Almost r-paracontact connections (Q1063882)

Let \(\Sigma =(\phi,\xi_ 1,...,\xi_ r,\eta^ 1,...,\eta^ r)\) be an almost r-paracontact structure on a manifold M. If \(\Gamma\) is a linear connection on M with the covariant derivative \(\nabla\) satisfying \(\nabla_ X\phi =0\), \(\nabla_ X\eta^ i=0\) \((i=1,...,r)\) for every vector field X, \(\Gamma\) is said to be an almost r-paracontact connection or simply \(\Sigma\)-connection. When \(\Sigma =(\phi,\xi_ 1,...,\xi_ r,\eta^ 1,...,\eta^ r,g)\) is an r-paracontact metric structure, a \(\Sigma\)-connection satisfying \(\nabla_ Xg=0\) is called a metric \(\Sigma\)-connection. In the present paper the general family of almost r- paracontact connections on M is obtained when a linear connection is arbitrarily given and the condition is obtained for an almost r- paracontact connection to be symmetric. The curvature tensor is also studied.