scientific article; zbMATH DE number 17567

Publication date 26 June 1992

affine hypersurfaces affine immersions affine Kähler connections affine spheres of constant curvature Cartan-Norden theorem Pick-Berwald theorem projective differential geometry Radon's theorem survey

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to differential geometry (53-02) Affine differential geometry (53A15) Projective differential geometry (53A20) Linear and affine connections (53B05) Global submanifolds (53C40)

Review text

This article surveys affine hypersurface theory, based on the author's paper [Geom. Dedicata 20, 43--49 (1986; Zbl 0587.53010)] and his joint work with \textit{U. Pinkall} [Math. Z. 195, 165--178 (1987; Zbl 0629.53012)], and the development since then. Also, a historical account is given, starting with the classical origins by W. Blaschke and his school in 1916. Other surveys were presented by \textit{W. Burau} (ed.) and \textit{U. Simon} (ed.) [W. Blaschke. Gesammelte Werke. Band 4: Affine Differentialgeometrie der Kreis- und Kugelgruppen. Essen: Thales-Verlag (1985; Zbl 0656.53002), 11--34, 35--88], and \textit{U. Simon} Differential geometry and its applications, Proc. Conf., Dubrovnik/Yugosl. 1988, 327-347 (1989; Zbl 0681.53003)]. See also the two Oberwolfach proceedings 1986 [\textit{U. Simon} (ed.), Affine Differentialgeometrie (Berlin 1988; Zbl 0646.53001)], and 1991 [\textit{K. Nomizu} (ed.), \textit{U. Pinkall} (ed.) and \textit{U. Simon} (ed.), Affine differential geometry (Berlin 1991)]. A typical problem for the launch of any submanifold theory in a non- Riemannian situation is the lack of canonically defined ``normal spaces, or -- intimately related to this -- the question of pulling back first order structures from the ambient space to the submanifold. Consider, for example, a regular immersion \(f\) of an \(n\)-manifold \(M\) into ordinary affine space \(R^{n+1}\), which is a main subject here. One idea, occurring at several instances of the history, was to choose first a transversal vector field along \(f\) arbitrarily and then either to adapt it to a given situation or else to produce canonical requirements, which allow to fix the normalization in a unique way. ``Canonical means that only the tools of the given geometric structure on the ambient space are allowed (this is an extension of Klein's ``Erlanger Programm). A deep and systematic procedure for this has been developed by \textit{É. Cartan} [La théorie des groupes finis et continus et la géométrie différentielle traitées par la méthode du repère mobile. Paris: Gauthier-Villars (1937; Zbl 0018.29804)] and applied to the surface case by \textit{J. Favard} in order to single out the equi-affine normal [Cours de géométrie différentielle locale. Paris: Gauthier-Villars (1957; Zbl 0077.15002)]. The same purpose is now reached by Nomizu in a more direct manner, using certain conditions on naturally defined volume elements. From the very beginning, Nomizu emphasizes the role of the first connection induced by the flat connection in \(R^{n+1}\), while classically one preferred the Levi- Civita connection with respect to the first affine fundamental form. In the last years, the modern viewpoint of Nomizu and Pinkall as well as the contributions and activities of U. Simon encouraged many differential geometers to catch on to the subject, and the present article reports on these results, up to 1990. Chapter headings, reflecting the main flows, are: 1. History: 1900--1940's. --- 2. Further developments: 1950--1970's (including the famous Calabi results on complete affine spheres) --- 3. Basic definitions and equations --- 4. Recent developments in the classical theory: 1980-90's (including affine spheres of constant curvatures and Radon's theorem) --- 5. Geometry of affine immersions (including the Cartan-Norden and the Pick-Berwald theorem) --- 6. Projective differential geometry --- 7. Complex hypersurfaces and affine Kähler connections. [For the entire collection see Zbl 0724.00015.]

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