We consider the nonstandard inclusion of SO(3) in SO(5) associated with a 5-dimensional irreducible representation. The tensor $Υ$ representing this reduction is found to be given by a ternary symmetric form with special properties. A 5-dimensional manifold $(M,g,Υ)$ with Riemannian metric $g$ and ternary form generated by such a tensor has a corresponding SO(3) structure, whose Gray-Hervella type classification is established using so(3)-valued connections with torsion.
Structures with antisymmetric torsions, we call them the nearly integrable SO(3) structures, are studied in detail. In particular, it is shown that the integrable models (those with vanishing torsion) are isometric to the symmetric spaces $M_+= SU(3)/SO(3)$, $M_-=SL(3,R)/SO(3)$, $M_0=R^5$. We also find all nearly integrable SO(3) structures with transitive symmetry groups of dimension $d>5$ and some examples for which $d=5$.
Given an SO(3) structure $(M,g,Υ)$, we define its "twistor space" T to be the $S^2$-bundle of those unit 2-forms on $M$ which span $R^3=so(3)$. The 7-dimensional twistor manifold T is then naturally equipped with several CR and $G_2$ structures. The ensuing integrability conditions are discussed and interpreted in terms of the Gray-Hervella type classification.
A nonstandard (maximal) inclusion SO(3) in SO(5) associated with the irreducible representation ρ_5 of SO(3) in R^5 is considered. The topological obstructions for admitting the SO(3) structure on the frame bundle over 5-manifold are investigated. The necessary and sufficient conditions are formulated.
We study the local geometry of irreducible parabolic geometries admitting strongly essential flows; these are flows by local automorphisms with higher-order fixed points. We prove several new rigidity results, and recover some old ones for projective and conformal structures, which show that in many cases the existence of a strongly essential flow implies local flatness of the geometry on an open set having the fixed point in its closure. For almost c-projective and almost quaternionic structures we can moreover show flatness of the geometry on a neighborhood of the fixed point.
Having fixed a Kaehler class and the unique corresponding hyperkaehler metric, we prove that all special Lagrangian submanifolds of an irreducible symplectic 4-fold X are bi-Lagrangian and that they are obtained by complex submanifolds via a sort of "hyperkaehler rotation trick"; thus they retain part of the rigidity of complex submanifolds: indeed all special Lagrangian submanifolds of X turn out to be real analytic.
We study geodesically complete and locally compact Hadamard spaces X whose Tits boundary is a connected irreducible spherical building. We show that X is symmetric iff complete geodesics in X do not branch and a Euclidean building otherwise. Furthermore, every boundary equivalence (cone topology homeomorphism preserving the Tits metric) between two such spaces is induced by a homothety. As an application, we can extend the Mostow and Prasad rigidity theorems to compact singular (orbi)spaces of nonpositive curvature which are homotopy equivalent to a quotient of a symmetric space or Euclidean b…
We use classical (Penrose) two-component spinors to set up the differential geometry of two parabolic contact structures in five dimensions, namely $G_2$ contact geometry and Legendrean contact geometry. The key players in these two geometries are invariantly defined directional derivatives defined only in the contact directions. We explain how to define them and their usage in constructing basic invariants such as the harmonic curvature, the obstruction to being locally flat from the parabolic viewpoint. As an application, we calculate the invariant torsion of the $G_2$ contact structure on t…
We give a new proof that the completion of the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmüller space is Gromov-hyperbolic if the surface is a five-times punctured sphere or a twice-punctured torus. Our methods make use of the synthetic geometry of the Weil-Petersson metric.
We study five dimensional geometries associated with the 5-dimensional irreducible representation of GL(2,R). These are special Weyl geometries in signature (3,2) having the structure group reduced from CO(3,2) to GL(2,R). The reduction is obtained by means of a conformal class of totally symmetric 3-tensors. Among all GL(2,R) geometries we distinguish a subclass which we term `nearly integrable GL(2,R)geometries'. These define a unique gl(2,R) connection which has totally skew symmetric torsion. This torsion splits onto the GL(2,R) irreducible components having respective dimensions 3 and 7. …
We give an inductive construction for irreducible Clifford systems on Euclidean vector spaces. We then discuss how this notion can be adapted to Riemannian manifolds, and outline some developments in octonionic geometry.
We prove some structure results for \emph{transverse reducible} Sasaki manifolds. In particular, we show Sasaki manifolds with positive Ricci curvature is transversely irreducible, and so there is no join (product) construction for irregular Sasaki-Einstein manifolds, as opposed to the quasi-regular case done by Wang-Ziller and Boyer-Galicki. As an application, we classify compact Sasaki manifolds with non-negative transverse bisectional curvature, which can be viewed as the generalized Frankel conjecture (N. Mok's theorem) in Sasaki geometry.
1-flat irreducible G-structures, equivalently, irreducible G-structures admitting torsion-free affine connections, have been studied extensively in differential geometry, especially in connection with the theory of affine holonomy groups. We propose to study them in a setting in algebraic geometry, where they arise from varieties of minimal rational tangents (VMRT) associated to families of minimal rational curves on uniruled projective manifolds. We prove that such a structure is locally symmetric when the dimension of the uniruled projective manifold is at least 5. By the classification resu…
The subgroups of GL(n,R) that act irreducibly on R^n and that can occur as the holonomy of a torsion-free affine connection on an n-manifold are classified, thus completing the work on this subject begun by M. Berger in the 1950s. The methods employed include representation theory, the theory of hermitian symmetric spaces, twistor theory, and Poisson geometry. The latter theory is especially important for the construction and classification of those torsion-free connections whose holonomy falls into one of the so-called `exotic' cases, i.e., those that were not included in Berger's original li…
In this series of lectures we introduce the Monge-Kantorovich problem of optimally transporting one distribution of mass onto another, where optimality is measured against a cost function c(x,y). Connections to geometry, inequalities, and partial differential equations will be discussed, focusing in particular on recent developments in the regularity theory for Monge-Ampere type equations. An application to microeconomics will also be described, which amounts to finding the equilibrium price distribution for a monopolist marketing a multidimensional line of products to a population of anonymou…
We prove general superrigidity results for actions of irreducible lattices on CAT(0) spaces; first, in terms of the ideal boundary, and then for the intrinsic geometry (including for infinite-dimensional spaces). In particular, one obtains a new and self-contained proof of Margulis' superrigidity theorem for uniform irreducible lattices in non-simple groups. The proofs rely on simple geometric arguments, including a splitting theorem which can be viewed as an infinite-dimensional (and singular) generalization of the Lawson-Yau/Gromoll-Wolf theorem.
Consider the nonstandard embedding of SO(3) into SO(5) given by the 5-dimensional irreducible representation of SO(3), henceforth called SO(3)_\ir. In this note, we study the topology and the differential geometry of 5-dimensional Riemannian manifolds carrying such an SO(3)_\ir structure, i.\,e. with a reduction of the frame bundle to SO(3)_\ir.
The target space geometry of abelian vector multiplets in ${\cal N}= 2$ theories in four and five space-time dimensions is called special geometry. It can be elegantly formulated in terms of Hessian geometry. In this review, we introduce Hessian geometry, focussing on aspects that are relevant for the special geometries of four- and five-dimensional vector multiplets. We formulate ${\cal N}= 2$ theories in terms of Hessian structures and give various concrete applications of Hessian geometry, ranging from static BPS black holes in four and five space-time dimensions to topological string theor…
Noncommutative Kähler structures were recently introduced by the second author as a framework for studying noncommutative Kähler geometry on quantum homogeneous spaces. It was subsequently observed that the notion of a positive vector bundle directly generalises to this setting, as does the Kodaira vanishing theorem. In this paper, by restricting to covariant Kähler structures of irreducible type (those having an irreducible space of holomorphic one-forms) we provide simple cohomological criteria for positivity, offering a means to avoid explicit curvature calculations. These general results a…
