Self-dual metrics and twenty-eight bitangents
A current problem in differential geometry is the classification of compact simply-connected four-manifolds with self-dual metrics of positive scalar curvature. Among the known examples: the round sphere, the Fubini-Study metric on the complex projective plane and metrics constructed, independently, by \textit{Y. S. Poon} [J. Differ. Geom. 24, 97--132 (1986; Zbl 0583.53054)], \textit{C. LeBrun} [ibid. 34, 223--253 (1991; Zbl 0725.53067)], and \textit{D. Joyce} [Duke Math. J. 77, 519--552 (1995; Zbl 0855.57028)]. In the paper under review, the author succeeds to describe the moduli space of such metrics on \(3\mathbb{C}P^3\) which, in addition, admit a non-trivial flow of isometries and are not conformal to LeBrun's metric constructed out of his ``hyperbolic ansatz''. His method is working on the twistor space of \(3\mathbb{C}P^3\). Precisely, he determines the structure of the twistor space corresponding to the metrics under discussion. The difficulty is to determine the family of twistor lines for each possible candidate. During his analysis, the author uses also, surprisingly enough, a classical result in algebraic geometry: a smooth plane quartic has exactly \(28\) bitangents.
scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5145733