Manifolds that admit parallel vector fields (Q5902965)

\textit{S. S. Chern} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 72, 167-219 (1966; Zbl 0136.178)] posed the question of when there is a non-zero vector field on a compact manifold that is parallel with respect to a Riemannian metric. He gives conditions on the Betti numbers and conjectures that these are not sufficient. Further conditions on the Betti numbers were given by \textit{L. Karp} [ibid. 83, 1051-1053 (1977; Zbl 0376.53024)]. In the present paper, the author proves in detail the following Theorem: Let M be a compact, connected manifold. Then the following are equivalent: (a) M has a vector field that is parallel with respect to some Riemannian metric. (b) Under a suitable metric, M has a Killing vector field v and a harmonic 1-form \(\alpha\) such that \(\alpha\) (v)\(\neq 0\). (c) M is a fibre bundle over a torus, with finite structural group. He then gives the cohomology of M, and obtains as a Corollary the conditions of Karp [loc. cit.]: \(b_ 1\geq 1\), \(b_ k\geq b_{k-1}- b_{k-2}\), \(k>1.\) Finally, he studies the Riemannian case, and gives: i) a counter-example in order to show that the construction in the Theorem does not yield all the Riemannian manifolds that carry a parallel field; ii) two theorems, the first one for complete manifolds, and the second one for compact manifolds all of whose harmonic 1-forms are parallel. This beautiful paper is an excerpt from the author's thesis [Manifolds that admit parallel vector fields, Univ. Notre Dame (1982)], under the supervision of T. Nagano.