We study the spectral geometry of the conformal Jacobi operator on a 4-dimensional Riemannian manifold (M,g). We show that (M,g) is conformally Osserman if and only if (M,g) is self-dual or anti self-dual. Equivalently, this means that the curvature tensor of (M,g) is given by a quaternionic structure, at least pointwise.
We characterize Osserman and conformally Osserman Riemannian manifolds with the local structure of a warped product. By means of this approach we analyze the twisted product structure and obtain, as a consequence, that the only Osserman manifolds which can be written as a twisted product are those of constant curvature.
An algebraic curvature tensor is called Osserman if the eigenvalues of the associated Jacobi operator are constant on the unit sphere. A Riemannian manifold is called conformally Osserman if its Weyl conformal curvature tensor at every point is Osserman. We prove that a conformally Osserman manifold of dimension $n \ne 3, 4, 16$ is locally conformally equivalent either to a Euclidean space or to a rank-one symmetric space.
We study the higher order Jacobi operator in pseudo-Riemannian geometry. We exhibit a family of manifolds so that this operator has constant Jordan normal form on the Grassmannian of subspaces of signature (r,s) for certain values of (r,s). These pseudo-Riemannian manifolds are new and non-trivial examples of higher order Osserman manifolds.
Let s be at least 2. We construct Ricci flat pseudo-Riemannian manifolds of signature (2s,s) which are not locally homogeneous but whose curvature tensors never the less exhibit a number of important symmetry properties. They are curvature homogeneous; their curvature tensor is modeled on that of a local symmetric space. They are spacelike Jordan Osserman with a Jacobi operator which is nilpotent of order 3; they are not timelike Jordan Osserman. They are k-spacelike higher order Jordan Osserman for $2\le k\le s$; they are k-timelike higher order Jordan Osserman for $s+2\le k\le 2s$, and they …
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.
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…
We exhibit pseudo Riemannian manifolds which are Szabó nilpotent of arbitrary order, or which are Osserman nilpotent of arbitrary order, or which are Ivanov-Petrova nilpotent of order 3.
Pseudo-Riemannian manifolds of balanced signature which are both spacelike and timelike Jordan Osserman nilpotent of order 2 and of order 3 have been constructed previously. In this short note, we shall construct pseudo-Riemannian manifolds of signature (2s,s) for any s (which is at least 2) which are spacelike Jordan Osserman nilpotent of order 3 but which are not timelike Jordan Osserman. Our example and techniques are quite different from known previously both in that they are not in neutral signature and that the manifolds constructed will be spacelike but not timelike Jordan Osserman.
In this paper, we study Jacobi operators associated to algebraic curvature maps (tensors) on lightlike submanifolds M. We investigate conditions for an induced Rie- mann curvature tensor to be an algebraic curvature tensor on M. We introduce the notion of lightlike Osserman submanifolds and an example of 2-degenerate Osserman metric is given. Finally we give some results of symmetry properties on lightlike hy- persurfaces from Osserman condition.
We construct a family of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds so that the skew-symmetric curvature operator, the Jacobi operator, and the Szabo operator have constant eigenvalues on their domains of definition. This provides new and non-trivial examples of Osserman, Szabo, and IP manifolds. We also study when the associated Jordan normal form of these operators is constant.
By considering the projectivized spectrum of the Jacobi operator, we introduce the concept of projective Osserman manifold in both the affine and in the pseudo-Riemannian settings. If M is an affine projective Osserman manifold, then the modified Riemannian extension metric on the cotangent bundle is both spacelike and timelike projective Osserman. Since any rank 1 symmetric space is affine projective Osserman, this provides additional information concerning the cotangent bundle of a rank 1 Riemannian symmetric space with the modified Riemannian extension metric. We construct other examples of…
In this paper we obtain generalized Keller-Osserman conditions for wide classes of differential inequalities on weighted Riemannian manifolds of the form $L u\geq b(x) f(u) \ell(|\nabla u|)$ and $L u\geq b(x) f(u) \ell(|\nabla u|) - g(u) h(|\nabla u|)$, where $L$ is a non-linear diffusion-type operator. Prototypical examples of these operators are the $p$-Laplacian and the mean curvature operator. While we concentrate on non-existence results, in many instances the conditions we describe are in fact necessary for non-existence. The geometry of the underlying manifold does not affect the form o…
We show that 4-dimensional Riemannian manifolds which satisfy the Rakić duality principle are Osserman (i.e. the eigenvalues of the Jacobi operator are constant), thus both conditions are equivalent.
We exhibit 3 families of complete curvature homogeneous pseudo-Riemannian manifolds which are modeled on irreducible symmetric spaces and which are not locally homogeneous. All of the manifolds have nilpotent Jacobi operators; some of the manifolds are, in addition, Jordan Osserman and Jordan Ivanov-Petrova.
One says that a smooth manifold M is a pseudo-Riemannian manifold of signature (p,q) if the tangent bundle TM is equipped with a smooth non-degenerate symmetric inner product g of signature (p,q). Similarly one says that M is an affine manifold if TM is equipped with a torsion free connection. One says g is Osserman if the eigenvalues of the Jacobi operator are constant on the pseudo-sphere bundles of unit timelike and spacelike vectors. We extend this concept from the pseudo-Riemannian to the affine setting to define the notion of a projectively Osserman manifold. This notion is the focus of …
The main result we give in this brief note relates, under suitable hypotheses, the ϕ-null Osserman, the null Osserman and the classical Osserman conditions to each other, via semi-Riemannian submersions as projection maps of principal torus bundles arising from a Lorentzian S-manifold.
We show that every paracomplex space form is locally isometric to a modified Riemannian extension and give necessary and sufficient conditions so that a modified Riemannian extension is Einstein. We exhibit Riemannian extension Osserman manifolds of signature (3,3) whose Jacobi operators have non-trivial Jordan normal form and which are not nilpotent. We present new four dimensional results in Osserman geometry.
We consider pseudo-Riemannian generalizations of Osserman, Clifford, and the duality principle properties for algebraic curvature tensors and investigate relations between them. We introduce quasi-Clifford curvature tensors using a generalized Clifford family and show that they are Osserman. This allows us to discover an Osserman curvature tensor that does not satisfy the duality principle. We give some necessary and some sufficient conditions for the total duality principle.
In the algebraic context, we show that null Osserman, spacelike Osserman, and timelike Osserman are equivalent conditions for a model of signature (2,2). We also classify the null Jordan Osserman models of signature (2,2). In the geometric context, we show that a pseudo-Riemannian manifold of signature (2,2) is null Jordan Osserman if and only if either it has constant sectional curvature or it is locally a complex space form.
For a Riemannian manifold $M^n$ with the curvature tensor $R$, the Jacobi operator $R_X$ is defined by $R_XY = R(X,Y)X$. The manifold $M^n$ is called {\it pointwise Osserman} if, for every $p \in M^n$, the eigenvalues of the Jacobi operator $R_X$ do not depend of a unit vector $X \in T_pM^n$, and is called {\it globally Osserman} if they do not depend of the point $p$ either. R. Osserman conjectured that globally Osserman manifolds are flat or rank-one symmetric. This Conjecture is true for manifolds of dimension $n \ne 8, 16$. Here we prove the Osserman Conjecture and its pointwise version fo…
Let M be a Riemannian manifold and R its curvature tensor. For a unit vector X tangent to M at a point p, the Jacobi operator is defined by R_X = R(X, .) X$. The manifold M is called pointwise Osserman if, for every point p, the spectrum of the Jacobi operator does not depend of the choice of X, and is called globally Osserman if it depends neither of X, nor of p. R.Osserman conjectured that globally Osserman manifolds are two-point homogeneous. We prove the Osserman Conjecture for dimension n \ne 8, 16, and its pointwise version for n \ne 2,4,8,16. Partial results in the cases n = 8, 16 are a…
In this paper a thorough study of the normal form and the first integrability conditions arising from {\em bi-conformal vector fields} is presented. These new symmetry transformations were introduced in {\em Class. Quantum Grav.}\textbf{21}, 2153-2177 and some of their basic properties were addressed there. Bi-conformal vector fields are defined on a pseudo-Riemannian manifold through the differential conditions $\lie P_{ab}=ϕP_{ab}$ and $\lieΠ_{ab}=χΠ_{ab}$ where $P_{ab}$ and $Π_{ab}$ are orthogonal and complementary projectors with respect to the metric tensor $\rmg_{ab}$. One of the main re…
A Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian (or conformal) structure is conformally Einstein if and only if there is a suitably generic parallel section of a certain vector bundle -- the so-called standard conformal tractor bundle. We show that this characterisation leads to a systematic approach to constructing obstructions to conformally Einstein metrics. Relaxing the requirement that the parallel tractor field be generic gives a natural generalisation of the Einstein equations.
In this paper we continue the study of bi-conformal vector fields started in {\em Class. Quantum Grav.} {\bf 21} 2153-2177. These are vector fields defined on a pseudo-Riemannian manifold by the differential conditions $\lie P_{ab}=ϕP_{ab}$, $\lieΠ_{ab}=χΠ_{ab}$ where $P_{ab}$, $Π_{ab}$ are orthogonal and complementary projectors with respect to the metric tensor $\rmg_{ab}$ and $\lie$ is the Lie derivative. In a previous paper we explained how the analysis of these differential conditions enabled us to derive local geometric characterizations of the most relevant cases of {\em conformally sep…
We produce some explicit examples of conformally compact Einstein manifolds, whose conformal compactifications are foliated by Riemannian products of a closed Einstein manifold with the total space of a principal circle bundle over products of Kahler-Einstein manifolds. We compute the associated conformal invariants, i.e., the renormalized volume in even dimensions and the conformal anomaly in odd dimensions. As a by-product, we obtain some Riemannian products with vanishing Q-curvature.
For any k which is at least 2, we exhibit complete k-curvature homogeneous neutral signature pseudo-Riemannian manifolds which are not k+1-affine curvature homogeneous, and hence not locally homogeneous. All the local scalar Weyl invariants of these manifolds vanish. These manifolds are Ricci flat, Osserman, and Ivanov-Petrova.
We classify the harmonic morphisms with one-dimensional fibres (1) from real-analytic conformally-flat Riemannian manifolds of dimension at least four, and (2) between conformally-flat Riemannian manifolds of dimensions at least three.
Necessary and sufficient conditions for a Riemannian product to be conformally equivalent to an Einstein manifold are given. Such spaces which are complete are characterized.
We consider four dimensional conformally flat homogeneous pseudo Riemannian manifolds. According to forms (Seger types) of the Ricci operator, we provide a full classification of four dimensional pseudo Riemannian conformally flat homogeneous Ricci solitons.
We find the index of $\widetilde{\nabla}$-quasi-conformally symmetric and $\widetilde{\nabla}$-concircularly symmetric semi-Riemannian manifolds, where $\widetilde{\nabla}$ is metric connection.
This is the first of two companion papers in which a thorough study of the normal form and the first integrability conditions arising from {\em bi-conformal vector fields} is presented. These new symmetry transformations were introduced in {\em Class. Quantum Grav.} \textbf{21}, 2153-2177 and some of their basic properties were addressed there. In our calculations a new affine connection ({\em bi-conformal connection}) arises quite naturally and this connection enables us to find a local characterization of {\em conformally separable} pseudo-Riemannian manifolds (also called double twisted pro…
Conformally flat pseudo-Riemannian manifolds with generalized Ricci recurrent, $(GR)_n$ structure are completely classified in this short report. A conformally flat generalized Ricci recurrent pseudo-Riemannian manifold is shown to be either a de Sitter space or an anti-de Sitter space. In particular, a conformally flat generalized Ricci recurrent spacetime must be either a de Sitter spacetime or an anti-de Sitter spacetime.
Osserman manifolds are a generalization of locally two-point homogeneous spaces. We introduce $k$-root manifolds in which the reduced Jacobi operator has exactly $k$ eigenvalues. We investigate one-root and two-root manifolds as another generalization of locally two-point homogeneous spaces. We prove that there is no two-root Riemannian manifold of odd dimension. In twice an odd dimension, we describe all two-root Riemannian algebraic curvature tensors and give additional conditions for two-root Riemannian manifolds.
Conformally variational Riemannian invariants (CVIs), such as the scalar curvature, are homogeneous scalar invariants which arise as the gradient of a Riemannian functional. We establish a wide range of stability and rigidity results involving CVIs, generalizing many such results for the scalar curvature.
We show the existence of a modified Cliff(1,1) structure compatible with an Osserman 0-model of signature (2,2). We then apply this algebraic result to certain classes of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds of signature (2,2). We obtain a new characterization of the Weyl curvature tensor of an (anti-)self-dual manifold and we prove some new results regarding (Jordan) Osserman manifolds.
We present a set of global invariants, called "mass integrals", which can be defined for a large class of asymptotically hyperbolic Riemannian manifolds. When the "boundary at infinity" has spherical topology one single invariant is obtained, called the mass; we show positivity thereof. We apply the definition to conformally compactifiable manifolds, and show that the mass is completion-independent. We also prove the result, closely related to the problem at hand, that conformal completions of conformally compactifiable manifolds are unique.
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.
We define a conformally invariant action S on gauge connections on a closed pseudo-Riemannian manifold M of dimension 6. At leading order this is quadratic in the gauge connection. The Euler-Lagrange equations of S, with respect to variation of the gauge connection, provide a higher-order conformally invariant analogue of the (source-free) Yang-Mills equations. For any gauge connection A on M, we define S(A) by first defining a Lagrangian density associated to A. This is not conformally invariant but has a conformal transformation analogous to a Q-curvature. Integrating this density provides t…
A local classification of locally conformal flat Riemannian Einstein-like four-manifolds as well as a local classification of all locally conformal flat Riemannian four-manifolds for which all Jacobi operators have parallel eigenspaces along every geodesic is given. Non-trivial explicit examples are presented. The problem of local description of self-dual Einstein-like four-manifolds is also treated. A complete explicit solution of the Stäckel system in dimension four is obtained.
We prove the existence of smooth closed hypersurfaces of prescribed mean curvature homeomorphic to $S^n$ for small $n, n\le6$, provided there are barriers.
In this paper we prove that every Riemannian metric on a locally conformally flat manifold with umbilic boundary can be conformally deformed to a scalar flat metric having constant mean curvature. This result can be seen as a generalization to higher dimensions of the well known Riemann mapping Theorem in the plane.
Conformally quasi-recurrent (CQR)_n pseudo-Riemannian manifolds are investigated, and several new results are obtained. It is shown that the Ricci tensor and the gradient of the fundamental vector are Weyl compatible tensors (the notion was introduced recently by the authors and applies to significative space-times), (CQR)_n manifolds with concircular fundamental vector are quasi-Einstein. For 4-dimensional (CQR)$_4$ Lorentzian manifolds the fundamental vector is null and unique up to a scaling, it is an eigenvector of the Ricci tensor, and its integral curves are geodesics. Such space-times a…
Spinor representations of surfaces immersed into 4-dimensional pseudo-riemannian manifolds are defined in terms of minimal left ideals and tensor decompositions of Clifford algebras. The classification of spinor fields and Dirac operators on the immersed surfaces is given. The Dirac-Hestenes spinor field on surfaces immersed into Lorentzian manifolds and on surfaces conformally immersed into Minkowski spacetime is defined.
On conformal manifolds of even dimension $n\geq 4$ we construct a family of new conformally invariant differential complexes. Each bundle in each of these complexes appears either in the de Rham complex or in its dual. Each of the new complexes is elliptic if the signature is Riemannian. We also construct gauge companion operators which complete the exterior derivative to a conformally invariant and (in the case of Riemannian signature) elliptically coercive system. These (operator,gauge) pairs are used to define finite dimensional conformally stable form subspaces which are are candidates for…
A necessary and sufficient condition for the leaves of a {\em non-degenerate} foliation of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold to be conformally flat is developed. The condition mimics the classical condition of the vanishing of the Weyl or Cotton tensor establishing the conformal flatness of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold in the sense that it is also formulated in terms of the vanishing of certain tensors. These tensors play the role of the Weyl or the Cotton tensors and they are defined in terms of the the curvature of a linear torsion-free connection (the {\em bi-conformal connection}).
Motivated by considerations of euclidean quantum gravity, we investigate a central question of spectral geometry, namely the question of reconstructability of compact Riemannian manifolds from the spectra of their Laplace operators. To this end, we study analytic paths of metrics that induce isospectral Laplace-Beltrami operators over oriented compact surfaces without boundary. Applying perturbation theory, we show that sets of conformally equivalent metrics on such surfaces contain no nontrivial convex subsets. This indicates that cases where the manifolds cannot be reconstructed from their s…
We prove the following statement: Let g be a light-line-complete pseudo-Riemannian Einstein metric of indefinite signature on a connected (n>2)-dimensional manifold M. Assume that a conformally equivalent metric is also Einstein. Then, the metrics are proportional with a constant coefficient. If in addition the manifold is closed, the assumption that the manifold is light-line-complete could be omitted.
The defining equations for Killing vector fields and conformal Killing vector fields are overdetermined systems of PDE. This makes it difficult to solve the systems numerically. We propose an approach which reduces the computation to the solution of a symmetric eigenvalue problem. The eigenvalue problem is then solved by finite element techniques. The formulation itself is valid in any dimension and for arbitrary compact Riemannian manifolds. The numerical results which validate the method are given in two dimensional case.
Riemannian manifolds of quasi-constant sectional curvatures (QC-manifolds) are divided into two basic classes: with positive or negative horizontal sectional curvatures. We prove that the Riemannian QC-manifolds with positive horizontal sectional curvatures are locally equivalent to canal hypersurfaces in Euclidean space, while the Riemannian QC-manifolds with negative horizontal sectional curvatures are locally equivalent to canal space-like hypersurfaces in Minkowski space. We prove that the local theory of conformally flat Riemannian manifolds, which can be locally isometrically embedded as…
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.
Let (M,g) be a Riemannian manifold and G a nondegenerate g-natural metric on its tangent bundle T M . In this paper we establish a relation between the Jacobi operators of (M,g) and that of (T M,G). In the case of a Riemannian surface (M,g), we compute explicitly the spectrum of some Jacobi operators of (TM,G) and give necessary and sufficient conditions for (T M,G) to be an Osserman manifold.
This paper is about the influence of Geometry on the qualitative behaviour of solutions of quasilinear PDEs on Riemannian manifolds. Motivated by examples arising, among others, from the theory of submanifolds, in particular by the study of entire graphs with prescribed mean curvature, we consider classes of coercive differential inequalities of the form $$ \mathrm{div}\left( \frac{φ(|\nabla u|)}{|\nabla u|} \nabla u\right) \ge b(x)f(u) l(|\nabla u|) \qquad \text{(respectively, $\le$ or $=$)} $$ on domains of a manifold $M$, for suitable $φ,b,f,l$, with emphasis on mean curvature type operator…
We construct a natural conformally invariant one-form of weight $-2k$ on any $2k$-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold which is closely related to the Pfaffian of the Weyl tensor. On oriented manifolds, we also construct natural conformally invariant one-forms of weight $-4k$ on any $4k$-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold which are closely related to top degree Pontrjagin forms. The weight of these forms implies that they define functionals on the space of conformal Killing fields. On Riemannian manifolds, we show that this functional is trivial for the former form but not for the latter…