Associative submanifolds in Joyce's generalised Kummer constructions (Q6164326)

It was shown by \textit{D. D. Joyce} [J. Differ. Geom. 43, No. 2, 291--328 (1996; Zbl 0861.53022); J. Differ. Geom. 43, No. 2, 329--375 (1996; Zbl 0861.53023)] that the Teichmüller space \(\mathcal T(X)\) of torsion-free \({G}_2\)-structures on a closed \(7\)-manifold \(X\) is a smooth manifold of dimension \(b^3(X)\), and that the \( G_2\)-period map is a Lagrangian immersion of \(\mathcal T(X)\) in \(H^3_{dR}(X) \oplus H^4_{dR}(X)\) constrained by certain inequalities. An analogy with Calabi-Yau three-folds suggests that these inequalities completely characterise the ideal boundary of \(\mathcal T(X)\), see [\textit{J. Halverson} and \textit{D. R. Morrison}, J. High Energy Phys. 2016, No. 4, Paper No. 100, 43 p. (2016; Zbl 1388.81044)]. However, since the notions of \({G}_2\)-instanton and (co)associative submanifold depend on the \(G_2\)-structure, making this precise is complicated. The authors decided to tackle the more down to earth problem of exhibiting concrete examples of degenerating families of \({G}_2\)-manifolds admitting (co)-associative submanifolds whose volumes tend to zero. Such \({G}_2\)-manifolds arise from Joyce's generalised Kummer construction, and their rigorous construction has become possible thanks to the recent work of the second author [``Improved estimates for \(G_2\)-structures on the generalised Kummer construction'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2011.00482}]. The novelty of these examples is that their volumes tend to zero as the ambient \({G}_2\)-manifolds degenerate.