Locally conformal Kähler structures on compact nilmanifolds with left-invariant complex structures

Let (M, g, J) be a compact Hermitian manifold and \(\Omega\) the fundamental 2-form of (g, J). A Hermitian manifold (M, g, J) is called a locally conformal Kähler manifold if there exists a closed 1-form α such that \(d\Omega=\alpha \wedge \Omega\) . The purpose of this paper is to give a completely classification of locally conformal Kähler nilmanifolds with left-invariant complex structures.     

A note on <Emphasis Type="Italic">tt</Emphasis><Superscript>*</Superscript>-bundles over compact nearly Kähler manifolds

First, we generalize a rigidity result for harmonic maps of Gordon (Gordon (1972) Proc AM Math Soc 33: 433–437) to generalized pluriharmonic maps. We give the construction of generalized pluriharmonic maps from metric tt ^*-bundles over nearly Kähler manifolds. An application of the last two results is that any metric tt ^*-bundle over a compact nearly Kähler manifold is trivial (Theorem A). This result we apply to special Kähler manifolds to show that any compact special Kähler manifold is trivial. This is Lu’s theorem (Lu (1999) Math Ann 313: 711–713) for the case of compact special Kähler manifolds. Further we introduce harmonic bundles over nearly Kähler manifolds and study the implications of Theorem A for tt ^*-bundles coming from harmonic bundles over nearly Kähler manifolds.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">tt</Emphasis><Superscript>*</Superscript>-Geometry and Pluriharmonic Maps

In this paper we use the real differential geometric definition of a metric (a unimodular oriented metric) tt^*-bundle of Cortés and the author (Topological-anti-topological fusion equations, pluriharmonic maps and special Kähler manifolds) to define a map Φ from the space of metric (unimodular oriented metric) tt^*-bundles of rank r over a complex manifold M to the space of pluriharmonic maps from M to {GL}(r)/O(p,q) (respectively {SL}(r)/SO(p,q)), where (p,q) is the signature of the metric. In the sequel the image of the map Φ is characterized. It follows, that in signature (r,0) the image of Φ is the whole space of pluriharmonic maps. This generalizes a result of Dubrovin (Comm. Math. Phys. 152 (1992; S539–S564).     

Sur la géométrie systolique des variétés de Bieberbach

We review the theory of quaternionic Kähler and hyperkähler structures. Then we consider the tangent bundle of a Riemannian manifold M endowed with a metric connection D, with torsion, and with its well estabilished canonical complex structure. With an almost Hermitian structure on M it is possible to find a quaternionic Hermitian structure on TM, which is quaternionic Kähler if, and only if, D is flat and torsion free. We also review the symplectic nature of TM, in the wider context of geometry with torsion. Finally we discover an S ³-bundle of complex structures, which expands to TM the well known S ²-twistor bundle of a quaternionic Hermitian manifold M.     

The existence of <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>-holomorphic curves in almost Hermitian manifolds

In this paper, we investigate the existence of J-holomorphic curves on almost Hermitian manifolds. Let (M, g, J, F) be an almost Hermitian manifold and \(f:\Sigma \rightarrow M\) be an injective immersion. We prove that if the \(L_p\) functional has a critical point or a stable point in the same almost Hermitian class, then the immersion is J-holomorphic.     

On a class of twistorial maps

We show that a natural class of twistorial maps gives a pattern for apparently different geometric maps, such as, (1,1)-geodesic immersions from (1,2)-symplectic almost Hermitian manifolds and pseudo horizontally conformal submersions with totally geodesic fibres for which the associated almost CR-structure is integrable. Along the way, we construct for each constant curvature Riemannian manifold (M,g), of dimension m, a family of twistor spaces such that Zr(M) parametrizes naturally the set of pairs (P,J), where P is a totally geodesic submanifold of (M,g), of codimension 2r, and J is an orthogonal complex structure on the normal bundle of P which is parallel with respect to the normal connection.     

Variational results on flag manifolds: Harmonic maps, geodesics and Einstein metrics

In this paper, we study variational aspects for harmonic maps from M to several types of flag manifolds and the relationship with the rich Hermitian geometry of these manifolds. We consider maps that are harmonic with respect to any invariant metric on each flag manifold. They are called equiharmonic maps. We survey some recent results for the case where M is a Riemann surface or is one dimensional; i.e., we study equigeodesics on several types of flag manifolds. We also discuss some results concerning Einstein metrics on such manifolds.     

f-Harmonic maps of doubly warped product manifolds

In this paper, we study f-harmonicity of some special maps from or into a doubly warped product manifold. First we recall some properties of doubly twisted product manifolds. After showing that the inclusion maps from Riemannian manifolds M and N into the doubly warped product manifold M × _μ,λ N can not be proper f-harmonic maps, we use projection maps and product maps to construct nontrivial f-harmonic maps. Thus we obtain some similar results given in [21], such as the conditions for f-harmonicity of projection maps and some characterizations for non-trivial f-harmonicity of the special product maps. Furthermore, we investigate non-trivial f-harmonicity of the product of two harmonic maps.     

Existence and Liouville theorems for V -harmonic maps from complete manifolds

We establish existence and uniqueness theorems for V-harmonic maps from complete noncompact manifolds. This class of maps includes Hermitian harmonic maps, Weyl harmonic maps, affine harmonic maps, and Finsler harmonic maps from a Finsler manifold into a Riemannian manifold. We also obtain a Liouville type theorem for V-harmonic maps. In addition, we prove a V-Laplacian comparison theorem under the Bakry-Emery Ricci condition.     

Pluriharmonic maps of maximal rank

If f : M → P is a pluriharmonic map of a complex manifold M into a compact symmetric space P, then the image of any holomorphic tangent space T￠_xMT'_xM under df _x is a flat subspace of T_p^cPT_p^cP where p = f(x). Thus the maximal dimension of flat subspaces of T_p^cPT_p^cP (other than T_p￠PT_p'P and T_p"PT_p'P if P is hermitian) is a bound for the rank of any (non-holomorphic) pluriharmonic map into P. We give examples of pluriharmonic maps of maximal rank when P is a complex Grassmannian. In fact we classify all those maps under an additional condition (isotropy).     

Sur l'existence du nombre de Lelong d'un courant positif fermé défini sur une variété presque complexe

Let (M,J) be an almost complex manifold. By using local coordinate system adapted to the structure J, we prove that every closed positive current on M possesses a Lelong number at any point. In case the manifold is equipped with an integrable complex structure, this Lelong number coincides with the usual Lelong number of a closed positive current.     

The Nehari manifold for a semilinear elliptic equation with a sign-changing weight function

The Nehari manifold for the equation −Δu(x)=λa(x)u(x)+b(x)|u(x)|^ν−1u(x) for x∈Ω together with Dirichlet boundary conditions is investigated. Exploiting the relationship between the Nehari manifold and fibrering maps (i.e., maps of the form t→J(tu) where J is the Euler functional associated with the equation) we discuss how the Nehari manifold changes as λ changes and show how existence and non-existence results for positive solutions of the equation are linked to properties of the manifold.     

Kähler structure on moduli spaces of principal bundles

Let M be a moduli space of stable principal G-bundles over a compact Kähler manifold (X,ωX), where G is a reductive linear algebraic group defined over C. Using the existence and uniqueness of a Hermite-Einstein connection on any stable G-bundle P over X, we have a Hermitian form on the harmonic representatives of H¹(X,ad(P)), where ad(P) is the adjoint vector bundle. Using this Hermitian form a Hermitian structure on M is constructed; we call this the Petersson-Weil form. The Petersson-Weil form is a Kähler form, a fact which is a consequence of a fiber integral formula that we prove here. The curvature of the Petersson-Weil Kähler form is computed. Some further properties of this Kähler form are investigated.     

Spectral geometry for almost isospectral hermitian manifolds

The following question was posed by M. Berger: Is it possible to determine from the spectrum of the real Laplacian whether or not a manifold is Kähler? The Kähler condition for Hermitian manifolds is found out from the invariants of the spectrum of some differential operators acting on forms of type (p, q). P. Gilkey and H. Donnelly proved the Berger conjecture for the complex Laplacian and the reduced complex Laplacian respectively. In this paper we consider the Berger conjecture of almost isospectral Hermitian manifolds about the complex Laplacian acting on forms of type (p, q). Then we can show that a closed complexm(≥ 3)-dimensional Hermitian manifold which is strongly (?2/m)-isospectral to the complex projective space CP ^m with the Fubini-Study metric is holomorphically isometric to CP ^m .     

A Runge Approximation Theorem for Pseudo-Holomorphic Maps

The Runge approximation theorem for holomorphic maps is a fundamental result in complex analysis, and, consequently, many works have been devoted to extend it to other spaces (e.g. maps between certain algebraic varieties or complex manifolds). This article presents such a result for pseudo-holomorphic maps from a compact Riemann surface to a compact almost-complex manifold M, given that the manifold M admits many pseudo-holomorphic maps from ${\mathbb {C}{\rm P}^1}$ which can be thought of as local approximations of the Laurent expansion az +br ²/z. This result specializes to some compact algebraic varieties (e.g. rationally connected projective varieties). An application to Lefschetz fibrations is presented.     

On the Twistor Spaces of Almost Hermitian Manifolds

We study Grassmannian bundles G_k(M) of analytical 2k-planes over an almost Hermitian manifold M²ⁿ, from the point of view of the generalized twistor spaces of [13], and with the method of the moving frame [9]. G₁(M⁴) is the classical twistor space. We find four distinguished almost Hermitian structures, one of them being that of [13], and discuss their integrability and Kählerianity. For n=2, we compute the corresponding Hermitian connections, and derive consequences about the corresponding first Chern classes.     

Hermitian Curvature and Plurisubharmonicity of Energy on Teichmüller Space

Let M be a closed Riemann surface, N a Riemannian manifold of Hermitian non-positive curvature, f : M → N a continuous map, and E the function on the Teichmüller space of M that assigns to a complex structure on M the energy of the harmonic map homotopic to f. We show that E is a plurisubharmonic function on the Teichmüller space of M. If N has strictly negative Hermitian curvature, we characterize the directions in which the complex Hessian of E vanishes.     

The Yamabe problem for almost Hermitian manifolds

The conformal class of a Hermitian metric g on a compact almost complex manifold (M^2m, J) consists entirely of metrics that are Hermitian with respect to J. For each one of these metrics, we may define a J-twisted version of the Ricci curvature, the J-Ricci curvature, and its corresponding trace, the J-scalar curvature s^J. We ask if the conformal class of g carries a metric with constant s^J, an almost Hermitian version of the usual Yamabe problem posed for the scalar curvature s. We answer our question in the affirmative. In fact, we show that (2m−1)s^J−s=2(2m−1)W(ω, ω), where W is the Weyl tensor and ω is the fundamental form of g. Using techniques developed for the solution of the problem for s, we construct an almost Hermitian Yamabe functional and its corresponding conformal invariant. This invariant is bounded from above by a constant that only depends on the dimension of M, and when it is strictly less than the universal bound, the problem has a solution that minimizes the almost complex Yamabe functional. By the relation above, we see that when W (ω, ω) is negative at least one point, or identically zero, our problem has a solution that minimizes the almost Hermitian Yamabe functional, and the universal bound is reached only in the case of the standard 6-sphere equipped with a suitable almost complex structure. When W(ω, ω) is non-negative and not identically zero, we prove that the conformal invariant is strictly less than the universal bound, thus solving the problem for this type of manifolds as well. We discuss some applications.