Skew flat fibrations

DOI10.1007/S00209-015-1538-0MaRDI QIDQ907926zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 2 February 2016

Published in Mathematische Zeitschrift (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.8448

great circle fibration Hopf's fibration linearly independent vector fields on spheres skew complex fibration skew fibration skew quaternionic fibration

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Classification of fiber spaces or bundles in algebraic topology (55R15) Sphere bundles and vector bundles in algebraic topology (55R25) Topology of vector bundles and fiber bundles (57R22)

Abstract: A fibration of

{m a t h b b R}^{n}

by oriented copies of

{m a t h b b R}^{p}

is called skew if no two fibers intersect nor contain parallel directions. Conditions on

p

and

n

for the existence of such a fibration were given by Ovsienko and Tabachnikov. A classification of smooth fibrations of

{m a t h b b R}^{3}

by skew oriented lines was given by Salvai, in analogue with the classification of oriented great circle fibrations of

S^{3}

by Gluck and Warner. We show that Salvai's classification has a topological variation which generalizes to characterize all continuous fibrations of

{m a t h b b R}^{n}

by skew oriented copies of

{m a t h b b R}^{p}

. We show that the space of fibrations of

{m a t h b b R}^{3}

by skew oriented lines deformation retracts to the subspace of Hopf fibrations, and therefore has the homotopy type of a pair of disjoint copies of

S^{2}

. We discuss skew fibrations in the complex and quaternionic setting and give a necessary condition for the existence of a fibration of

{m a t h b b C}^{n}

(

{m a t h b b H}^{n}

) by skew oriented copies of

{m a t h b b C}^{p}

(

{m a t h b b H}^{p}

).

Review text

The author studies fibrations of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) by skew oriented copies of \(\mathbb{R}^p\) as well as their complex and quaternionic analogues. Recall that a fibration of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) by oriented copies of \(\mathbb{R}^p\) is called skew or a \((p, n)\)-fibration if no two fibers intersect nor contain parallel directions. The problem has previously been studied by Ovsienko and Tabachnikov, Salvai, Gluck and Warner. Severe restrictions on the existence of such fibrations are proved using methods of algebraic topology. The author proves that the space of fibrations of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) by skew oriented lines deformation retracts to the subspace of Hopf fibrations, and therefore has the homotopy type of a pair of disjoint copies of \(S^2\). The geometry and topology of \((p, n)\)-fibrations are nicely explained in the paper.

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