Projective holonomy. I: Principles and properties (Q2475603)

Two torsion free connections on a smooth manifold \(M\) are called projectively equivalent if they have the same geodesics up to parametrization. An equivalence class of such connections is referred to as a projective structure on \(M\). A classical result of É.~Cartan says that such a structure can be equivalently described as a Cartan geometry with homogeneous model given by real projective space, viewed as a homogeneous space of the group of projective transformations. The canonical Cartan connection can be equivalently described by the so-called standard tractor connection, which is a linear connection on a vector bundle naturally associated to the projective structure. The projective holonomy in the title of this article is the holonomy of this linear connection. Reporting on results from his thesis, the author discusses in this article and its sequel [Ann. Global Anal. Geom. 33, No. 2, 137--160 (2008; Zbl 1147.53038), see below] the classification of possible projective holonomy groups. While the classification results are contained in part II, the first part is mainly devoted to geometric interpretations of the possible reductions of projective holonomy. This leads to relations to complex projective structures and contact projective structures, as well as pseudo-Riemannian Einstein metrics and foliations by Ricci-flat leaves.