equal to the dimension of the image of H^1_{cs}(L,R) in H^1(L,R) under the natural inclusion map.
On a projective complex manifold, the Abelian group of Divisors maps surjectively onto that of holomorphic line bundles (the Picard group). On a $G_2$-manifold we use coassociative submanifolds to define an analogue of the first, and a gauge theoretical equation for a connection on a gerbe to define an analogue of the last. Finally, we construct a map from the former to the later. Finally, we construct some coassociative submanifolds in twisted connected sum $G_2$-manifolds.
Let M^7 a manifold with holonomy in G_2, and Y^3 an associative submanifold with boundary in a coassociative submanifold. In [5], the authors proved that M_{X,Y}, the moduli space of its associative deformations with boundary in the fixed X, has finite virtual dimension. Using Bochner's technique, we give a vanishing theorem that forces M_{X,Y} to be locally smooth.
In this paper we investigate the geometry of Calibrated submanifolds and study relations between their moduli-space and geometry of the ambient manifold. In particular for a Calabi-Yau manifold we define Special Lagrangian submanifolds for any Kahler metric on it. We show that for a choice of Kahler metric the Borcea-Voisin threefold has a fibration structure with generic fiber being a Special Lagrangian torus. Moreover we construct a mirror to this fibration. Also for any closed G_2 form on a 7-manifold we study coassociative submanifolds and we show that one example of a G_2 manifold constru…
We construct calibrated submanifolds of R^7 and R^8 by viewing them as total spaces of vector bundles and taking appropriate sub-bundles which are naturally defined using certain surfaces in R^4. We construct examples of associative and coassociative submanifolds of R^7 and of Cayley submanifolds of R^8. This construction is a generalization of the Harvey-Lawson bundle construction of special Lagrangian submanifolds of R^{2n}.
A class of examples of Riemannian metrics with holonomy G_2 on compact 7-manifolds was constructed by the author in arXiv:math.DG/0012189 and later in a joint work with N.-H. Lee in arXiv:0810.0957, using a certain `generalized connected sum' of two asymptotically cylindrical manifolds with holonomy SU(3). We consider, on each of the two initial SU(3)-manifolds, a fibration arising from a Lefschetz pencil of K3 surfaces. The gluing of the two K3 fibrations yields a coassociative fibration of the connected sum G_2-manifold over a 3-dimensional sphere. The singular fibres of this fibration are d…
Let $M$ be a topological $G_2$-manifold. We prove that the space of infinitesimal associative deformations of a compact associative submanifold $Y$ with boundary in a coassociative submanifold $X$ is the solution space of an elliptic problem. For a connected boundary $\partial Y$ of genus $g$, the index is given by $\int_{\partial Y}c_1(ν_X)+1-g$, where $ν_X$ denotes the orthogonal complement of $T\partial Y$ in $TX_{|\partial Y}$ and $c_1(ν_X)$ the first Chern class of $ν_X$ with respect to its natural complex structure. Further, we exhibit explicit examples of non-trivial index.
We extend the estimate obtained in [1] for the mean curvature of a cylindrically bounded proper submanifold in a product manifold with an Euclidean space as one factor to a general product ambient space endowed with a warped product structure.
We study the deformations of an asymptotically cylindrical Cayley submanifold inside an asymptotically cylindrical Spin(7)-manifold. We prove an index formula for the operator of Dirac type that arises as the linearisation of the deformation map and show that if the Spin(7)-structure is generic, then there are no obstructions, and hence the moduli space is a smooth finite-dimensional manifold whose dimension is equal to the index of the operator of Dirac type. We further construct examples of asymptotically cylindrical Cayley submanifolds inside the asymptotically cylindrical Riemannian 8-mani…
We construct examples of exponentially asymptotically cylindrical Riemannian 7-manifolds with holonomy group equal to G_2. To our knowledge, these are the first such examples. We also obtain exponentially asymptotically cylindrical coassociative calibrated submanifolds. Finally, we apply our results to show that one of the compact G_2-manifolds constructed by Joyce by desingularisation of a flat orbifold T^7/Γcan be deformed to one of the compact G_2-manifolds obtainable as a generalized connected sum of two exponentially asymptotically cylindrical SU(3)-manifolds via the method given by the f…
We study gluings of asymptotically cylindrical special Lagrangian submanifolds in asymptotically cylindrical Calabi--Yau manifolds. We prove both that there is a well-defined gluing map, and, after reviewing the deformation theory for special Lagrangians, prove that this gluing map defines a local diffeomorphism from matching pairs of deformations of asymptotically cylindrical special Lagrangians to deformations of special Lagrangians. We also give some examples of asymptotically cylindrical special Lagrangian submanifolds to which these results apply.
Let $M^7$ be a smooth manifold equipped with a $G_2$-structure $ϕ$, and $Y^3$ be an closed compact $ϕ$-associative submanifold. In \cite{McL}, R. McLean proved that the moduli space $\bm_{Y,ϕ}$ of the $ϕ$-associative deformations of $Y$ has vanishing virtual dimension. In this paper, we perturb $ϕ$ into a $G_2$-structure $ψ$ in order to ensure the smoothness of $\bm_{Y,ψ}$ near $Y$. If $Y$ is allowed to have a boundary moving in a fixed coassociative submanifold $X$, it was proved in \cite{GaWi} that the moduli space $\bm_{Y,X}$ of the associative deformations of $Y$ with boundary in $X$ has f…
We study the Hitchin component in the space of representations of the fundamental group of a Riemann surface into a split real simple Lie group in the rank 2 case. We prove that such representations are described by a conformal structure and class of Higgs bundle we call cyclic and we show cyclic Higgs bundles correspond to a form of the affine Toda equations. In each case we relate cyclic Higgs bundles to geometric structures on the surface. We elucidate the geometry of generic 2-plane distributions in 5 dimensions, relating it to a parabolic geometry associated to the split real form of $G_2…
Lagrangian submanifolds in strict nearly Kähler 6-manifolds are related to special Lagrangian submanifolds in Calabi-Yau 6-manifolds and coassociative cones in $G_2$-manifolds. We prove that the mean curvature of a Lagrangian submanifold $L$ in a nearly Kähler manifold $(M^{2n}, J, g)$ is symplectically dual to the Maslov 1-form on $L$. Using relative calibrations, we derive a formula for the second variation of the volume of a Lagrangian submanifold $L^3$ in a strict nearly Kähler manifold $(M^6, J, g)$. This formula implies, in particular, that any formal infinitesimal Lagrangian deformation…
In this paper we study the geometry of manifolds with vector cross product and its complexification. First we develop the theory of instantons and branes and study their deformations. For example they are (i) holomorphic curves and Lagrangian submanifolds in symplectic manifolds and (ii) associative submanifolds and coassociative submanifolds in G_2-manifolds. Second we classify Kahler manifolds with the complex analog of vector cross product, namely they are Calabi-Yau manifolds and hyperkahler manifolds. Furthermore we study instantons, Neumann branes and Dirichlet branes on these manifolds.…
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…
In this paper we will investigate torus actions on complete manifolds with calibrations. For Calabi-Yau manifolds M^2n with a Hamiltonian structure-preserving k-torus action we show that any symplectic reduction has a natural holomorphic volume form. Moreover Special Lagrangian (SLag) submanifolds of the reduction lift to SLag submanifolds of M, invariant under the torus action. If k=n-1 and the first cohomology of M is trivial, then we prove that M is a fibration with generic fiber being a SLag submanifold. As an application we will see that crepant resolutions of singularities of a finite Ab…
While the study of bordered (pseudo-)holomorphic curves with boundary on Lagrangian submanifolds has a long history, a similar problem that involves (special) Lagrangian submanifolds with boundary on complex surfaces appears to be largely overlooked in both physics and math literature. We relate this problem to geometry of coassociative submanifolds in $G_2$ holonomy spaces and to $Spin(7)$ metrics on 8-manifolds with $T^2$ fibrations. As an application to physics, we propose a large class of brane models in type IIA string theory that generalize brane brick models on the one hand and 2d theor…
For two nearby disjoint coassociative submanifolds C and C' in a G_2-manifold, we construct thin instantons with boundaries lying on C and C' from regular J-holomorphic curves in C. We explain their relationship with the Seiberg-Witten invariants for C.
We give estimates on the intrinsic and the extrinsic curvature of manifolds that are isometrically immersed as cylindrically bounded submanifolds of warped products. We also address extensions of the results in the case of submanifolds of the total space of a Riemannian submersion.
We study high codimension mean curvature flow of a submanifold $\mathcal{M}^n$ of dimension $n$ in Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^{n+k}$ subject to the quadratic curvature condition $ |A|^{2}\leq c_n |H|^{2}, c _n = \min\{ \frac{4}{3n} , \frac{1}{n-2}\}$. This condition extends the notion of two-convexity for hypersurfaces to high codimension submanifolds. We analyse singularity formation in the mean curvature flow of high codimension by directly proving a pointwise gradient estimate. We then show that near a singularity the surface is quantitatively cylindrical.
We first review the notion of a $G_2$-manifold, defined in terms of a principal $G_2$ ("gauge") bundle over a $7$-dimensional manifold, before discussing their relation to supergravity. In a second thread, we focus on associative submanifolds and present their deformation theory. In particular, we elaborate on a deformation problem with coassociative boundary condition. Its space of infinitesimal deformations can be identified with the solution space of an elliptic equation whose index is given by a topological formula.
We consider an open string version of the topological twist previously proposed for sigma-models with G2 target spaces. We determine the cohomology of open strings states and relate these to geometric deformations of calibrated submanifolds and to flat or anti-self-dual connections on such submanifolds. On associative three-cycles we show that the worldvolume theory is a gauge-fixed Chern-Simons theory coupled to normal deformations of the cycle. For coassociative four-cycles we find a functional that extremizes on anti-self-dual gauge fields. A brane wrapping the whole G2 induces a seven-dime…
We argue that G_2 manifolds for M-theory admitting string theory Calabi-Yau duals are fibered by coassociative submanifolds. Dual theories are constructed using the moduli space of M5-brane fibers as target space. Mirror symmetry and various string and M-theory dualities involving G_2 manifolds may be incorporated into this framework. To give some examples, we construct two non-compact manifolds with G_2 structures: one with a K3 fibration, and one with a torus fibration and a metric of G_2 holonomy. Kaluza-Klein reduction of the latter solution gives abelian BPS monopoles in 3+1 dimensions.
We review the construction of almost contact metric (three-) structures, abbreviated ACM(3)S, on manifolds with a $G_2$ structure. These are of interest for certain supersymmetric configurations in string and M-theory. We compute the torsion of the $SU(3)$ structure associated to an ACMS and apply these computations to heterotic $G_2$ systems and supersymmetry enhancement. We initiate the study of the space of ACM3Ss, which is an infinite dimensional space with a local product structure and interesting topological features. Tantalising links between ACM3Ss and associative and coassociative sub…
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…
We study the moduli space of torsion-free G2-structures on a fixed compact manifold, and define its associated universal intermediate Jacobian J. We define the Yukawa coupling and relate it to a natural pseudo-Kahler structure on J. We consider natural Chern-Simons type functionals, whose critical points give associative and coassociative cycles (calibrated submanifolds coupled with Yang-Mills connections), and also deformed Donaldson-Thomas connections. We show that the moduli spaces of these structures can be isotropically immersed in J by means of G2-analogues of Abel-Jacobi maps.
Using Morse-Bott techniques adapted to the gauge-theoretic setting, we show that the limiting boundary values of the space of finite energy monopoles on a connected 3-manifold with at least two cylindrical ends provides an immersed Lagrangian submanifold of the vortex moduli space at infinity. By studying the signed intersections of such Lagrangians, we supply the analytic details of Donaldson's TQFT construction of the Seiberg-Witten invariants of a closed 3-manifold.
We provide a significant extension of the twisted connected sum construction of G_2-manifolds, i.e. Riemannian 7-manifolds with holonomy group G_2, first developed by Kovalev; along the way we address some foundational questions at the heart of the twisted connected sum construction. Some of the main contributions of the paper are: (i) We correct, clarify and extend several aspects of the K3 "matching problem" that occurs as a key step in the twisted connected sum construction. (ii) We show that the large class of asymptotically cylindrical Calabi-Yau 3-folds built from semi-Fano 3-folds (a su…
We develop the gluing theory of contact instantons in the context of open strings and in the context of closed strings \emph{with vanishing charge}, for example in the symplectization context. This is one of the key ingredients for the study of (virtually) smooth moduli space of (bordered) contact instantons needed for the construction of contact instanton Floer cohomology and more generally for the construction of Fukaya-type category of Legendrian submanifolds in contact manifold $(M,ξ)$. As an application, we apply the gluing theorem to give the construction of (cylindrical) Legendrian cont…
