Deformations of nearly parallel \(G_2\)-structures (Q1939226)

A nearly parallel \(G_2\)-structure on a \(7\)-manifold is given by a \(3\)-form \(\sigma\) of special algebraic type satisfying a certain differential equation. Such a structure \(\sigma\) induces a Riemannian Einstein metric. This paper studies infinitesimal deformations of \(\sigma\) on compact \(7\)-manifolds. In fact, the discussion handles the more general case of Einstein deformations of the induced metric. Interesting deformations are those which are transversal to the action of the diffeomorphism group. As a result, they are parametrized by a certain subspace of eigen-\(3\)-forms of the Hodge-Laplacian. For computing examples in the natural reductive setting \(G/H\), it is convenient to observe that those \(3\)-forms are eigenforms for the \(G_2\)-Laplacian as well. As examples, the proper nearly parallel \(G_2\)-structures on \(\mathrm{SO}(5)/\mathrm{SO}(3)\), on the squashed \(7\)-sphere and on the Aloff-Wallach manifold \(N(1,1)\) are discussed. Only the later case \(N(1,1)\) allows infinitesimal Einstein deformations. These deformations on \(N(1,1)\) are given by \(8\)-parameters and all of them are infinitesimal \(G_2\)-deformations. For this result, Casimir eigenvalues are computed in order to determine the possible \(G\)-modules that occur in the suitable eigenspaces of the \(G_2\)-Laplacian. Furthermore, these eigenforms have to be tested for a certain algebraic condition coming from the deformation equation. It is not known whether these infinitesimal deformations integrate.