Nijenhuis and Compatible Tensors on Lie and Courant algebroids

We show that well known structures on Lie algebroids can be viewed as Nijenhuis tensors or pairs of compatible tensors on Courant algebroids. We study compatibility and construct hierarchies of these structures

Dirac pairs

We extend the definition of the Nijenhuis torsion of an endomorphism of a Lie algebroid to that of a relation, and we prove that the torsion of the relation defined by a bi-Hamiltonian structure vanishes. Following Gelfand and Dorfman, we then define Dirac pairs, and we analyze the relationship of this general notion with the various kinds of compatible structures on manifolds, more generally on Lie algebroids.Comment: dedicated to Tudor Ratiu, 23 page

Poisson Manifolds, Lie Algebroids, Modular Classes: a Survey

After a brief summary of the main properties of Poisson manifolds and Lie algebroids in general, we survey recent work on the modular classes of Poisson and twisted Poisson manifolds, of Lie algebroids with a Poisson or twisted Poisson structure, and of Poisson-Nijenhuis manifolds. A review of the spinor approach to the modular class concludes the paper.Comment: Dedicated to the memory of Thomas Branson. 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

Relative modular classes of Lie algebroids

We study the relative modular classes of Lie algebroids, and we determine their relationship with the modular classes of Lie algebroids with a twisted Poisson structure.Comment: 8 page

Lie algebroids and Poisson-Nijenhuis structures

Poisson-NIjenhuis structures for an arbitrary Lie agebroid are defined and studied by means of tangent lifts of tensor fields.Comment: Latex, 15 pages. To appear in Reports on Mathematical Physics (vol 40, 1997