Generalized normal homogeneous spheres (Q376196)

A Riemannian manifold \(M\) is called ``\(G\)-normal homogeneous'' if there exists a subgroup \(G\) of the isometry group of \(M\) acting transitively on \(M\) such that the Riemannian metric on \(M\) is induced from a bi-invariant metric on \(G\), namely, the projection \(G\to M\) is a Riemannian submersion. Generalized normal homogeneous Riemannian manifolds can be considered as close metric generalizations of normal homogeneous Riemannian manifolds. A Riemannian manifold is called ``\(G\)-generalized normal homogeneous'' if there exists a subgroup \(G\) of the isometry group of \(M\) acting transitively on \(M\), and a bi-invariant intrinsic metric on \(G\), not necessarily coming from a metric tensor, such that the projection \(G\to M\) is a submetry, i.e., maps closed balls in \(G\) onto closed balls of the same radii in \(M\). In a previous paper [\textit{V. N. Berestovski} et al., Differ. Geom. Appl. 29, No. 4, 533--546 (2011; Zbl 1219.53035)], the author and his coauthors proved that there exist compact generalized normal homogeneous Riemannian manifolds which are not normal homogeneous with respect to any subgroup of their isometry groups and obtained a classification in the simply-connected, irreducible case with positive Euler characteristic. In the present paper, the author investigates the case of vanishing Euler characteristic and describes a family of examples in spheres of dimensions \(4n+3\), \(n\geq 1\).