Moduli spaces of \(G_2\)-instantons and \(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\)-instantons on product manifolds (Q2195874)

The phenomenal links between gauge theories in dimensions 2, 3 and 4 have been a ceaseless source of remarkable results in mathematics and physics. A program to develop analogous interactions of these theories in dimensions 6,7 and 8 was proposed by \textit{S. K. Donaldson} and \textit{R. P. Thomas} [in: The geometric universe: science, geometry, and the work of Roger Penrose. Proceedings of the symposium on geometric issues in the foundations of science, Oxford, UK, June 1996 in honour of Roger Penrose in his 65th year. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 31--47 (1998; Zbl 0926.58003)], and \textit{S. Donaldson} and \textit{E. Segal} [Surv. Differ. Geom. 16, 1--41 (2011; Zbl 1256.53038)] initiating the study of instantons in this generalized setting. Under the classification of the holonomy groups, this accounts to studying \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\)-structures in dimension 6, \(G_2\)-structures in dimension 7 and \(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\)-structures in dimension 8. Let \(X\) be a closed 6-manifold equipped with a half-closed \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\)-structure, let \(\left( M, \phi \right)\) be a 7-manifold with a \(G_2\)-structure \(\phi\) and let \(\left( N, \psi \right)\) be an 8-manifold equipped with a \(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\)-structure \(\psi\). The main purpose in this article is to compare the moduli space of \(G_2\)-instantons over \(\left( M, \phi \right)\) to the moduli space of Hermitian Yang-Mills connections over \(X\), as well as the moduli space of \(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\)-instantons over \(\left( N, \psi \right)\) to the moduli space of \(G_2\)-instantons; the aforementioned moduli spaces are considered in terms of the unitary gauge group action and they can be equipped with a natural metric topology. The author shows that any \(G_2\)-instanton on the product space \(X \times S^1\) is equivalent to the pull-back of a Hermitian Yang-Mills connection on \(X\) via a ``broken gauge'', while a similar result is shown for \(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\)-instantons. This provides a certain dimensional reduction for the moduli spaces involved. By a \(B\)-admissible broken gauge, the author means a smooth gauge \(u\) on \(\pi^{\star}E \to Y \times \left[ 0, 2\pi \right]\), such that \(u(0) = \text{Id}\), \(u(2\pi) \in \Gamma_{B}\) and \(u^{-1}\frac{du}{dt}\) is smoothly periodic, for a smooth connection \(B\) on a Hermitian vector bundle \(E\) over an \(n\)-dimensional manifold \(Y\) and for \(\Gamma_{B}\) the stabilizer group in the space of all smooth gauges. This notion is different from that of a gauge; it is, in fact, a gauge only if \(u\) is periodic. The proof is based on a monotonicity and an invariance argument along a smooth gauge orbit for the Chern-Simons functional on \(\text{ad}E\)-valued 1-forms on \(Y\). The author, lastly, points towards important applications of this result in determining the topological type of moduli spaces of \(G_2\)-instantons on certain non-trivial bundles.