On the complex Cayley Grassmannian (Q2285243)

Let \(\mathbb{O}\) denote the complex octonion algebra, and let \(\Xi : \mathbb{O}\times \mathbb{O}\times \mathbb{O}\times \mathbb{O}\to \mathbb{R}\) denote the function that assigns the imaginary part to the cross product \(x\times u \times v \times w \in \mathbb{O}\times \mathbb{O}\times \mathbb{O}\times \mathbb{O}\). The Cayley Grassmannian, denoted \(X\), is the variety parametrizing four dimensional subspaces spanned by the vectors \(x,u,v,w\) such that \(\Xi(x,u,v,w)=0\). It is a 12-dimensional, singular, \(\text{Spin}(7,\mathbb{C})\)-stable subvariety of the Grassmann variety, \(Gr(4,\mathbb{O})\). In this article, the author analyzes the geometry of the natural \(\text{Spin}(7,\mathbb{C})\)-action on \(\mathbb{O}\) by restricting it to various subgroups. Briefly stated, the author obtains the following results. \begin{itemize} \item[1.] An explicit determination of the \(T\)-fixed points, where \(T\) is the maximal torus of \(\text{Spin}(7,\mathbb{C})\). \item[2.] An explicit characterization of the singular locus of \(X\); it turns out that \(\text{Sing}(X)\) is isomorphic to the partial flag variety corresponding to the long root of the exceptional simple algebraic group, \(\text{G}_2 (\mathbb{C})\). \end{itemize} These results can be seen as natural extensions of the results of the articles by \textit{S. Akbulut} and \textit{M. B. Can} [J. Gökova Geom. Topol. GGT 11, 56--79 (2017; Zbl 1390.22011)] and \textit{L. Manivel} [J. Algebra 503, 277--298 (2018; Zbl 1423.14293)].