Higher Order Connections

The purpose of this article is to present the theory of higher order connections on vector bundles from a viewpoint inspired by projective differential geometry

Geometric Poisson brackets on Grassmannians and conformal spheres

In this paper we relate the geometric Poisson brackets on the Grassmannian of 2-planes in R^4 and on the (2,2) Moebius sphere. We show that, when written in terms of local moving frames, the geometric Poisson bracket on the Moebius sphere does not restrict to the space of differential invariants of Schwarzian type. But when the concept of conformal natural frame is transported from the conformal sphere into the Grassmannian, and the Poisson bracket is written in terms of the Grassmannian natural frame, it restricts and results into either a decoupled system or a complexly coupled system of KdV equations, depending on the character of the invariants. We also show that the biHamiltonian Grassmannian geometric brackets are equivalent to the non-commutative KdV biHamiltonian structure. Both integrable systems and Hamiltonian structure can be brought back to the conformal sphere.Comment: 33 page

Formal Adjoints and a Canonical Form for Linear Operators

We describe a canonical form for linear differential operators that are formally self-adjoint or formally skew-adjoint.Comment: 3 page

The Research of Thomas P. Branson

The Midwest Geometry Conference 2007 was devoted to the substantial mathematical legacy of Thomas P. Branson who passed away unexpectedly the previous year. This contribution to the Proceedings briefly introduces this legacy. We also take the opportunity of recording his bibliography. Thomas Branson was on the Editorial Board of SIGMA and we are pleased that SIGMA is able to publish the Proceedings.Comment: This is a contribution to the Proceedings of the 2007 Midwest Geometry Conference in honor of Thomas P. Branson, published in SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications) at http://www.emis.de/journals/SIGMA