Conformal differential geometry. \(Q\)-curvature and conformal holonomy (Q1036115): Difference between revisions

The book is a collection of lectures presented during the Oberwolfach-Seminar on ``Recent Developments in Conformal Differential Geometry'' at the ``Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach'', 2007. The concept of \(Q\)-curvature introduced in [\textit{T. P. Branson}, Lecture Notes Series, Seoul. 4. Seoul: Seoul National University, (1993; Zbl 0827.58057)] and plays a central role in conformal geometry and geometric analysis ([\textit{S.-Y. A. Chang}, Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 42, No. 3, 365--393 (2005; Zbl 1087.53019)] and the references therein). Branson's \(Q\)-curvature is intimately related with the Yamabe, the Paneitz, the Dirac and the twistor operator. The first part of this book motivates its study, describes its current role and introduces the results of [\textit{A. Juhl}, Families of conformally covariant differential operators, Q-curvature and holography. Progress in Mathematics 275. Basel: Birkhäuser (2009; Zbl 1177.53001)]. The main ideas here are the construction of the so-called residue families and the associated \(Q\)-curvature polynomials. The second part deals with the notion of Cartan connection and of its holonomy group. The normal conformal Cartan connection and the holonomy group of a conformal manifold are explained and the relation to Einstein metrics and recent classification results in Riemanian and Lorentzian cases are discussed. In particular, the links between conformal holonomy and conformal Killing forms and spinors are explained and Fefferman metrics in CR-geometry as Lorentzian manifolds with conformal holonomy SU\((1,m)\) are described.