E₇, Wirtinger inequalities, Cayley 4-form, and homotopy

DOI10.1215/00127094-2008-061MaRDI QIDQ2518253zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Victor Bangert, Shmuel Weinberger, Mikhail G. Katz, Steven Shnider

Publication date 15 January 2009

Published in Duke Mathematical Journal (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0608006

Cayley \(4\)-form quaternionic projective space systolic geometry Wirtinger inequalities

Exceptional (super)algebras (17B25) Geodesics in global differential geometry (53C22) Global geometric and topological methods (à la Gromov); differential geometric analysis on metric spaces (53C23) Maps between classifying spaces in algebraic topology (55R37)

Abstract: We study optimal curvature-free inequalities of the type discovered by C. Loewner and M. Gromov, using a generalisation of the Wirtinger inequality for the comass. Using a model for the classifying space BS^3 built inductively out of BS^1, we prove that the symmetric metrics of certain two-point homogeneous manifolds turn out not to be the systolically optimal metrics on those manifolds. We point out the unexpected role played by the exceptional Lie algebra E_7 in systolic geometry, via the calculation of Wirtinger constants. Using a technique of pullback with controlled systolic ratio, we calculate the optimal systolic ratio of the quaternionic projective plane, modulo the existence of a Joyce manifold with Spin(7) holonomy and unit middle-dimensional Betti number.

Review text

This paper deals with systolic inequalities for the projective spaces over the division algebras \(\mathbb R\), \(\mathbb C\), and \(\mathbb H\). The authors exploit a map of classifying spaces \(BS^1\to BS^3\) so as to relate the systolic ratios of the quaternionic projective space and the complex projective space, and to relate the quaternionic projective space and a hypothetical Joyce manifold (with Spin(7)-holonomy) with \(b_4=1\). They study optimal curvature-free inequalities of the type discovered by C.~ Loewner and M.~Gromov, using a generalization of the Wirtinger inequality for the comass. Using a model for the classifying space \(BS^3\) built inductively out of \(BS^1\), the authors prove that the symmetric metrics of certain two-point homogeneous manifolds turn out not to be the systolically optimal metrics on those manifolds. By calculating the Wirtinger constants for \(\mathbb R^8\) the authors show that the common value of the optimal systolic ratio for \(\mathbb H\mathbb P^2\) and \(\mathbb C\mathbb P^4\) satisfies \(6\leq \text{SR}_4(\mathbb H\mathbb P^2) = \text{SR}_4(\mathbb C\mathbb P^4)\leq 14\). The constant \(14\) is twice the dimension of the Cartan subalgebra of the exceptional Lie algebra \(E_7\).

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