Harmonic \(1\)-forms on compact \(f\)-manifolds (Q2462240)

Let \(M\) be a \((2n+r)\)-dimensional manifold. If a structure \(\Sigma= (\varphi,\xi_ i,\eta^ i,g)\), \(i=1,\dots,r\) on \(M\) satisfies \(\varphi^ 2=-\text{Id}+\eta^ i\otimes\xi_ i\), \(\varphi(\xi_ i)=0\), \(\eta^ i(X)=g(X,\xi_ i)\), and \(g(\varphi X,\varphi Y)=g(X,Y)+ \sum_ i\eta^ i(X)\eta^ i(Y)\), then \((M,\Sigma)\) is called a metric \(f\)-manifold with parallelizable kernel. If the fundamental 2-form \(F_\varphi\) defined by \(F_\varphi(X,Y)=g(\varphi X,Y)\) satisfies \(F_\varphi=d\eta^ 1=\dots=d\eta^ r\) and \(\Sigma\) is normal, that is, \(N(X,Y)=N_\varphi (X,Y)+2d\eta^ i(X,Y)\xi_ i=0\), where \(N_\varphi\) is the Nijenhuis tensor field for \(\varphi\), then \((M,\Sigma)\) is called an \({\mathcal S}\)-manifold. In this paper, the authors study properties of harmonic 1-forms on \({\mathcal S}\)-manifolds. They prove that if \(M\) is compact, then the space \({\mathcal H}^ 1\) of harmonic 1-forms admits an orthogonal decomposition \({\mathcal H}^ 1 ={\mathcal H}^ 1_ F\oplus{\mathcal H}^ 1_ B\), where \({\mathcal H}^ 1_ F\) is a subspace whose elements are leafwise with respect to the characteristic foliation of \(M\) and \({\mathcal H}^ 1_ B\) is a subspace whose elements are basic with respect to the same foliation. Also, they show that if an \({\mathcal S}\)-manifold \(M\) is compact and if \(\omega\) is a harmonic 1-form on \(M\), then the composition \(\omega\circ\varphi\) is also harmonic. As a consequence of these two results they show that the first Betti number \(b_ 1\) is of the form \(b_ 1=s - 1 + k\neq 0\), where \(k\) is an even positive integer. Finally, they prove that the harmonicity of 1-forms is invariant under \({\mathcal D}\)-homothetic transformations.