Potential one-forms for hyperk\"ahler structures with torsion

It is shown that an HKT-space with closed parallel potential 1-form has $D(2,1;-1)$-symmetry. Every locally conformally hyperk\"ahler manifold generates this type of geometry. The HKT-spaces with closed parallel potential 1-form arising in this way are characterized by their symmetries and an inhomogeneous cubic condition on their torsion.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, no figure

Stable bundles on hypercomplex surfaces

A hypercomplex manifold is a manifold equipped with three complex structures I, J, K satisfying the quaternionic relations. Let M be a 4-dimensional compact smooth manifold equipped with a hypercomplex structure, and E be a vector bundle on M. We show that the moduli space of anti-self-dual connections on E is also hypercomplex, and admits a strong HKT metric. We also study manifolds with (4,4)-supersymmetry, that is, Riemannian manifolds equipped with a pair of strong HKT-structures that have opposite torsion. In the language of Hitchin's and Gualtieri's generalized complex geometry, (4,4)-manifolds are called ``generalized hyperkaehler manifolds''. We show that the moduli space of anti-self-dual connections on M is a (4,4)-manifold if M is equipped with a (4,4)-structure.Comment: 17 pages. Version 3.0: reference adde

Blowing up generalized Kahler 4-manifolds

We show that the blow-up of a generalized Kahler 4-manifold in a nondegenerate complex point admits a generalized Kahler metric. As with the blow-up of complex surfaces, this metric may be chosen to coincide with the original outside a tubular neighbourhood of the exceptional divisor. To accomplish this, we develop a blow-up operation for bi-Hermitian manifolds.Comment: 16 page

The first coefficients of the asymptotic expansion of the Bergman kernel of the spin^c Dirac operator

We establish the existence of the asymptotic expansion of the Bergman kernel associated to the spin-c Dirac operators acting on high tensor powers of line bundles with non-degenerate mixed curvature (negative and positive eigenvalues) by extending the paper " On the asymptotic expansion of Bergman kernel " (math.DG/0404494) of Dai-Liu-Ma. We compute the second coefficient b_1 in the asymptotic expansion using the method of our paper "Generalized Bergman kernels on symplectic manifolds" (math.DG/0411559).Comment: 21 pages, to appear in Internat. J. Math. Precisions added in the abstrac

Vanishing Theorems and String Backgrounds

We show various vanishing theorems for the cohomology groups of compact hermitian manifolds for which the Bismut connection has (restricted) holonomy contained in SU(n) and classify all such manifolds of dimension four. In this way we provide necessary conditions for the existence of such structures on hermitian manifolds. Then we apply our results to solutions of the string equations and show that such solutions admit various cohomological restrictions like for example that under certain natural assumptions the plurigenera vanish. We also find that under some assumptions the string equations are equivalent to the condition that a certain vector is parallel with respect to the Bismut connection.Comment: 25 pages, Late

Natural Connection with Totally Skew-Symmetric Torsion on Riemannian Almost Product Manifolds

On a Riemannian almost product manifold $(M,P,g)$ we consider a linear connection preserving the almost product structure $P$ and the Riemannian metric $g$ and having a totally skew-symmetric torsion. We determine the class of the manifolds $(M,P,g)$ admitting such a connection and prove that this connection is unique in terms of the covariant derivative of $P$ with respect to the Levi-Civita connection. We find a necessary and sufficient condition the curvature tensor of the considered connection to have similar properties like the ones of the K\"ahler tensor in Hermitian geometry. We pay attention to the case when the torsion of the connection is parallel. We consider this connection on a Riemannian almost product manifold $(G,P,g)$ constructed by a Lie group $G$.Comment: 14 pages, a revised edition, an example is adde

Clinically and histologically silent Q fever endocarditis accidentally diagnosed by PCR

AbstractA case of Q fever endocarditis was diagnosed in a patient with no sign of active endocarditis by performing PCR targeting eubacterial 16S rDNA on the resected mitral valve. The diagnosis was confirmed by detection of high levels of anti-Coxiella burnetti antibodies, positive immunohistologic analysis of the valve tissue with specific antibodies and culture of C. burnetti from the valve tissue. As this patient had an unexplained aggravation of valve dysfunction, we recommended routine serologic testing for C. burnetti to allow the diagnosis of Q fever endocarditis at a very early stage

Einstein-Weyl structures and Bianchi metrics

We analyse in a systematic way the (non-)compact four dimensional Einstein-Weyl spaces equipped with a Bianchi metric. We show that Einstein-Weyl structures with a Class A Bianchi metric have a conformal scalar curvature of constant sign on the manifold. Moreover, we prove that most of them are conformally Einstein or conformally K\"ahler ; in the non-exact Einstein-Weyl case with a Bianchi metric of the type $VII_0, VIII$ or $IX$, we show that the distance may be taken in a diagonal form and we obtain its explicit 4-parameters expression. This extends our previous analysis, limited to the diagonal, K\"ahler Bianchi $IX$ case.Comment: Latex file, 12 pages, a minor modification, accepted for publication in Class. Quant. Gra

Hamiltonian 2-forms in Kahler geometry, III Extremal metrics and stability

This paper concerns the explicit construction of extremal Kaehler metrics on total spaces of projective bundles, which have been studied in many places. We present a unified approach, motivated by the theory of hamiltonian 2-forms (as introduced and studied in previous papers in the series) but this paper is largely independent of that theory. We obtain a characterization, on a large family of projective bundles, of those `admissible' Kaehler classes (i.e., the ones compatible with the bundle structure in a way we make precise) which contain an extremal Kaehler metric. In many cases, such as on geometrically ruled surfaces, every Kaehler class is admissible. In particular, our results complete the classification of extremal Kaehler metrics on geometrically ruled surfaces, answering several long-standing questions. We also find that our characterization agrees with a notion of K-stability for admissible Kaehler classes. Our examples and nonexistence results therefore provide a fertile testing ground for the rapidly developing theory of stability for projective varieties, and we discuss some of the ramifications. In particular we obtain examples of projective varieties which are destabilized by a non-algebraic degeneration.Comment: 40 pages, sequel to math.DG/0401320 and math.DG/0202280, but largely self-contained; partially replaces and extends math.DG/050151

On certain K\"ahler quotients of quaternionic K\"ahler manifolds

We prove that, given a certain isometric action of a two-dimensional Abelian group A on a quaternionic K\"ahler manifold M which preserves a submanifold N\subset M, the quotient M'=N/A has a natural K\"ahler structure. We verify that the assumptions on the group action and on the submanifold N\subset M are satisfied for a large class of examples obtained from the supergravity c-map. In particular, we find that all quaternionic K\"ahler manifolds M in the image of the c-map admit an integrable complex structure compatible with the quaternionic structure, such that N\subset M is a complex submanifold. Finally, we discuss how the existence of the K\"ahler structure on M' is required by the consistency of spontaneous {\cal N}=2 to {\cal N}=1 supersymmetry breaking.Comment: 36 page