Curvature properties of \(3\)-\((\alpha ,\delta)\)-Sasaki manifolds (Q6093323)

This article continues the study of 3-\((\alpha,\delta)\)-Sasaki manifolds, now focused on properties of the main curvature operators. An almost 3-contact metric manifold is a differentiable manifold \(M\) of dimension \(4n + 3\) endowed with three almost contact metric structures \((\varphi_i ,\xi_i ,\eta_i , g)\), \(i = 1, 2, 3\), sharing the same Riemannian metric \(g\), and satisfying the following compatibility relations \[ \varphi_k = \varphi_i\circ\varphi_j - \eta_j \otimes \xi_i = -\varphi_j\circ\varphi_i + \eta_i \otimes \xi_j , \] \[ \xi_k = \varphi_i(\xi_j) = -\varphi_j(\xi_i) ,\quad \eta_k = \eta_i\circ \varphi_j = -\eta_j\circ \varphi_i, \] for any even permutation \((ijk)\) of \((123)\). Then the tangent bundle of \(M\) splits into the orthogonal sum \(TM=\mathcal{H}\oplus\mathcal{V}\), where \(\mathcal{H}\) and \(\mathcal{V}\) are the horizontal and the vertical distribution, respectively, defined by \[ \mathcal{H}=\ker\eta_1\cap\ker\eta_2\cap\ker\eta_3,\qquad \mathcal{V}=\mathrm{span}\{\xi_1,\xi_2,\xi_3\} . \] It follows that \(\mathcal{H}\) has rank \(4n\) and the three Reeb vector fields \(\xi_1,\xi_2,\xi_3\) are orthonormal. The manifold is said to be hypernormal if each almost contact metric structure \((\varphi_i,\xi_i ,\eta_i ,g)\) is normal, i.\ e., all the Nijenhuis tensors \(N_{\varphi_i}:=[\varphi_i,\varphi_i]+\mathrm{d}\eta_i\otimes\xi_i\) vanish. If the three structures are \(\alpha\)-Sasaki, i.e., normal and such that \(\mathrm{d}\eta_i=2\alpha\,\Phi_i:=\alpha\, g\circ (1\wedge\varphi_i)\), for some \(\alpha\in\mathbb{R}^*\), then \(M\) is called a 3-\(\alpha\)-Sasaki manifold. It is called 3-Sasaki if \(\alpha=1\). 3-\((\alpha,\delta)\)-Sasaki manifolds are a special class of almost 3-contact metric manifolds defined by the relations, for every permutation \((ijk)\) and real constants \(\alpha\neq0\) and \(\delta\), \[ \mathrm{d}\eta_i=2\alpha\,\Phi_i+2(\alpha-\delta)\eta_j\wedge\eta_k . \] Any 3-\((\alpha,\delta)\)-Sasaki manifold admits a canonical connection, this is, a metric connection \(\nabla\) with totally skew-symmetric torsion and such that \[ \nabla_X\varphi_i=\beta(\eta_k(X)\varphi_j-\eta_j(X)\varphi_k),\quad \forall X\in \mathfrak{X}_M , \] for every permutation \((ijk)\) and \(\beta=2(\delta-2\alpha)\). Regarding the curvature properties of 3-\((\alpha,\delta)\)-Sasaki manifolds, the authors consider both the Riemannian connection and the canonical connection. They find many results on the decomposition of the two respective curvature operators as symmetric endomorphisms of \(\Lambda^2(\mathcal{H}\oplus\mathcal{V})\) and compute the eigenforms and the spectrum. The article is greatly concerned with the notion of strongly definite curvature in the sense of \textit{J. A. Thorpe} [J. Differ. Geom. 5, 113-125 (1971; Zbl 0215.23303)] in the case of 3-\((\alpha,\delta)\)-Sasaki manifolds. Important results are proved in this field for homogeneous 3-\((\alpha,\delta)\)-Sasaki manifolds with certain conditions on \(\alpha,\delta\). Finally, an inhomogeneous example is discovered which carries a structure with strongly positive definite curvature.