A Dolbeault-type double complex on quaternionic manifolds

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Abstract: It has long been known that differential forms on complex manifolds can be decomposed under the action of the complex structure to give the Dolbeault complex. This paper presents an analogous double complex for quaternionic manifolds using the fact that the cotangent space is isomorphic to a quaternionic vector space. This defines an action of the group Sp(1) of unit quaternions on the cotangent space, which induces an action of Sp(1) on the space of k-forms. A double complex is obtained by decomposing the k-forms into irreducible representations of Sp(1), resulting in new 'quaternionic Dolbeault' operators and cohomology groups. Links with previous work in quaternionic geometry, particularly the differential complex of Salamon and the q-holomorphic functions of Joyce, are demonstrated.


A new double complex of differential forms on hypercomplex or quaternionic manifolds is described. As background material, complex, hypercomplex and quaternionic manifolds are explained as well as weights and tensor products of \(\text{Sp}(1)\)-representations. Sect. 3 deals with the type of decomposition of differential forms in complex geometry. Differential forms on quaternionic manifolds are decomposed by using fundamental 4-forms \[ \Omega= \omega_I\wedge \omega_I+ \omega_J\wedge \omega_J+ \omega_K\wedge \omega_K, \] where \(\omega_I\), \(\omega_J\) and \(\omega_K\) are the local Kähler forms associated to local almost complex structures \(I\), \(J\) and \(K\) with \(IJ= K\) as follows: \[ \phi= \sum_{0\geq j\geq k/4} \Omega^j\wedge \mu_{k- 4j}, \] (Th. 4.1). If the quaternionic manifold \(M\) has a \(\text{Sp}(1)\text{GL}(n,\mathbb{H})\)-structure \(Q\), then \((T^* M)^{\mathbb{C}}\cong V_1\otimes E\) and \[ \Lambda^k T^* M\cong \Lambda^k(T_1\otimes E)\cong \bigoplus^{[k/2]}_{j= 0}{\mathcal S}^{k-2} (V_1)\otimes L^k_j\cong \bigoplus^{[k/2]}_{j=0} V_{k- 2j}\otimes L^k_j, \] where \(L^k_j\) is an irreducible representation of \(\text{GL}(n,\mathbb{H})\) [\textit{S. M. Salamon}, Ann. Sci. Éc., Norm. Super., IV. Ser. 19, 31-55 (1986; Zbl 0616.53023), hereafter referred to as [1]]. In Sect. 5, first \[ \Lambda^k T^* M\cong\bigoplus^k_{r= 0} E_{k, r},\;E^r_k= \left[{2n\choose {k+r\over 2}}{2n\choose {k-r\over 2}}- {2n\choose {k+r+2\over 2}}{2n\choose {k-r-2\over 2}}\right] V_r, \] is shown. Then it is shown that \(d\) maps \(C^\infty(M, E_{k, r})\) to \(C^\infty(M, E_{k+1, r+1}\oplus E_{k+1, r-1})\) (Th. 5.3). The quaternionic Dolbeault operators \({\mathcal D}\) and \(\overline{\mathcal D}\) are defined by \[ {\mathcal D}= \pi_{k+1, r+1}\circ d,\qquad\overline{\mathcal D}= \pi_{k+1, r-1}\circ d. \] By definitions, \(d={\mathcal D}+\overline{\mathcal D}\) and \({\mathcal D}^2= {\mathcal D}\overline{\mathcal D}+ \overline{\mathcal D}{\mathcal D}= \overline{\mathcal D}= 0\) (Prop. 5.5). The quaternionic analogue of the Dolbeault complex is obtained by using these differentials. The author notes that the complex \[ 0\to C^\infty(E_{0,0}) @>{{\mathcal D}}>> C^\infty(E_{1, 1})@>{{\mathcal D}}>>\cdots@>{{\mathcal D}}>> C^\infty(E_{2n, 2n})\to 0, \] has been obtained by Salamon ([1]). With respect to the ellipticity, assuming \(k\geq 2\), the complex \[ 0\to E_{2k,0}@>{{\mathcal D}}>> E_{2k+1, 1}@>{{\mathcal D}}>> E_{2k+ 2,2}@>{{\mathcal D}}>>\cdots@>{{\mathcal D}}>> E_{2n+k, 2n-k}@>{{\mathcal D}}>> 0, \] is shown to be elliptic except for \(E_{2k,0}\) and \(E_{2k+ 1,1}\) (Th. 6.1). The proof is carried out by computing the symbol \(\sigma_{{\mathcal D}}(x, e^-)\) to be \[ \sigma_{{\mathcal D}}(x, e^0)(\alpha)= {1\over 2(r+ 1)} ((r+ 2)\alpha e^0- I(\alpha)e^1- J(\alpha)e^2- K(\alpha)e^3), \] (Prop. 6.6). In the final Sect. 7, this complex is considered in the case of quaternionic analysis on hypercomplex manifolds.











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