Geometric properties of homogeneous parabolic geometries with generalized symmetries

We investigate geometric properties of homogeneous parabolic geometries with generalized symmetries. We show that they can be reduced to a simpler geometric structures and interpret them explicitly. For specific types of parabolic geometries, we prove that the reductions correspond to known generalizations of symmetric spaces. In addition, we illustrate our results on an explicit example and provide a complete classification of possible non-trivial cases.     

Universal connections in Fréchet principal bundles

A new methodology leading to the construction of a universal connection for Fréchet principal bundles is proposed in this paper. The classical theory, applied successfully so far for finite dimensional and Banach modelled bundles, collapses within the framework of Fréchet manifolds. However, based on the replacement of the space of continuous linear mappings by an appropriate topological vector space, we endow the bundle J ¹ P of 1-jets of the sections of a Fréchet principal bundle P with a connection form by means of which we may “reproduce” every connection of P.      

Quillen superconnections and connections on supermanifolds

Given a supervector bundle $E=E_0\oplus E_1\to M$, we exhibit a parametrization of Quillen superconnections on $E$ by graded connections on the Cartan–Koszul supermanifold $(M,\Omega \left(M\right))$. The relation between the curvatures of both kind of connections, and their associated Chern classes, is discussed in detail. In particular, we find that Chern classes for graded vector bundles on split supermanifolds can be computed through the associated Quillen superconnections.     

Some remarks on the geometry of superspace supergravity

In this note, we first give a quick presentation of the supergeometry underlying supergravity theories, using an intrinsic differential geometric language. For this, we adopt the point of view of Cartan geometries, and rely as well on the work of John Lott, who has found a unified geometrical interpretation of the torsion constraints for many supergravity theories, based on the use of H-structures. In this framework, the constraints amount to requiring first-order integrability of H-structures, for a specific supergroup H.The supergroup H used by Lott is not the usual diagonal representation of the Lorentz group on superspace, but an extension of the latter. This extension appears to be natural and it can be related to the super-Poincaré group. We also observe that the constraints arising from the requirement of first-order integrability have basically the same form, in any spacetime dimension.Looking at supergravity from an affine viewpoint (i.e. as a gauge theory for the super-Poincaré group), we show that requiring first-order integrability amounts to requiring the equivalence, up to gauge transformations, between infinitesimal gauge supertranslations acting on the supervielbein and infinitesimal superdiffeomorphisms acting on the supervielbein.The latter action is performed through a covariant Lie derivative, whose expression involves naturally the supertorsion tensor. We use this expression to show that the term added to the spin connection, in the supercovariant derivative of d=11 supergravity, has a natural superspace origin. In particular, the 4-form field strength is related to a specific component of the supertorsion tensor.We conclude by some general remarks concerning Killing spinors in geometry and supergravity, discussing their possible interpretations, as Killing vector fields on a specific supermanifold on one hand, and as parallel spinors for an appropriate connection on the other hand. We show that this last interpretation is very natural from the point of view of Klein and Cartan geometries.     

Mechanics of advancing pin-loaded contacts with friction

This paper considers finite friction contact problems involving an elastic pin and an infinite elastic plate with a circular hole. Using a suitable class of Green's functions, the singular integral equations governing a very general class of conforming contact problems are formulated. In particular, remote plate stresses, pin loads, moments and distributed loading of the pin by conservative body forces are considered. Numerical solutions are presented for different partial slip load cases. In monotonic loading, the dependence of the tractions on the coefficient of friction is strongest when the contact is highly conforming. For less conforming contacts, the tractions are insensitive to an increase in the value of the friction coefficient above a certain threshold. The contact size and peak pressure in monotonic loading are only weakly dependent on the pin load distribution, with center loads leading to slightly higher peak pressure and lower peak shear than distributed loads. In contrast to half-plane cylinder fretting contacts, fretting behavior is quite different depending on whether or not the pin is allowed to rotate freely. If pin rotation is disallowed, the fretting tractions resemble half-plane fretting tractions in the weakly conforming regime but the contact resists sliding in the strongly conforming regime. If pin rotation is allowed, the shear traction behavior resembles planar rolling contacts in that one slip zone is dominant and the peak shear occurs at its edge. In this case, the effects of material dissimilarity in the strongly conforming regime are only secondary and the contact never goes into sliding. Fretting tractions in the forward and reversed load states show shape asymmetry, which persists with continued load cycling. Finally, the governing integro-differential equation for full sliding is derived; in the limiting case of no friction, the same equation governs contacts with center loading and uniform body force loading, resulting in identical pressures when their resultants are equal.     

Regular connections among generalized connections

The properties of the space of regular connections as a subset of the space of generalized connections in the Ashtekar framework are studied. For every choice of compact structure group and smoothness category for the paths, it is determined whether is dense in or not. Moreover, it is proven that has Ashtekar–Lewandowski measure zero for every non-trivial structure group and every smoothness category. The analogous results hold for gauge orbits instead of connections.     

The volume measure for flat connections as limit of the Yang–Mills measure

We prove that integration over the moduli space of flat connections can be obtained as a limit of integration with respect to the Yang–Mills measure defined in terms of the heat-kernel for the gauge group. In doing this we also give a rigorous proof of Witten’s formula for the symplectic volume of the moduli space of flat connections. Our proof uses an elementary identity connecting determinants of matrices along with a careful accounting of certain dense subsets of full measure in the moduli space.     

When Do Some Geodesics of the Induced and the Metrical Connection Coincide?

In affine differential geometry, three natural connections can be considered, namely the induced connection, the Levi Civita connection of the affine metric and the conjugate connection. Quadrics are characterized by the conditions that all the pre-geodesies with respect to one of these connections are also pre-geodesies with respect to the other two connections. In the present paper we describe 3-dimensional affine hypersurfaces for which some of the geodesies or pre-geodesies for the different connections coincide.