It is shown that every bundle $\varSigma\to M$ of complex spinor modules over the Clifford bundle $\Cl(g)$ of a Riemannian space $(M,g)$ with local model $(V,h)$ is associated with an lpin ("Lipschitz") structure on $M$, this being a reduction of the ${\Ort}(h)$-bundle of all orthonormal frames on M to the Lipschitz group $\Lpin(h)$ of all automorphisms of a suitably defined spin space. An explicit construction is given of the total space of the $\Lpin(h)$-bundle defining such a structure. If the dimension m of M is even, then the Lipschitz group coincides with the complex Clifford group and the lpin structure can be reduced to a pin$^{c}$ structure. If m=2n-1, then a spinor module $\varSigma$ on M is of the Cartan type: its fibres are 2^n-dimensional and decomposable at every point of M, but the homomorphism of bundles of algebras $\Cl(g)\to\End\varSigma$ globally decomposes if, and only if, M is orientable. Examples of such bundles are given. The topological condition for the existence of an lpin structure on an odd-dimensional Riemannian manifold is derived and illustrated by the example of a manifold admitting such a structure, but no pin^c structure.
We study an energy functional on the universal spinor bundle over a closed $n$-dimensional spin manifold $M$. The critical points of this functional, which is modelled on the total torsion functional of $G_2$-structures in seven dimensions, are pairs of Ricci-flat metrics and real parallel spinor fields provided that $n$ equals $3$ or $7$. We then modify the functional to obtain the analogue in arbitrary dimensions. Finally we apply the universal spinor bundle approach to solve some ODEs problems concerning $G_2$-structures.
Not only the Dirac operator, but also the spinor bundle of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold depends on the underlying metric. This leads to technical difficulties in the study of problems where many metrics are involved, for instance in variational theory. We construct a natural finite dimensional bundle, from which all the metric spinor bundles can be recovered including their extra structure. In the Lorentzian case, we also give some applications to Einstein-Dirac-Maxwell theory as a variational theory and show how to coherently define a maximal Cauchy development for this theory.
We introduce the notions of Chern-Dirac bundles and Chern-Dirac operators on Hermitian manifolds. They are analogues of classical Dirac bundles and Dirac operators, with Levi-Civita connection replaced by Chern connection. We then show that the tensor product of canonical and the anticanonical spinor bundles, called V-spinor bundle, is a bigraded Chern-Dirac bundle with spaces of harmonic spinors isomorphic to the full Dolbeault cohomology class. A similar construction establishes isomorphisms between other types of harmonic spinors and Bott-Chern, Aeppli and twisted cohomology.
Supposing that X is a Riemannian manifold, a Z/2 spinor on X is defined by a data set consisting of a closed set in X to be denoted by Z, a real line bundle over X-Z, and a nowhere zero section on X-Z of the tensor product of the real line bundle and a spinor bundle. The set Z and the spinor are jointly constrained by the following requirement: The norm of the spinor must extend across Z as a continuous function vanishing on Z. In particular, the vanishing locus of the norm of the spinor is the complement of the set where the real line bundle is defined, and hence where the spinor is defined. …
In this paper, following Sullivan, Kusner, and Schmitt, we study conformal immersions of Riemann surfaces into the three-dimensional Euclidean space. Regarding such immersions as special bundle maps from the tangent bundle of the surface to the cotangent bundle of the 2-dimensional sphere, we generalize the classical Weierstrass representation of minimal surfaces to the case of arbitrary conformal immersions. We study how such an immersion gives rise to a spin structure on the surface together with a pair of spinors and how the immersion itself can be studied by means of these spinors.
In this note we compare the spinor bundle of a Riemannian manifold $(M=M_1\times...\times M_N,g)$ with the spinor bundles of the Riemannian factors $(M_i,g_i)$. We show, that - without any holonomy conditions - the spinor bundle of $(M,g)$ for a special class of metrics is isomorphic to a bundle obtained by tensoring the spinor bundles of $(M_i,g_i)$ in an appropriate way.
It is known that, for Dirac operators on Riemann surfaces twisted by line bundles with Hermitian-Einstein connections, it is possible to obtain estimates for the first eigenvalue in terms of the topology of the twisting bundle \cite{JL2}. Attempts to generalize topological estimates for higher rank bundles or higher dimensional manifolds have been so far unsuccessful. In this work we construct a class of examples which indicates one problem that arises on such attempts to derive topological estimates.
Operator fields in the bundle of Dirac spinors and their conversion to spatial fields are considered. Some commutator equations are studied with the use of the conversion technique.
A bundle gerbe is constructed from an oriented smooth vector bundle of even rank with a fiberwise inner product, over a compact connected orientable smooth manifold with Riemannian metric. From a trivialization of the bundle gerbe is constructed an irreducible Clifford module bundle, a spinor bundle over the smooth free loop space of the manifold. First, a Clifford algebra bundle over the loop space is constructed from the vector bundle. A polarization class bundle is constructed, choosing continuously over each point of the loop space a polarization class of Lagrangian subspaces of the comple…
It is known that the bundle of Dirac spinors is produced as a direct sum of two bundles - the bundle of chiral spinors and its Hermitian conjugate bundle. In this paper some aspects of metric connections for chiral and Dirac spinors are resumed and their relation is studied.
Two explicit formulas for metric connections in the bundle of Dirac spinors are studied. Their equivalence is proved. The explicit formula relating the spinor curvature tensor with the Riemann curvature tensor is rederived.
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…
Based on the observation that Cacic [10]'s characterization of almost commutative spectral triples as Clifford module bundles can be pushed to endomorphim algebras of Dirac bundles, with the geometric Dirac operator related to the Dirac operator of the spectral triple by a perturbation, the question of complete positivity of the heat semigroups generated by connection laplacian and Dirac and Kostant's cubic Dirac laplacians is approached using spin geometry and C *-Dirichlet forms. The geometric heat semigroups for on endomorphosm algebras of spinor bundles are shown to be quantum dynamical se…
We show that, on a 4-manifold M endowed with a spin^c structure induced by an almost-complex structure, a self-dual (= positive) spinor field ϕ\in Γ(W^+) is the same as a bundle morphism ϕ: TM \to TM acting on the fiber by self-dual conformal transformations, such that the Clifford multiplication is just the evaluation of ϕon tangent vectors, and that the squaring map σ: W^+ \to Λ^+ acts by pulling-back the fundamental form of the almost-complex structure. We use this to detect Kahler and symplectic structures.
The closed homogeneous and isotropic universe is considered. The bundles of Weyl and Dirac spinors for this universe are explicitly described. Some explicit formulas for the basic fields and for the connection components in stereographic and in spherical coordinates are presented.
The decomposition of the spinor bundle of the spin Grassmann manifolds $G_{m,n}=SO(m+n)/SO(m)\times SO(n)$ into irreducible representations of $\mathfrak{so}(m)\oplus\mathfrak{so}(n)$ is presented. A universal construction is developed and the general statement is proven for $G_{2k+1,3}$, $G_{2k,4}$, and $G_{2k+1,5}$ for all $k$. The decomposition is used to discuss properties of the spectrum and the eigenspaces of the Dirac operator.
It is well known that spinors on oriented Riemannian manifolds cannot be defined as sections of a vector bundle associated with the frame bundle. For this reason spin and spin^c structures are often introduced. In this paper we prove that spin^c structures have a universal property among all other structures that enable the construction of spinor bundles. We proceed to prove a similar result for metaplectic^c structures on symplectic manifolds.
Let $(M,g)$ be a pseudo-Riemannian manifold of signature $(p,q)$. We compute the obstruction for a vector bundle $S$ over $(M,g)$ to admit a Dirac operator whose principal symbol induces on $S$ the structure of a bundle of irreducible real Clifford modules of complex type, that is, a real spinor bundle of irreducible complex type. In order to do this, we use the theory of Lipschitz structures in signature $p-q\equiv_8 3,7$ to reformulate the problem as the obstruction problem for $(M,g)$ to admit a $\mathrm{Spin}^{o}_α$ structure with $α= -1$ if $p-q \equiv_{8} 3$ or $α= +1$ if $ p-q \equiv_{8…
Kosmann-Lie derivatives in the bundle of Weyl spinors are considered. It is shown that the basic spin-tensorial fields of this bundle are constants with respect to these derivatives.
The first time that the connection between isometric immersion of surfaces and solutions of the Dirac equation appeared in the literature was in the seminal paper of Thomas Friedrich in 1998. In consequence of that, several authors contributed to this topic hereafter, by obtaining the spinorial representation of Spin manifolds with arbitrary dimension and also by presenting a generalization of the Weierstrass representation map, for example. All these results assume that the manifolds and bundles involved carry a Spin structure, however this hypothesis is somehow restrictive, as for instance, …
We consider a variant of the Seiberg-Witten equations for multiple-spinors. The moduli space of solutions to our generalized Seiberg-Witten equations in the setting of Kähler surfaces has a direct relation with ASD connections of holomorphic vector bundle. Also in Kähler setting, we construct a numerical invariant from the equations that detects a notion of $ϕ-$stability of $SU(n)-$holomorphic vector bundles where $ϕ$ is some prescribed non-trivial holomorphic section.
We obtain the topological obstructions to existence of a bundle of irreducible real Clifford modules over a pseudo-Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ of arbitrary dimension and signature and prove that bundles of Clifford modules are associated to so-called real Lipschitz structures. The latter give a generalization of spin structures based on certain groups which we call real Lipschitz groups. In the fiberwise-irreducible case, we classify the latter in all dimensions and signatures. As a simple application, we show that the supersymmetry generator of eleven-dimensional supergravity in "mostly plus"…
We describe the flat surfaces with flat normal bundle and regular Gauss map immersed in R^4 using spinors and Lorentz numbers. We obtain a new proof of the local structure of these surfaces. We also study the flat tori in the sphere S^3 and obtain a new representation formula. We then deduce new proofs of their global structure, and of the global structure of their Gauss map image.
We generalize the spinorial characterization of isometric immersions of surfaces in R^3 given by T. Friedrich (On the spinor representation of surfaces in Euclidean 3-space, J. Geom. Phys. 28 (1998)) to surfaces in S^3 and H^3. The main argument is the interpretation of the energy-momentum tensor associated with a special spinor field as a second fundamental form. It turns out that such a characterization of isometric immersions in terms of a special section of the spinor bundle also holds in the case of hypersurfaces in the Euclidean 4-space.
Spinor formalism is the formalism induced by solutions of the Clifford equation (the connecting operators). For the space-time manifold (n = 4), these operators, connecting the tangent and spinor bundle, are operators that are represented by the Dirac matrices in the special basis. Reduced connecting operators are represented by the Pauli matrices. In order to uniquely prolong the Killing equation from the tangent bundle onto the spinor bundle over the space-time manifold, it is necessary to pass to the complexification of the manifold and the corresponding bundles, and then to pass to the rea…
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 …
We consider Dirac operators on odd-dimensional compact spin manifolds which are twisted by a product bundle. We show that the space of connections on the twisting bundle which yield an invertible operator has infinitely many connected components if the untwisted Dirac operator is invertible and the dimension of the twisting bundle is sufficiently large.
We give a classification of $1^{st}$ order invariant differential operators acting between sections of certain bundles associated to Cartan geometries of the so called metaplectic contact projective type. These bundles are associated via representations, which are derived from the so called higher symplectic, harmonic or generalized Kostant spinor modules. Higher symplectic spinor modules are arising from the Segal-Shale-Weil representation of the metaplectic group by tensoring it by finite dimensional modules. We show that for all pairs of the considered bundles, there is at most one $1^{st}$…
The well known conformal covariance of the Dirac operator acting on spinor fields over a semi Riemannian spin manifold does not extend to powers thereof in general. For odd powers one has to add lower order curvature correction terms in order to obtain conformal covariance. We derive an algorithmic construction in terms of associated tractor bundles to compute these correction terms. Depending on the signature of the semi Riemannian manifold in question, the obtained conformal powers of the Dirac operator turn out to be formally self-adjoint with respect to the $L^2-$scalar product, or formall…
Let $(M,g)$ be a pseudo-Riemannian manifold of signature $(p,q)$. We construct mutually quasi-inverse equivalences between the groupoid of bundles of weakly-faithful complex Clifford modules on $(M,g)$ and the groupoid of reduced complex Lipschitz structures on $(M,g)$. As an application, we show that $(M,g)$ admits a bundle of irreducible complex Clifford modules if and only if it admits either a $Spin^{c}(p,q)$ structure (when $p+q$ is odd) or a $Pin^{c}(p,q)$ structure (when $p+q$ is even). When $p-q\equiv_8 3,4,6, 7$, we compare with the classification of bundles of irreducible real Cliffo…
I begin by explaining how Riemannian geometry can be understood in terms of principal fibre bundles and connections thereon. I then introduce and motivate the definition of a spinor structure in terms of familiar geometrical ideas. The central result of this thesis is a complete and constructive classification of spinor structures, generalising some earlier results. I will explain how principal fibre bundles and covering spaces provide the key ingredients to the proof. A different type of classification can also be attempted, in terms of the underlying principal fibre bundle, and this allows u…
We develop a theory of T-duality for transitive Courant algebroids. We show that T-duality between transitive Courant algebroids E\rightarrow M and \tilde{E}\rightarrow \tilde{M} induces a map between the spaces of sections of the corresponding canonical weighted spinor bundles \mathbb{S}_{E} and \mathbb{S}_{\tilde{E}} intertwining the canonical Dirac generating operators. The map is shown to induce an isomorphism between the spaces of invariant spinors, compatible with an isomorphism between the spaces of invariant sections of the Courant algebroids. The notion of invariance is defined after …
We prove the instability of some families of Riemannian manifolds with non-trivial real Killing spinors. These include the invariant Einstein metrics on the Aloff-Wallach spaces $N_{k, l}={\rm SU}(3)/i_{k, l}(S^{1})$ (which are all nearly ${\rm G}_2$ except $N_{1,0}$), and Sasaki Einstein circle bundles over certain irreducible Hermitian symmetric spaces. We also prove the instability of most of the simply connected non-symmetric compact homogeneous Einstein spaces of dimensions $5, 6, $ and $7$, including the strict nearly Kähler ones (except ${\rm G}_2/{\rm SU}(3)$).
We develop a new framework for the study of generalized Killing spinors, where generalized Killing spinor equations, possibly with constraints, can be formulated equivalently as systems of partial differential equations for a polyform satisfying algebraic relations in the Kähler-Atiyah bundle constructed by quantizing the exterior algebra bundle of the underlying manifold. At the core of this framework lies the characterization, which we develop in detail, of the image of the spinor squaring map of an irreducible Clifford module $Σ$ of real type as a real algebraic variety in the Kähler-Atiyah…
We determine the holonomy of generalized Killing spinor covariant derivatives of the form $D= \nabla + Ω$ on pseudo-Riemannian reductive homogeneous spaces in a purely algebraic and algorithmic way, where $Ω: TM \rightarrow Λ^*(TM)$ is a left-invariant homomorphism. This is essentially an application of the theory of invariant principal bundle connections defined over homogeneous principal bundles. Moreover, the algorithm allows a computation of the associated Killing superalgebra in certain cases. The procedure is demonstrated by determining the supersymmetries of certain homogeneous M2 duals…
We show that given a conformal structure whose holonomy representation fixes a totally lightlike subspace of arbitrary dimension, there is always a local metric in the conformal class off a singular set which is Ricci-isotropic and gives rise to a parallel, totally lightlike distribution on the tangent bundle. This naturally applies to parallel spin tractors resp. twistor spinors on conformal spin manifolds and clarifies which twistor spinors are locally equivalent to parallel spinors. Moreover, we study the zero set of a twistor spinor using the curved orbit decomposition for parabolic geomet…
We prove that an isometric immersion of a timelike surface in four-dimensional Minkowski space is equivalent to a normalized spinor field which is a solution of a Dirac equation on the surface. Using the quaternions and the complex numbers, we obtain a spinor representation formula that relates the spinor field and the isometric immersion. Applying the representation formula, we deduce a new spinor representation of a timelike surface in three-dimensional De Sitter space; we give a formula for the Laplacian of the Gauss map of a minimal timelike surface in four-dimensional Minkowski space in t…
A general theory of quantum spinor structures on quantum spaces is presented, within the conceptual framework of the formalism of quantum principal bundles. Quantum analogs of all basic objects of the classical theory are constructed and analyzed. This includes Laplace and Dirac operators, quantum versions of Clifford and spinor bundles, a Hodge *-operator, appropriate integration operators, and mutual relations of these objects. We also present a self-contained formalism of braided Clifford algebras. Quantum phenomena appearing in the theory are discussed, including a very interesting example…
We develop an invariant approach to $SU(2)$--structures on spin $5$--manifolds. We characterize (via spinor approach) the subspaces in the spinor bundle which induce the same group isomorphic to $SU(2)$. Moreover, we show how to induce quaternionic structure on the contact distribution of considered $SU(2)$--structure. We conclude with the invariance of certain components of the covariant derivative $\nablaφ$, where $φ$ is any spinor field defining considered $SU(2)$--structure. This shows, what expected, that (at least some of) the intrinsic torsion modules, can be derived invariantly with th…
In this paper, we describe the group SpinT (n) and give some properties of this group. We construct SpinT spinor bundle S by means of the spinor representation of the group SpinT (n) and define covariant derivative operator and Dirac operator on S. Finally, Schrodinger-Lichnerowicz-type formula is derived by using these operators.
We give examples illustrating the fact that the different space/time splittings of the tangent bundle of a semi-Riemannian spin manifold give rise to non-equivalent norms on the space of compactly supported sections of the spinor bundle, and as a result, to different completions. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for two space/time splittings to define equivalent norms in terms of a generalized Doppler shift between maximal negative definite subspaces. We explore some consequences for the Noncommutative Geometry program.
We present explicit formulas for the spectra of higher spin operators on the subbundle of the bundle of spinor-valued trace free symmetric tensors that are annihilated by the Clifford multiplication over the standard sphere in odd dimension. In even dimensional case, we give the spectra of the square of such operators. The Dirac and Rarita-Schwinger operators are zero-form and one-form cases, respectively. We also give eigenvalue formulas for the conformally invariant differential operators of all odd orders on the subbundle of the bundle of spinor-valued forms that are annihilated by the Clif…
Extended spinor connections associated with composite spin-tensorial bundles are considered. Commutation relationships for covariant and multivariate differentiations and corresponding curvature spin-tensors are derived.
