Geometric theory of equiaffine curvature tensors (Q2655727)

Singer and Thorpe, in dimension \(n=4\), proved the well-known orthogonal decomposition of the Riemann curvature tensor into three components. Later this result was extended to so-called algebraic curvature tensors over a real vector space \(V\) of dimension \(n\geq 3\), equipped with a non-degenerate scalar product \(g\); such `algebraic curvature tensors' satisfy the symmetries and anti-symmetries of the Riemannian curvature tensor including the first Bianchi identity [see \textit{A. L. Besse}, Einstein manifolds. Reprint of the 1987 edition. Classics in Mathematics. Berlin: Springer (2008; Zbl 1147.53001)]; there is only one essential contraction, giving the Ricci tensor. In different geometries (e.g. affine hypersurface geometry, Weyl geometry) there appear so-called `generalized curvature tensors', satisfying only one skew-symmetry and the first Bianchi identity; they admit several Ricci type tensors. The vector space of such curvature tensors over \((V,g)\) admits at least two different, irreducible, orthogonal decompositions into 8 subspaces; one decomposition admits to recover the subspace of algebraic curvature tensors, the other to recover the projective curvature tensor. First we continue the algebraic investigations from papers of \textit{N. Bokan} [Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo, II. Ser. 39, No.~3, 331--380 (1990; Zbl 0728.53016)] and of [\textit{N. Blažić}, \textit{P. Gilkey}, \textit{S. Nikčević} and \textit{U. Simon} [Arch. Math., Brno 42, No.~5, 147--168 (2006; Zbl 1164.53320)]; then we give many geometric applications. The analogies between algebraic curvature tensors and more general curvature tensors become transparent by the study of the so-called `conjugate curvature tensor'. Our results in particular relate variational problems and curvature decompositions.