A four-dimensional Walker geometry is a four-dimensional manifold M with a neutral metric g and a parallel distribution of totally null two-planes. This distribution has a natural characterization as a projective spinor field subject to a certain constraint. Spinors therefore provide a natural tool for studying Walker geometry, which we exploit to draw together several themes in recent explicit studies of Walker geometry and in other work of Dunajski (2002) and Plebanski (1975) in which Walker geometry is implicit. In addition to studying local Walker geometry, we address a global question raised by the use of spinors.
This text is dedicated to the real Killing equation on 3-dimensional Weyl manifolds. Any manifold admitting a real Killing spinor of weight 0 satisfies the conditions of a Gauduchon-Tod geometry. Conversely, any simply connected Gauduchon-Tod geometry has a 2-dimensional space of solutions of the real Killing equation on the spinor bundle of weight 0.
By a real alphabeta-geometry we mean a four-dimensional manifold M equipped with a neutral metric h such that (M,h) admits both an integrable distribution of alpha-planes and an integrable distribution of beta-planes. We obtain a local characterization of the metric when at least one of the distributions is parallel (i.e., is a Walker geometry) and the three-dimensional distribution spanned by the alpha- and beta-distributions is integrable. The case when both distributions are parallel, which has been called two-sided Walker geometry, is obtained as a special case. We also consider real αβ-ge…
We prove that there exist global solutions of the twistor equation on the Fefferman spaces of strictly pseudoconvex spin manifolds of arbitrary dimension and we study their properties.
We study the geometric structure of Lorentzian spin manifolds, which admit imaginary Killing spinors. The discussion is based on the cone construction and a normal form classification of skew-adjoint operators in signature $(2,n-2)$. Derived geometries include Brinkmann spaces, Lorentzian Einstein-Sasaki spaces and certain warped product structures. Exceptional cases with decomposable holonomy of the cone are possible.
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…
In this paper, the Dirac, twistor and Killing equations on Weyl manifolds with CSpin structures are investigated. A conformal Schr"odinger-Lichnerowicz formula is presented and used to show integrability conditions for these equations. By introducing the Killing equation for spinors of arbitrary weight, the result of Andrei Moroianu in [9] is generalized in the following sense. The only non-closed Weyl manifolds of dimension greater than 3 that admit solutions of the real Killing equation are 4-dimensional and non-compact. Any Weyl manifold of these dimensions admitting a real Killing spinor h…
We describe the local conformal geometry of a Lorentzian spin manifold $(M,g)$ admitting a twistor spinor $ϕ$ with zero. Moreover, we describe the shape of the zero set of $ϕ$. If $ϕ$ has isolated zeros then the metric $g$ is locally conformally equivalent to a static monopole. In the other case the zero set consists of null geodesic(s) and $g$ is locally conformally equivalent to a Brinkmann metric. Our arguments utilise tractor calculus in an essential way. The Dirac current of $ϕ$, which is a conformal Killing vector field, plays an important role for our discussion as well.
The goal of this article is to give an elementary introduction to Dirac geometry and group-valued moment maps, via pure spinors. The material is based on my lectures at the summer school on 'Poisson geometry in Mathematics and Physics' at Keio University, June 2006.
In this paper, we investigate the differential geometry properties of curves of constant breadth according to Darboux frame in a given strict Walker 3-manifold. The considered curves are lying on a timelike surface in the Walker 3-manifold.
We outline the solution of the Killing spinor equations of the heterotic supergravity. In addition, we describe the classification of all half supersymmetric solutions.
We present a geometric construction and characterization of $2n$-dimensional split-signature conformal structures endowed with a twistor spinor with integrable kernel. The construction is regarded as a modification of the conformal Patterson--Walker metric construction for $n$-dimensional projective manifolds. The characterization is presented in terms of the twistor spinor and an integrability condition on the conformal Weyl curvature. We further derive complete description of Einstein metrics and infinitesimal conformal symmetries in terms of suitable projective data. Finally, we obtain an e…
In this paper we discuss the twistor equation in Lorentzian spin geometry. In particular, we explain the local conformal structure of Lorentzian manifolds, which admit twistor spinors inducing lightlike Dirac currents. Furthermore, we derive all local geometries with singularity free twistor spinors that occur up to dimension 7.
This paper is a survey on special geometric structures that admit conformal Killing spinors based on lectures, given at the ``Workshop on Special Geometric Structures in String Theory'', Bonn, September 2001 and at ESI, Wien, November 2001. We discuss the case of Lorentzian signature and explain which geometries occur up to dimension 6.
In (Phys. Rev. D 62, 081501, 2000) we proposed a unified approach to description of continuous and discrete spacetime based on nonassociative geometry and described nonassociative smooth and discrete de Sitter models. In our paper we give the description of nonassociative Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime.
A non-linear generalization of the Dirac operator in 4-dimensions, obtained by replacing the spinor representation with a hyperKahler manifold admitting certain symmetries, is considered. We show that the existence of a covariantly constant, generalized spinor defines a Kahler structure on the base 4-dimensional manifold. For a class of hyperKahler manifolds obtained via hyperKahler reduction, we also show that a harmonic spinor, under mild conditions, defines a symplectic structure. Finally, we show that if a covariantly constant, generalized spinor satisfies generalized Seiberg-Witten equati…
In this paper connections between different gauge-theoretical problems in high and low dimensions are established. In particular it is shown that higher dimensional asd equations on total spaces of spinor bundles over low dimensional manifolds can be interpreted as Taubes-Pidstrygach's generalization of the Seiberg-Witten equations. By collapsing each fibre of the spinor bundle to a point, solutions of the Taubes-Pidstrygach equations are related to generalized harmonic spinors. This approach is also generalized for arbitrary fibrations (without singular fibres) compatible with an appropriate …
This is a survey of results on surfaces in noncommutative three-dimensional Lie groups obtained by using the Weierstrass (spinor) representation of surfaces. It is based on the talk given at the conference "Geometry related to the theory of integrable systems" (RIMS, Kyoto, September 2007).
We establish, via geometric quantization of the supercotangent bundle sM of (M,g), a correspondence between its conformal geometry and those of the spinor bundle. In particular, the Kosmann Lie derivative of spinors is obtained by quantization of the comoment map, associated to the new Hamiltonian action of conf(M,g) on sM. We study then the conf(M,g)-module structures induced on the space of differential operators acting on spinor densities and on its spaces of symbols (functions on sM). In the conformally flat case, we classify their conformal invariants, including the conformally odd powers…
We study Kohn-Dirac operators $D_θ$ on strictly pseudoconvex CR manifolds with ${\rm spin}^{\mathbb C}$ structure of weight $\ell\in{\mathbb Z}$. Certain components of $D_θ$ are CR invariants. We also derive CR invariant twistor operators of weight $\ell$. Harmonic spinors correspond to cohomology classes of some twisted Kohn-Rossi complex. Applying a Schrödinger-Lichnerowicz-type formula, we prove vanishing theorems for harmonic spinors and (twisted) Kohn-Rossi groups. We also derive obstructions to positive Webster curvature.
We present a novel approach to the classification of conformally equivariant differential operators on spinors in the case of homogeneous conformal geometry. It is based on the classification of solutions for a vector-valued system of partial differential equations, associated to $\mathcal{D}$-modules for the homogeneous conformal structure and controlled by the spin Howe duality for the orthogonal Lie algebras.
We compute the scalar curvature of 7-dimensional ${G}_2$-manifolds admitting a connection with totally skew-symmetric torsion. We prove the formula for the general solution of the Killing spinor equation and express the Riemannian scalar curvature of the solution in terms of the dilation function and the NS 3-form field. In dimension n=7 the dilation function involved in the second fermionic string equation has an interpretation as a conformal change of the underlying integrable ${G}_2$-structure into a cocalibrated one of pure type $W_3$.
We propose a way to classify all supersymmetric configurations of D=11 supergravity using the G-structures defined by the Killing spinors. We show that the most general bosonic geometries admitting a Killing spinor have at least a local SU(5) or an (Spin(7)\ltimes R^8)x R structure, depending on whether the Killing vector constructed from the Killing spinor is timelike or null, respectively. In the former case we determine what kind of local SU(5) structure is present and show that almost all of the form of the geometry is determined by the structure. We also deduce what further conditions mus…
We introduce a notion of Ricci flow in generalized geometry, extending a previous definition by Gualtieri on exact Courant algebroids. Special stationary points of the flow are given by solutions to first-order differential equations, the Killing spinor equations, which encompass special holonomy metrics with solutions of the Hull-Strominger system. Our main result investigates a method to produce new solutions of the Ricci flow and the Killing spinor equations. For this, we consider T-duality between possibly topologically distinct torus bundles endowed with Courant structures, and demonstrat…
I discuss geometry and normal forms for pseudo-Riemannian metrics with parallel spinor fields in some interesting dimensions. I also discuss the interaction of these conditions for parallel spinor fields with the condition that the Ricci tensor vanish (which, for pseudo-Riemannian manifolds, is not an automatic consequence of the existence of a nontrivial parallel spinor field).
We show that on every Spin(7) manifold there always exists a unique linear connection with totally skew-symmetric torsion preserving a nontrivial spinor and the Spin(7) structure. We express its torsion and the Riemannian scalar curvature in terms of the fundamental 4-form. We present an explicit formula for the Riemannian covariant derivative of the fundamental 4-form in terms of its exterior differential. We show the vanishing of the (\hat)-A genus and obtain a linear relation between Betti numbers of a compact Spin(7) manifolds which are locally but not globally conformally equivalent to a …
We present an introduction to the geometry of higher order vector and co-vector bundles (including higher order generalizations of the Finsler geometry and Kaluza--Klein gravity) and review the basic results on Clifford and spinor structures on spaces with generic local anisotropy modeled by anholonomic frames with associated nonlinear connection structures. We emphasize strong arguments for application of Finsler like geometries in modern string and gravity theory and noncommutative geometry and noncommutative field theory and gravity.
In this review, basic definitions of spin geometry are given and some of its applications to supersymmetry, supergravity and condensed matter physics are summarized. Clifford algebras and spinors are defined and the first-order differential operators on spinors which lead to the definitions of twistor and Killing spinors are discussed. Holonomy classification for manifolds admitting parallel and Killing spinors are given. Killing-Yano and conformal Killing-Yano forms resulting from the spinor bilinears of Killing and twistor spinors are introduced and the symmetry operators of special spinor e…
We determine the geometry of supersymmetric heterotic string backgrounds for which all parallel spinors with respect to the connection $\hat\nabla$ with torsion $H$, the NS$\otimes$NS three-form field strength, are Killing. We find that there are two classes of such backgrounds, the null and the timelike. The Killing spinors of the null backgrounds have stability subgroups $K\ltimes\bR^8$ in $Spin(9,1)$, for $K=Spin(7)$, SU(4), $Sp(2)$, $SU(2)\times SU(2)$ and $\{1\}$, and the Killing spinors of the timelike backgrounds have stability subgroups $G_2$, SU(3), SU(2) and $\{1\}$. The former admit…
We construct the space of infinitesimal variations for the Strominger system and an obstruction space to integrability, using elliptic operator theory. We initiate the study of the geometry of the moduli space, describing the infinitesimal structure of a natural foliation on this space. The associated leaves are related to generalized geometry and correspond to moduli spaces of solutions of suitable Killing spinor equations on a Courant algebroid. As an application, we propose a unifying framework for metrics with holonomy $\SU(3)$ and solutions of the Strominger system.
This is the first monograph on the geometry of anisotropic spinor spaces and its applications in modern physics. The main subjects are the theory of gravity and matter fields in spaces provided with off--diagonal metrics and associated anholonomic frames and nonlinear connection structures, the algebra and geometry of distinguished anisotropic Clifford and spinor spaces, their extension to spaces of higher order anisotropy and the geometry of gravity and gauge theories with anisotropic spinor variables. The book summarizes the authors' results and can be also considered as a pedagogical survey…
We exploit the spinor description of four-dimensional Walker geometry, and conformal rescalings of such, to describe the local geometry of four-dimensional neutral geometries with algebraically degenerate self-dual Weyl curvature and an integrable distribution of alpha-planes (algebraically special real alpha-geometry). In particular, we determine the behaviour of (four-dimensional neutral) Walker geometry under conformal rescalings and provide a derivation of the hyperheavenly equation from conformal rescaling formulae.
We provide a new characterisation of the Standard Model gauge group GSM as a subgroup of Spin(10). The new description of GSM relies on the geometry of pure spinors. We show that GSM is the subgroup that stabilises a pure spinor Psi_1 and projectively stabilises another pure spinor Psi_2, with Psi_1, Psi_2 orthogonal and such that their arbitrary linear combination is still a pure spinor. Our characterisation of GSM relies on the facts that projective pure spinors describe complex structures on R^{10}, and the product of two commuting complex structures is a what is known as a product structur…
We present a complete classification and the construction of $\mathrm{Mp}(2n+2,\mathbb{R})$-equivariant differential operators acting on the principal series representations, associated to the contact projective geometry on $\mathbb{RP}^{2n+1}$ and induced from the irreducible $\mathrm{Mp}(2n,\mathbb{R})$-submodules of the Segal-Shale-Weil representation twisted by a one-parameter family of characters. The proof is based on the classification of homomorphisms of generalized Verma modules for the Segal-Shale-Weil representation twisted by a one-parameter family of characters, together with a ge…
The article consists of the Russian and English variants of Ph.D. Thesis in which the answers is given on the following questions: 1. how to construct the spinor formalism for n=6; 2. how to construct the spinor formalism for n=8; 3. how to prolong the Riemannian connection from the tangent bundle into the spinor one with the base: a complex analytical 6-dimensional Riemannian space; 4. how to construct the real and complex representations of this bundles; 5. how to construct the curvature spinors and to investigate its properties; 6. how to obtain the canonical form of a bilinear form for the…
Notation for spin coefficients for metrics of neutral signature in four dimensions is introduced. The utility and interpretation of spin coefficients is explored through themes in null geometry familiar from (complex) general relativity. Four-dimensional Walker geometry is exploited to provide examples and the generalization of the real neutral version of Plebañski's (1975) second heavenly equation to certain Walker geometries given in Law and Matsushita [16] is extended further.
(This is a revised version of the paper) - In the present paper we study the geometry of doubly extended Lie groups with their natural biinvariant metric. We describe the curvature, the holonomy and the space of parallel spinors. This is completely done for all simply connected groups with biinvariantmetric of Lorentzian signature $(1,n-1)$, of signature $(2,n-2)$ and of signature $(p,q)$, where $p+q\leq 6$. Furthermore, some special series with higher signature are discussed.
We use a construction which we call generalized cylinders to give a new proof of the fundamental theorem of hypersurface theory. It has the advantage of being very simple and the result directly extends to semi-Riemannian manifolds and to embeddings into spaces of constant curvature. We also give a new way to identify spinors for different metrics and to derive the variation formula for the Dirac operator. Moreover, we show that generalized Killing spinors for Codazzi tensors are restrictions of parallel spinors. Finally, we study the space of Lorentzian metrics and give a criterion when two L…
We consider weighted parallel spinors in Lorentzian Weyl geometry in arbitrary dimensions, choosing the weight such that the integrability condition for the existence of such a spinor, implies the geometry to be Einstein-Weyl. We then use techniques developed for the classification of supersymmetric solutions to supergravity theories to characterise those Lorentzian EW geometries that allow for a weighted parallel spinor, calling the resulting geometries supersymmetric. The overall result is that they are either conformally related to ordinary geometries admitting parallel spinors (w.r.t. the …
I apply the algebraic classification of self-adjoint endomorphisms of ${\bf R}^{2,2}$ provided by their Jordan canonical form to the Ricci curvature tensor of four-dimensional neutral manifolds and relate this classification to an algebraic classification of the Ricci curvature spinor. These results parallel similar results well known in four-dimensional Lorentzian geometry. The classification is summarized in Table 2 at the end of the paper.
The theory of spinors is developed for locally anisotropic (la) spaces, in brief la-spaces, which in general are modeled as vector bundles provided with nonlinear and distinguished connections and metric structures (such la-spaces contain as particular cases the Lagrange, Finsler and, for trivial nonlinear connections, Kaluza-Klein spaces). The la-spinor differential geometry is constructed. The distinguished spinor connections are studied and compared with similar ones on la-spaces. We derive the la-spinor expressions of curvatures and torsions and analyze the conditions when the distinguishe…
Forty-six years after the birth of supersymmetry in 1973 from works of Julius Wess and Bruno Zumino, the standard quantum-field-theorists and particle physicists' language of `superspaces', `supersymmetry', and `supersymmetric action functionals in superspace formulation' as given in Chapters IV, V, VI, VII, XXII of the classic on supersymmetry and supergravity: Julius Wess & Jonathan Bagger: Supersymmetry and Supergravity (2nd ed.), is finally polished, with only minimal mathematical patches added for consistency and accuracy in dealing with nilpotent objects from the Grassmann algebra involv…
