Clifford systems, Clifford structures, and their canonical differential forms (Q2238299): Difference between revisions

The current paper extends the work of \textit{R. Bryant} and \textit{R. Harvey} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 2, No. 1, 1--31 (1989; Zbl 0666.53032)] in which different calibration 4-forms on \(\mathbb{R}^{4n}\) are represented in terms of Kähler 2-forms of various complex structures. The construction uses the interplay between quaternions and octonions, and is based on the notion of Clifford structure -- a set of independent symmetric (with respect to a fixed metric) involutions which anti-commute. In particular their compositions provide complex structures and the corresponding Kähler forms are used to obtain various calibration 4-forms in 8 and 16 dimensions. In dimension 16 the authors describe also the corresponding calibrated 4-planes in terms of Cayley planes with additional properties. The paper is also nicely written.