arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Mihaela Pilca.
We give an upper bound for the rank $r$ of homogeneous (even) Clifford structures on compact manifolds of non-vanishing Euler characteristic. More precisely, we show that if $r=2^a\cdot b$ with $b$ odd, then $r\le 9$ for $a=0$, $r\le 10$ for $a=1$, $r\le 12$ for $a=2$ and $r\le 16$ for $a\ge 3$. Moreover, we describe the four limiting cases and show that there is exactly one solution in each case.
We give a representation theoretical proof of Branson's classification of minimal elliptic sums of generalized gradients. The original proof uses tools of harmonic analysis, which as powerful as they are, seem to be specific for the structure groups SO(n) and Spin(n). The different approach we propose is based on the relationship between ellipticity and optimal Kato constants and on the representation theory of so(n). Optimal Kato constants for elliptic operators were computed by Calderbank, Gauduchon and Herzlich. We extend their method to all generalized gradients (not necessarily elliptic) and recover Branson's result, up to one special case. The interest of this method is that it is better suited to be applied for classifying elliptic sums of generalized gradients of G-structures, for other subgroups G of the special orthogonal group.
On a Kähler spin manifold Kählerian twistor spinors are a natural analogue of twistor spinors on Riemannian spin manifolds. They are defined as sections in the kernel of a first order differential operator adapted to the Kähler structure, called Kählerian twistor (Penrose) operator. We study Kählerian twistor spinors and give a complete description of compact Kähler manifolds of constant scalar curvature admitting such spinors. As in the Riemannian case, the existence of Kählerian twistor spinors is related to the lower bound of the spectrum of the Dirac operator.
A metric is formal if all products of harmonic forms are again harmonic. The existence of a formal metric implies Sullivan formality of the manifold, and hence formal metrics can exist only in presence of a very restricted topology. We show that a warped product metric is formal if and only if the warping function is constant and derive further topological obstructions to the existence of formal metrics. In particular, we determine necessary and sufficicient conditions for a Vaisman metric to be formal.
We consider generalized gradients in the general context of $G$-structures. They are natural first order differential operators acting on sections of vector bundles associated to irreducible $G$-representations. We study their geometric properties and show in particular their conformal invariance.