Manifolds with small Dirac eigenvalues are nilmanifolds

Consider the class of n-dimensional Riemannian spin manifolds with bounded sectional curvatures and diameter, and almost non-negative scalar curvature. Let r=1 if n=2,3 and r=2^{[n/2]-1}+1 if n\geq 4. We show that if the square of the Dirac operator on such a manifold has $r$ small eigenvalues, then the manifold is diffeomorphic to a nilmanifold and has trivial spin structure. Equivalently, if M is not a nilmanifold or if M is a nilmanifold with a non-trivial spin structure, then there exists a uniform lower bound on the r-th eigenvalue of the square of the Dirac operator. If a manifold with almost nonnegative scalar curvature has one small Dirac eigenvalue, and if the volume is not too small, then we show that the metric is close to a Ricci-flat metric on M with a parallel spinor. In dimension 4 this implies that M is either a torus or a K3-surface

Minimal kernels of Dirac operators along maps

Let $M$ be a closed spin manifold and let $N$ be a closed manifold. For maps $f\colon M\to N$ and Riemannian metrics $g$ on $M$ and $h$ on $N$, we consider the Dirac operator $D^f_{g,h}$ of the twisted Dirac bundle $\Sigma M\otimes_{\mathbb{R}} f^*TN$. To this Dirac operator one can associate an index in $KO^{-dim(M)}(pt)$. If $M$ is $2$-dimensional, one gets a lower bound for the dimension of the kernel of $D^f_{g,h}$ out of this index. We investigate the question whether this lower bound is obtained for generic tupels $(f,g,h)$

A remark on the space of metrics having non-trivial harmonic spinors

Let M be a closed spin manifold of dimension congruent to 3 modulo 4. We give a simple proof of the fact that the space of metrics on M with invertible Dirac operator is either empty or it has infinitely many path components

Generic metrics and the mass endomorphism on spin three-manifolds

Let $(M,g)$ be a closed Riemannian spin manifold. The constant term in the expansion of the Green function for the Dirac operator at a fixed point $p\in M$ is called the mass endomorphism in $p$ associated to the metric $g$ due to an analogy to the mass in the Yamabe problem. We show that the mass endomorphism of a generic metric on a three-dimensional spin manifold is nonzero. This implies a strict inequality which can be used to avoid bubbling-off phenomena in conformal spin geometry.Comment: 8 page

Dirac-harmonic maps from index theory

We prove existence results for Dirac-harmonic maps using index theoretical tools. They are mainly interesting if the source manifold has dimension 1 or 2 modulo 8. Our solutions are uncoupled in the sense that the underlying map between the source and target manifolds is a harmonic map.Comment: 26 pages, no figur

An index theorem for Lorentzian manifolds with compact spacelike Cauchy boundary

We show that the Dirac operator on a compact globally hyperbolic Lorentzian spacetime with spacelike Cauchy boundary is a Fredholm operator if appropriate boundary conditions are imposed. We prove that the index of this operator is given by the same expression as in the index formula of Atiyah-Patodi-Singer for Riemannian manifolds with boundary. The index is also shown to equal that of a certain operator constructed from the evolution operator and a spectral projection on the boundary. In case the metric is of product type near the boundary a Feynman parametrix is constructed

General N = 1 Supersymmetric Flux Vacua of (Massive) Type IIA String Theory

We derive conditions for the existence of four-dimensional \N=1 supersymmetric flux vacua of massive type IIA string theory with general supergravity fluxes turned on. For an SU(3) singlet Killing spinor, we show that such flux vacua exist only when the internal geometry is nearly-K\"ahler. The geometry is not warped, all the allowed fluxes are proportional to the mass parameter and the dilaton is fixed by a ratio of (quantized) fluxes. The four-dimensional cosmological constant, while negative, becomes small in the vacuum with the weak string coupling.Comment: 4 page

Pion scattering in Wilson ChPT

We compute the scattering amplitude for pion scattering in Wilson chiral perturbation theory for two degenerate quark flavors. We consider two different regimes where the quark mass m is of order (i) a\Lambda_QCD^2 and (ii) a^2\Lambda_QCD^3. Analytic expressions for the scattering lengths in all three isospin channels are given. As a result of the O(a^2) terms the I=0 and I=2 scattering lengths do not vanish in the chiral limit. Moreover, additional chiral logarithms proportional to a^2\ln M_{\pi}^2 are present in the one-loop results for regime (ii). These contributions significantly modify the familiar results from continuum chiral perturbation theory.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures. V3: Comments on finite size effects and the axial vector current added, one more reference. To be published in PR

The Dirac operator on untrapped surfaces

We establish a sharp extrinsic lower bound for the first eigenvalue of the Dirac operator of an untrapped surface in initial data sets without apparent horizon in terms of the norm of its mean curvature vector. The equality case leads to rigidity results for the constraint equations with spherical boundary as well as uniqueness results for constant mean curvature surfaces in Minkowski space.Comment: 16 page

The Cauchy problems for Einstein metrics and parallel spinors

We show that in the analytic category, given a Riemannian metric $g$ on a hypersurface $M\subset \Z$ and a symmetric tensor $W$ on $M$, the metric $g$ can be locally extended to a Riemannian Einstein metric on $Z$ with second fundamental form $W$, provided that $g$ and $W$ satisfy the constraints on $M$ imposed by the contracted Codazzi equations. We use this fact to study the Cauchy problem for metrics with parallel spinors in the real analytic category and give an affirmative answer to a question raised in B\"ar, Gauduchon, Moroianu (2005). We also answer negatively the corresponding questions in the smooth category.Comment: 28 pages; final versio