Geometric structures on G2 and Spin(7)-manifolds

This article consists of some loosely related remarks about the geometry of G_2-structures on 7-manifolds and is partly based on old unpublished joint work with two other people: F. Reese Harvey and Steven Altschuler. Much of this work has since been subsumed in the work of Hitchin \cite{MR02m:53070} and Joyce \cite{MR01k:53093}. I am making it available now mainly because of interest expressed by others in seeing these results written up since they do not seem to have all ma...

We consider $G_2$ manifolds with a cohomogeneity two $\mathbb{T}^2\times \mathrm{SU}(2)$ symmetry group. We give a local characterization of these manifolds and we describe the geometry, including regularity and singularity analysis, of cohomogeneity one calibrated submanifolds in them. We apply these results to the manifolds recently constructed by Foscolo-Haskins-N\"ordstrom and to the Bryant-Salamon manifold of topology $S^3\times \mathbb{R}^4$. In particular, we describe ...

The paper is a colloquial-style discussion of invariants of algebraic surfaces analogous to the Donaldson polynomials, arising from moduli spaces of ``jumping'' Yang--Mills instantons, or moduli spaces of jumping vector bundles. The invariants have the following applications: (1) to the Van de Ven conjecture that the Kodaira dimension is a diffeomorphism invariant; (2) to proving that algebraic surfaces with $p_g > 0$ have a proper sublattice of $H^2(X,\Z)$ invariant under di...

We consider $G_2$-structures with torsion coupled with $G_2$-instantons, on a compact $7$-dimensional manifold. The coupling is via an equation for $4$-forms which appears in supergravity and generalized geometry, known as the Bianchi identity. First studied by Friedrich and Ivanov, the resulting system of partial differential equations describes compactifications of the heterotic string to three dimensions, and is often referred to as the $G_2$-Strominger system. We study th...

This paper is dedicated to the study of deformations of coassociative 4-folds in a G_2 manifold which have conical singularities. We stratify the types of deformations allowed into three problems. The main result for each problem states that the moduli space is locally homeomorphic to the kernel of a smooth map between smooth manifolds. In each case, the map in question can be considered as a projection from the infinitesimal deformation space onto the obstruction space. Thus...

The goal of the paper is to give characterization of closed connected manifolds which admit a global multisympletic 3-form of some algebraic type. A generic type of such 3-form is equivalent to a G2-structure. This is the most interesting case and was solved in [Gr]. Some other algebraic types were solved quite recently. In this paper we give characterization in the remaining cases.

We construct a compact formal 7-manifold with a closed $G_2$-structure and with first Betti number $b_1=1$, which does not admit any torsion-free $G_2$-structure, that is, it does not admit any $G_2$-structure such that the holonomy group of the associated metric is a subgroup of $G_2$. We also construct associative calibrated (hence volume-minimizing) 3-tori with respect to this closed $G_2$-structure and, for each of those 3-tori, we show a 3-dimensional family of non-trivi...

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 cl...

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 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 ...