Selfdual spaces with complex structures, Einstein-Weyl geometry and geodesics (Q1572638)

The key tool of this work is the \textit{P. E. Jones} and \textit{K. B. Tod} construction [Classical Quantum Gravity 2, 565-577 (1985; Zbl 0575.53042)] which shows that the reduction of the selfduality equation by a conformal vector field is given by the Einstein-Weyl equation together with the linear equation for abelian monopoles. At first the authors give a representation theoretic proof of the formula for the antiselfdual Weyl tensor on a conformal Hermitian surface and discuss its geometric and twistorial interpretation when the antiselfdual Weyl tensor vanishes. Then a reformulation of the Einstein-Weyl equation is given in the presence of a shear-free geodesic congruence. More precisely, it is proved that the Einstein-Weyl equation is equivalent to the fact that the divergence and the twist of this congruence are both monopoles and of a special kind. The central result of the paper is given by the following Theorem. Suppose \(M\) is an oriented conformal 4-manifold with a conformal vector field, and \(B\) is the corresponding Weyl space. Then invariant antiselfdual complex structures on \(M\) correspond to shear-free geodesic congruence on \(B\). The last four sections of the paper (6-9) are concerned exclusively with examples. For example, in Section 6 the authors show how their methods provide some insight into the construction of Einstein-Weyl structures from \(\mathbb{R}^4\) [\textit{H. Pedersen}, \textit{K. P. Tod}, Adv. Math. 97, 74-109 (1993; Zbl 0778.53041)]. As a consequence, they observe that there is a one-parameter family of Einstein-Weyl structures on \(S^3\) admitting shear-free twist-free geodesic congruence. This family is complementary to the Berger spheres, which admit shear-free divergence geodesic congruences [\textit{P. Gauducon}, \textit{K. P. Tod}, J. Geom. Phys. 25, 291-304 (1998; Zbl 0945.53042)]. In Section 7 a generalization is given by replacing \(\mathbb{R}^4\) with Gibbons-Hawking hyperKähler metric [Phys. Lett. 78B, 430-432 (1978)]. In Section 8 are studied the constant curvature metrics on \({\mathcal H}^3\), \(\mathbb{R}^3\) and \(S^3\) from the point of view of congruences to explain properties of the selfdual Einstein metrics fibering over them. In the final section, the authors consider once more the Einstein-Weyl spaces constructcd from harmonic functions on \(\mathbb{R}^3\), and use them to construct torus symmetric selfdual conformal structures. These include those of \textit{D. D. Joyce} [Duke Math. J. 77, 519-552 (1995; Zbl 0855.57028)], some of which live on \(kCP^2\), and also an explicit family of hypercomplex structures depending on two holomorphic functions of one variable.