The Weil-Petersson geometry of the moduli space of SU(n\(\geq 3)\) (Calabi- Yau) manifolds. I (Q1263821)

This paper is concerned with the moduli space of compact complex manifolds of (complex) dimension \(\geq 3\) that admit non-flat metrics g with holonomy groups H(g)\(\neq \{0\}\) and H(g)\(\subseteq SU(n)\). Such manifolds are called SU(n)-manifolds or Calabi-Yau manifolds. [It is notes that SU(3) manifolds are relevant to the theory of strings in theoretical physics, as well as to the classification theory of threefolds and algebraic cycles.] Let M be a Calabi-Yau manifold and let \(L\in H^ 2(M,{\mathbb{R}})\) be such that \(L=[Im g^ 1_{\alpha {\bar \beta}}]\) where \(g^ 1_{\alpha {\bar \beta}}\) is a Kähler metric on M. The pair (M,L) is then called a polarized SU(n) manifold. A Weil- Petersson metric is defined on the local moduli space S of (M,L), and the existence of a special coordinate system on S is established, which demonstrates that the Weil-Petersson metric is a Kähler metric. By means of this coordinate system explicit expressions are derived for the components of the corresponding curvature tensors, and it is shown that the biholomorphic sectional curvature is negative.