Affine Manifolds, SYZ Geometry, and the "Y" Vertex

Abstract

We study the real Monge-Ampère equation in two and three dimensions, both from the point of view of the SYZ conjecture, where solutions give rise to semi-flat Calabi-Yau's and in affine differential geometry, where solutions yield parabolic affine sphere hypersurfaces. We find explicit examples, connect the holomorphic function representation to Hitchin's description of special Lagrangian moduli space, and construct the developing map explicitly for a singularity corresponding to the type $I_n$ elliptic fiber (after hyper-Kähler rotation). Following Baues and Cortés, we show that various types of metric cones over two-dimensional elliptic affine spheres generate solutions of the Monge-Ampère equation in three dimensions. We then prove a local and global existence theorem for an elliptic affine two-sphere metric with prescribed singularities. The metric cone over the two-sphere minus three points yields a parabolic affine sphere with singularities along a "Y"-shaped locus. This gives a semi-flat Calabi-Yau metric in a neighborhood of the "Y" vertex. In the erratum, we correct a gap in the solution of the elliptic affine sphere equation (with the small caveat that a parameter in the equation, the cubic differential, must be smaller than we assumed before). The new proof still allows us to construct semi-flat Calabi-Yau metrics in a neighborhood of the "Y" vertex by appealing to the result of Baues-Cortés. We also give an alternate construction of such semi-flat Calabi-Yau metrics by using a result on hyperbolic affine spheres due to the first author.