3-Sasakian geometry, nilpotent orbits, and exceptional quotients (Q1597450)

In Math. Ann. 297, No. 4, 747--764 (1993; Zbl 0807.53040), \textit{P. Z. Kobak} and \textit{A. Swann} obtained the biquotient \(\mathbb{Z}_3\backslash G_2/SO(4)\) as a \(Sp(1)\times S^1\) quaternion Kähler reduction of \(\mathbb{H}P^6\). The considered \(S^1\) here acts by rotating pairs of homogeneous quaternionic coordinates. The first observation in the paper under review is that one can also consider weighted actions of \(S^1\), depending on triples of integers. On the other hand, it is fruitful to understand the action at the hyper-Kähler level which, in turn can be seen as the cone over a 3-Sasakian manifold. One is then led to consider weighted actions of \(Sp(1)\times S^1\) on \(S^{27}\). As a result, the authors find the necessary conditions the weights must satisfy to obtain a whole family of 11-dimensional smooth non-toric 3-Sasakian manifolds. Further weighted circle reduction provides examples of non-toric 3-Sasakian orbifolds in dimension \(7\) including some of the examples previously found in [\textit{C. P. Boyer, K. Galicki, B. M. Mann} and \textit{E. G. Rees}, Invent. Math. 131, 321--344 (1998; Zbl 0901.53033)]. Consequently, explicit families of compact self-dual positive scalar curvature Einstein metrics with orbifold singularities and with only one Killing field are obtained. The same device can be applied for reducing the bundle \(S^{4n+3}\rightarrow \mathbb{H}P^n\). For the particular case \(n=7\), the authors obtain smooth non-toric 3-Sasakian manifolds of dimension \(15\). In all cases, the topology of the quotients is determined. It is to be noted that these are the first examples of inhomogeneous 3-Sasakian manifolds which are not toric.