Associative Cones and Integrable Systems

Abstract We identify ℝ⁷ as the pure imaginary part of octonions. Then the multiplication in octonions gives a natural almost complex structure for the unit sphere S⁶. It is known that a cone over a surface M in S⁶ is an associative submanifold of ℝ⁷ if and only if M is almost complex in S⁶. In this paper, we show that the Gauss-Codazzi equation for almost complex curves in S⁶ are the equation for primitive maps associated to the 6-symmetric space G₂=T², and use this to explain some of the known results. Moreover, the equation for S¹-symmetric almost complex curves in S⁶ is the periodic Toda lattice, and a discussion of periodic solutions is given. (Dedicated to the memory of Shiing-Shen Chern) * Partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0529756.