A Bochner formula for almost-quaternionic-Hermitian structures (Q1877591)

This paper deals with Riemannian manifolds whose structural group is reduced to \(Sp_n\cdot Sp_1\), also called almost quaternionic-Hermitian manifolds. The covariant derivative with respect to the Levi-Civita connection of the fundamental 4-form of such a manifold is naturally interpreted as the intrinsic torsion of the above \(G\)-structure and, as such, its irreducible components under the action of \(Sp_n\cdot Sp_1\) are determined. The authors combine this with a previously found general Bochner formula for manifolds having an orthogonal \(G\)-structure [cf. same authors, Diff. Geom. Appl. 15, 265--286 (2001; Zbl 1036.53015)] and obtain a detailed formula for this particular case. The many applications make use of a notion of complex sectional curvature, whose positivity or negativity is sufficient to fix the sign of the curvature term in the Bochner formula. For instance, it is proven that a compact quaternionic-Hermitian manifold with non-positive complex sectional curvature (this is assured \textit{e.g.} when the sectional curvature is negative and pointwise \(1/4\)-pinched) is quaternionic-Kähler.