The even Clifford structure of the fourth (Q490711)

The authors study the geometry of the 32-dimensional Hermitian symmetric space \[ M=EIII=E6/\mathrm{Spin}(10)\cdot U(1), \] that is often described as the projective plane over the complex octonions. It is known that \(M\) admits a parallel even Clifford structure. This implies the existence of a real oriented Euclidean vector bundle \(E\) over \(M\) together with an algebra bundle morphism \(\varphi:\mathrm{Cl}^0(E)\to \mathrm{End}(TM)\) mapping \(\Lambda^2(E)\) into skew-symmetric endomorphisms, and the existence of a metric connection on \(E\) compatible with \(\varphi\). The authors show that such an even Clifford structure is \textit{essential}, that is, it cannot be locally spanned by local Clifford systems of involutions. Moreover, they give an explicit description of such a vector bundle \(E\) as a sub-bundle of \(\mathrm{End}(TM)\). From this they construct a canonical differential 8-form \(\Phi\) on \(M\), associated with its holonomy \(\mathrm{Spin}(10)\cdot \mathrm{U}(1)\subset \mathrm{U}(16)\). They show that \(\Phi\) and the Kähler 2-form \(\omega\) generate the cohomology ring \(H^\ast (M)\). Finally, they relate them to a Schubert cycle by looking at \(M\) as the smooth complex projective algebraic variety \(V_{(4)}\subset \mathbb CP^{26}\), known as the fourth Severi variety.