On the topology of metric \(f\)-\(K\)-contact manifolds (Q2187960)

In [Tensor, New Ser. 14, 99--109 (1963; Zbl 0122.40705)], \textit{K. Yano} generalized the notions of almost complex and almost contact structure, defining the notion of $f$-structure on a smooth manifold, as a $(1, 1)$-tensor $f$ of constant rank, with the property $f^3 + f = 0$. Then, in 1970, \textit{D. E. Blair} extended in [J. Differ. Geom. 4, 155--167 (1970; Zbl 0202.20903)] both Hermitian structures on almost complex manifolds and contact metric structures on almost contact manifolds. He introduced the notion of a metric $f$-contact metric manifold, seen as a $f$-manifold $(M^{2n+s},f)$ equipped with $s$ vector fields $\xi_1,\dots,\xi_s$, $s$ one forms $\eta_1,\dots,\eta_s$ and a Riemannian metric $g$, satisfying the properties: \[ \eta_{\alpha}(\xi_{\beta})=\delta^{\beta}_{\alpha}, \ f(\xi_{\alpha})=0,\ \eta_{\alpha}\circ f = 0,\ f^2 = - id +\sum_{\alpha=1}^s\eta_{\alpha}\otimes\xi_{\alpha}, \] \[ d\eta_\alpha(X,Y) = g(X,fY),\ g(fX,fY) = g(X,Y)-\sum_{\alpha=1}^s\eta_{\alpha}(X)\eta_{\alpha}(Y), \] for every $\alpha,\beta\in\{1,\dots,s\}$, and all vector fields $X$, $Y$ on $M$. In the particular case when $s=1$ the manifold is a contact metric one. A metric $f$-contact manifold $M^{2n+s}$ whose characteristic vector fields $\xi_1,\dots,\xi_s$ are Killing is called a metric $f$-$K$-contact manifold, and when $s=1$, $M^{2n+1}$ is a $K$-contact manifold. Different from the situation of the contact metric manifolds, in the above mentioned paper, Blair proved the non-existence of the normal metric $f$-contact manifolds $M^{2n+s}$ with $s\geq 2$ of constant strictly positive curvature, and in [Geom. Dedicata 110, 191--211 (2005; Zbl 1077.53037)], \textit{G. Dileo} and \textit{A. Lotta} showed that there are no compact, simply connected normal metric $f$-contact manifolds $M^{2n+s}$ with $s\geq 2$. The result proved by Dileo and Lotta can be obtained as a consequence of a lemma given in the reviewed paper, where the authors showed that for all $\alpha\neq\beta$, the one-form $\eta_\alpha-\eta_\beta$ defines a nonzero element in $H^1(M)$. In the paper under review, the authors provide a new method to construct (compact) metric $f$-$K$-contact manifolds. Given a metric $f$-contact manifold $M$ and an arbitrary automorphism $\phi$ of the metric $f$-contact structure on $M$, the authors construct a metric $f$-contact structure on the mapping torus $M_\phi$ of $\phi$, respecting the subclasses of metric $f$-$K$-contact manifolds and normal metric $f$-contact manifolds. This property of metric $f$-$K$-contact manifolds contrasts with those of other geometric classes of manifolds, which are not closed under forming mapping tori of automorphisms. Some results from [the first author and \textit{D. Töben}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 745, 1--40 (2018; Zbl 1419.53030)] are used in the present paper to investigate the relationship between the closed leaves of the characteristic foliation $\mathcal{F}$ on a metric $f$-$K$-contact manifold $M$ and the basic cohomology $H^*(M,\mathcal{F})$ of the foliation $\mathcal{F}$. The authors show that $H^*(M,\mathcal{F})$ and $H^*({C},\mathcal{F})$ (where ${C}$ is the union of closed leaves of $\mathcal{F}$) have the same dimension, and if $C$ consists of only finitely many closed leaves, then the number of closed leaves of $\mathcal{F}$ coincide with the dimension of $H^*(M,\mathcal{F})$. Moreover, the authors prove that on a compact metric $f$-$K$-contact manifold $M^{2n+s}$ the characteristic foliation has at least $n + 1$ closed leaves, and if it has only finitely many closed leaves, then four conditions are equivalent: $\mathcal{F}$ has $n + 1$ closed leaves, the basic cohomology of $\mathcal{F}$ is that of the complex projective space $\mathbb{C}P^n$, the basic cohomology $H^*(M,\mathcal{F}_{s-1})$ is that of a $2n + 1$-dimensional sphere, $M$ has the real cohomology ring of $S^{2n+1}\times T^{s - 1}$. As a corollary of this result, the authors show that on a $K$-manifold $M^{2n+1}$ with $n + 1$ closed orbits, any automorphism of the $K$-contact structure preserves the closed Reeb orbits.