Holonomy reductions of Cartan geometries and curved orbit decompositions

CR structures, CR operators, and generalizations (32V05) Other connections (53B15) Issues of holonomy in differential geometry (53C29) Invariance and symmetry properties for PDEs on manifolds (58J70)

Abstract: We develop a holonomy reduction procedure for general Cartan geometries. We show that, given a reduction of holonomy, the underlying manifold naturally decomposes into a disjoint union of initial submanifolds. Each such submanifold corresponds to an orbit of the holonomy group on the modelling homogeneous space and carries a canonical induced Cartan geometry. The result can therefore be understood as a `curved orbit decomposition'. The theory is then applied to the study of several invariant overdetermined differential equations in projective, conformal and CR-geometry. This makes use of an equivalent description of solutions to these equations as parallel sections of a tractor bundle. In projective geometry we study a third order differential equation that governs the existence of a compatible Einstein metric. In CR-geometry we discuss an invariant equation that governs the existence of a compatible K"{a}hler-Einstein metric.

Review text

Let \(G\) be a Lie group and let \(P\subset G\) be a closed subgroup, with Lie algebras \(\mathfrak{g}\) and \(\mathfrak{p}\), respectively. A Cartan geometry of type \((G,P)\) on a manifold \(M\) is a \(P\)-principal bundle \(\mathcal{G}\to M\) endowed with a Cartan connection \(\omega\in\Omega^1(\mathcal{G},\mathfrak{g})\). The homogeneous model of Cartan geometries of type \((G,P)\) is the bundle \(G\to G/P\) with the left Maurer-Cartan form \(\omega^{MC}\in\Omega^1(G,\mathfrak g)\) as the Cartan connection. The curvature \(K\in\Omega^2(\mathcal G,\mathfrak g)\) of \(\omega\) is defined by \(K(\xi,\eta)=d\omega(\xi,\eta)+[\omega(\xi),\omega(\eta)]\), which is exactly the failure of \(\omega\) to satisfy the Maurer-Cartan equation. A Cartan geometry is called torsion free if its curvature form \(K\) has values in \(\mathfrak p\subset\mathfrak g\). A Cartan connection \(\omega\in\Omega^1(\mathcal{G},\mathfrak{g})\) is easily seen to extend canonically to a \(G\)-principal connection \(\hat\omega\in\Omega^1(\hat{\mathcal{G}},\mathfrak{g})\) on the \(G\)-principal bundle \(\hat{\mathcal G}:=\mathcal G\times_PG\). The extension is characterized by the fact that \(i^*\hat\omega=\omega\), where \(i:\mathcal G\to\hat{\mathcal G}\) is the inclusion. Let \((\mathcal G,\omega)\) be a Cartan geometry of type \((G,P)\), and let \(\mathcal O\) be a homogeneous space of the group \(G\). Then a holonomy reduction of \(G\)-type \(\mathcal O\) of the geometry \((\mathcal G,\omega)\) is a parallel section of the bundle \(\mathcal G\times_P\mathcal O\). Let \((\mathcal G\to M,\omega)\) be a Cartan geometry of type \((G,P)\) together with a holonomy reduction of type \(\mathcal O\) described by \(s:\hat{\mathcal G}\to\mathcal O\). Then for a point \(x\in M\) the \(P\)-type of \(x\) with respect to \(s\) is the \(P\)-orbit \(s({\mathcal G}_x)\subset\mathcal O\). If \(P\backslash\mathcal O\) denotes the set of \(P\)-orbits in \(\mathcal O\), then it is easy to see that the base manifold \(M\) decomposes into a disjoint union of submanifolds \(M_i\), \(i\in P\backslash\mathcal O\), according to \(P\)-type as \(M=\cup_iM_i\); each component \(M_i\) is called a curved orbit. Given a manifold equipped with a Cartan connection, the authors show that a holonomy reduction of this connection determines a decomposition of the underlying manifold into a disjoint union of initial submanifolds. Each such submanifold inherits a canonical geometry from the original data. More precisely, the main theorem of the paper is stated as follows: Let \((\mathcal G,\omega)\) be a Cartan geometry of type \((G,P)\) which is endowed with a holonomy reduction of type \(\mathcal O\). Consider a \(P\)-orbit \(i\in P\backslash\mathcal O\) such that the curved orbit \(M_i\) is nonempty, and consider the corresponding groups \(P_i\subset H_i\) (where \((H_i,P_i)\) denotes an abstract representative of the associated isomorphism class of groups with a distinguished subgroup). Then we have the following: (i) Choose a representative \(\alpha\in\mathcal O\) for the orbit \(i\), let \(G_\alpha\in G\) be its stabilizer, and consider the holonomy reduction of the homogeneous model \(G/P\) determined by \(\alpha\). Then, for each \(x\in M_i\), there exist neighborhoods \(N\) of \(x\) in \(M\), and \(N'\) of \(eP\) in \(G/P\), and a diffeomorphism \(\varphi:N\to N'\) with \(\varphi(x)=eP\) and \(\varphi(M_i\cap N)=(G_\alpha\cdot{}eP)\cap N'\). In particular, \(M_i\) is an initial submanifold of \(M\). (ii) \(M_i\) carries a canonical Cartan geometry \((\mathcal G_i\to M_i,\omega_i)\) of type \((H_i,P_i)\). Choosing a representative \(\alpha\) for \(i\in P\backslash\mathcal O\) as in (i) and identifying \((H_i,P_i)\) with \((G_\alpha,P_\alpha)\), we obtain an embedding of principal bundles \(\mathbf{j}_\alpha:{\mathcal G}_i\to{\mathcal G}|_{M_i}\) such that \(\mathbf{j}_\alpha^*\omega=\omega_i\). Thus \((\mathcal G_i,\omega_i)\) can be realized as a \(P_\alpha\)-subbundle in \({\mathcal G}|_{M_i}\) on which \(\omega\) restricts to a Cartan connection of type \((G_\alpha,P_\alpha)\). (iii) For the embedding \(\mathbf{j}_\alpha\) from (ii), the curvatures \(K\) of \(\omega\) and \(K_i\) of \(\omega_i\) are related as \(K_i=\mathbf{j}_\alpha^*K\). In particular, if \(\omega\) is torsion free, so is \(\omega_i\). In the last section, the authors study several BGG (Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand) equations in projective, conformal and CR geometry.

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