Calibrated associative and Cayley embeddings (Q846237)

The authors prove two nice theorems: 1. Assume that \((K^3,g)\) is a closed, oriented real analytic Riemannian \(3\)-manifold. Then there exists a \(G_2\)-manifold \((N^7,\varphi)\) and an isometric embedding \(i:K\hookrightarrow N\) such that the image \(i(K)\) is an associative submanifold of \(N\). Moreover, \((N, \varphi)\) can be chosen so that \(i(K)\) is the fixed point set of a nontrivial \(G_2\)-involution \(r: N\to N\). 2. Assume \((K^4, g)\) is a closed, oriented, real analytic Riemannian \(4\)-manifold with a trivial bundle of self-dual forms. Then there exists a \(\text{Spin}(7)\)-manifold \((N^8, \mathbf{\Psi})\) and an isometry embedding \(i: K\hookrightarrow N\) whose image is a Cayley submanifold in \(N\). Moreover, \((N^8, \mathbf{\Psi})\) can be chosen so that \(i(K)\) is the fixed locus of a nontrivial \(\text{Spin}(7)\)-involution \(r: N\to N\). From these theorems they derive two corollaries: 1. the interior of a smooth compact \(3\)-manifold can be isometrically embedded into a \(G_2\)-manifold as an associative submanifold 2. the interior of a smooth, compact \(4\)-manifold \(K\), whose double sum has a trivial bundle of self-dual \(2\)-forms, can be isometrically embedded into a \(\text{Spin}(7)\)-manifold as a Cayley submanifold.