The Ricci tensor of almost Parahermitian manifolds (Q1647722)

One can think of an almost paracomplex structure as a \(\mathrm{GL}(V)\times \mathrm{GL}(H)\)-structure, where \(T=V\oplus H\) is the tangent space of a smooth \(2n\)-dimensional manifold \(M\), and \(V,H\) are vector spaces of dimension \(n\). An almost paracomplex structure is said to be paracomplex or integrable if both rank-\(n\) distributions are integrable. Integrability can be expressed in terms of intrinsic torsion. Recall that the intrinsic torsion of a \(G\)-structure takes values in the cokernel of the linear map \(\partial_G\), defined as the restriction to \(T^*\otimes \mathfrak g\) of the alternating map \[ \partial: T^*\otimes \mathfrak{gl}(T) \to \Lambda ^2 T^*\otimes T. \] Given an almost paracomplex structure \(K\), \(K^2=\mathrm{id}\), a pseudo-Riemannian metric is called almost para-Hermitian if \(g(KX,KY)=-g(X,Y)\). It determines an isomorphism \(V\cong H^*\). Accordingly, the structure group is reduced to \(\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb{R})\). Having in mind properties of the restricted holonomy it makes sense to consider the smaller structure group \(\mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{R})\) rather than \(\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb{R})\). The authors obtain a formula for the Ricci tensor of an \(\mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{R})\)-structure, expressed in terms of its intrinsic torsion. They study irreducible classes of intrinsic torsions under the action of structure groups \(\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb{R})\) and \(\mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{R})\). For each of these classes, examples on Lie groups or nilmanifolds are constructed. They disprove the para-Kähler version of the Goldberg conjecture and obtain the first examples of a non-flat, Ricci-flat nearly para-Kähler structure. Beside the fundamental form \(F\), \(F(X,Y)=g(KX,Y)\), a manifold with an \(\mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{R})\)-structure carries decomposable \(n\)-forms \(\alpha,\, \beta\) characterized as volume forms on the two distributions defined by \(K\). The authors prove these differential forms \(F,\, \alpha,\, \beta\) are closed if and only if the intrinsic torsion is zero. A cohomological invariant of paracomplex manifolds, analogous to the first Chern class in complex geometry, is constructed. Some results regarding the Ricci tensor of para-Kähler metrics in terms of this topological invariant are obtained.