Quaternion-Kähler manifolds near maximal fixed point sets of \(S^1\)-symmetries (Q2183526)

A well-known theorem due to Feix and Kaledin asserts that, given a real-analytic Kähler manifold \(M\), a neighborhood of the zero section of its cotangent bundle \(T^*M\) admits a (unique) hyper-Kähler structure which extends the original Kähler structure and is invariant under the canonical circle action given by multiplication by unit complex numbers in the fibers. The Feix-Kaledin construction was generalized by the author and \textit{D. M. J. Calderbank} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 372, No. 7, 4729--4760 (2019; Zbl 1425.53052)] to the \textit{quaternionic Feix-Kaledin construction}, which produces a quaternionic manifold out of a so-called (real-analytic) c-projective manifold of type \((1,1)\), endowed with a holomorphic line bundle with connection whose curvature is of type \((1,1)\) as well. As in the original Feix-Kaledin construction, which is recovered upon starting with a Kähler manifold and taking the line bundle trivial, the resulting quaternionic manifolds come equipped with a distinguished circle action, and the initial c-projective manifold can be recovered as (a component of) its fixed-point set \(S\). This submanifold is a complex manifold with respect to a unique (up to sign) section \(I\) of the quaternionic bundle \(\mathcal Q\) restricted to \(S\), and the holomorphic line bundle over \(S\) is associated to the circle bundle \(I^\perp\subset \mathcal Q|_S\) whose sections are orthogonal to \(I\). Among the quaternionic manifolds, quaternionic Kähler manifolds form an important and well-studied subclass. Thus, it is natural to ask the following: What conditions does one need to impose on the input required by the quaternionic Feix-Kaledin construction in order to obtain a quaternionic Kähler manifold? This is the subject of this paper, in which twistor-theoretic methods are used to provide a complete solution. After recalling the necessary background material, the author starts by establishing some necessary conditions. This is done by assuming that a quaternionic Kähler manifold of the type that arises from the quaternionic Feix-Kaledin construction is given, and studying the structures induced on the fixed-point set \(S\) of the \(S^1\)-action. It is found that \(S\) is a Kähler manifold, and that the line bundle over \(S\) carries a connection with curvature proportional to the Kähler form. Note that, in case the proportionality constant vanishes, the line bundle is trivial and one finds the original Feix-Kaledin construction. Proving that these conditions are also sufficient, which is the main result of this paper, is done next: Applying the quaternionic Feix-Kaledin construction to a Kähler manifold with line bundle of the above type always yields a quaternionic Kähler manifold. The proof proceeds by constructing a holomorphic contact structure on the twistor space of the quaternionic manifold. It is remarked that the theorem generalizes to the pseudo-Riemannian setting in a natural way. In the remainder, examples and applications are discussed, as well as ties to related constructions known as the \(c\)-map and the hyper-Kähler/quaternionic Kähler correspondence.