arXiv research

We classify 7-dimensional cocalibrated $\G_2$-manifolds with parallel characteristic torsion and non-abelian holonomy. All these spaces admit a metric connection $\nabla^{\mathrm{c}}$ with totally skew-symmetric torsion and a spinor field $Ψ_1$ solving the equations in the common sector of type II superstring theory. T…

We show that J. Lott's equivariant higher analytic torsion for compact group actions depends only on the equivariant Euler characteristic.

Study curvature properties of $G_2$ connections with skew-symmetric torsion.

The study connects conic connections and torsion-free principal connections on G-structures.

Study on instantons in $G_2$ and $Spin(7)$ manifolds.

I prove the Bloch conjecture:all secondary characteristic classes of flat bundles over complex projective varietes are torsion, except the first.

The article studies conic connections on complex manifolds and their geometric properties.

We give a brief presentation of gwistor space, which is a new concept from G_2 geometry. Then we compute the characteristic torsion T^c of the gwistor space of an oriented Riemannian 4-manifold with constant sectional curvature k and deduce the condition under which T^c is \nabla^c-parallel; this allows for the classif…

In this paper we define a Poincaré-Reidemeister scalar product on the determinant line of the cohomology of any flat vector bundle over a closed orientable odd-dimensional manifold. It is a combinatorial "torsion-type" invariant which refines the PR-metric, introduced earlier by the first author, and contains an additi…

Using the higher analytic torsion form of Bismut and Lott we construct a characteristic class for smooth sphere bundles. We calculate this class in the case where the sphere bundle comes from a complex vector bundle. Related to these characteristic classes we define nontrivial continuous group cohomology classes of the…

Assume that the compact Riemannian spin manifold $(M^n,g)$ admits a $G$-structure with characteristic connection $\nabla$ and parallel characteristic torsion ($\nabla T=0$), and consider the Dirac operator $D^{1/3}$ corresponding to the torsion $T/3$. This operator plays an eminent role in the investigation of such man…

The paper examines $L^2$-torsion in fibration cases relaxing standard conditions.

A Theorem of Kirichenko states that the torsion 3-form of the characteristic connection of a nearly Kähler manifold is parallel. On the other side, any almost hermitian manifold of type $\mathrm{G}_1$ admits a unique connection with totally skew symmetric torsion. In dimension six, we generalize Kirichenko's Theorem an…

Enhanced Euler characteristic improves knot homology detection.

This paper is devoted to the systematic investigation of the cone construction for Riemannian $G$ manifolds M, endowed with an invariant metric connection with skew torsion $\nabla^c$, a `characteristic connection'. We show how to define a $\bar G$ structure on the cone $\bar M=M\x \R^+$ with a cone metric, and we prov…

The characteristic connection of an almost hermitian structure is a hermitian connection with totally skew-symmetric torsion. The case of parallel torsion in dimension six is of particular interest. In this work, we give a full classification of the algebraic types of the torsion form, and, based on this, undertake a s…

Analyzes a finite set of metrics and functions to determine manifold torsion.

In this paper we use the results of our previous work in order to compute the phase of the torsion of an Euler structure in terms of its characteristic class. Also, we introduce here a new notion of an absolute torsion, which does not require a choice of any additional topological information (like an Euler structure).…

In a recent paper, Dimca and Nemethi pose the problem of finding a homogeneous polynomial f such that the homology of the complement of the hypersurface defined by f is torsion-free, but the homology of the Milnor fiber of f has torsion. We prove that this is indeed possible, and show by construction that, for each pri…

The characteristic varieties of a space are the jump loci for homology of rank 1 local systems. The way in which the geometry of these varieties may vary with the characteristic of the ground field is reflected in the homology of finite cyclic covers. We exploit this phenomenon to detect torsion in the homology of Miln…

We compute the characteristic varieties and the Alexander polynomial of a finitely generated nilpotent group. We show that the first characteristic variety may be used to detect nilpotence. We use the Alexander polynomial to deduce that the only torsion-free, finitely generated nilpotent groups with positive deficiency…

We investigate classification results for general quadratic functions on torsion abelian groups. Unlike the previously studied situations, general quadratic functions are allowed to be inhomogeneous or degenerate. We study the discriminant construction which assigns, to an integral lattice with a distinguished characte…

We study twistor spinors (with torsion) on Riemannian spin manifolds $(M^{n}, g, T)$ carrying metric connections with totally skew-symmetric torsion. We consider the characteristic connection $\nabla^{c}=\nabla^{g}+\frac{1}{2}T$ and under the condition $\nabla^{c}T=0$, we show that the twistor equation with torsion w.r…

Using the equivalence between the renormalized Euler characteristic of Ozsvath and Szabo, and the Turaev torsion normalized by the Casson-Walker invariant, we make calculations for $S^3_{p/q}(K)$. An alternative proof of a theorem by Ozsváth and Szabó on $L$-space surgery obstructions is provided.

This paper attempts to investigate the space of various characteristic classes for smooth manifold bundles with local system on the total space inducing a finite holonomy covering. These classes are known as twisted higher torsion classes. We will give a system of axioms that we require these cohomology classes to sati…

Study shows torsion grows subexponentially in book of I-bundles but can grow exponentially in non-regular covers.

Study $p$-brane Galilean and Carrollian geometries via intrinsic torsion.

The famous Uniformization Theorem states that on closed Riemannian surfaces there always exists a metric of constant curvature for the Levi-Cevita connection. In this article we prove that an analogue of the uniformization theorem also holds for connections with metric torsion in the case of non-positive Euler characte…

We study various topological invariants on a torsional geometry in the presence of a totally anti-symmetric torsion H under the closed condition dH = 0, which appears in string theory compactification scenarios. By using the identification between the Clifford algebra on the geometry and the canonical quantization cond…

In this paper we extend and Poincare dualize the concept of Euler structures, introduced by Turaev for manifolds with vanishing Euler-Poincare characteristic, to arbitrary manifolds. We use the Poincare dual concept, co-Euler structures, to remove all geometric ambiguities from the Ray-Singer torsion by providing a sli…

We show that a PSL(2;R)-representation of a Fuchsian group induces the asymptotics of the Reidemeister torsion for the Seifert manifold corresponding to the euler class of the PSL(2;R)-representation. We also show that the limit of leading coefficient of the Reidemeister torsion is determined by the euler class of a PS…

Given an $L^2$-acyclic connected finite $CW$-complex, we define its universal $L^2$-torsion in terms of the chain complex of its universal covering. It takes values in the weak Whitehead group $\operatorname{Wh}^w(G)$. We study its main properties such as homotopy invariance, sum formula, product formula and Poincaré d…

We study the Reidemeister torsion and the analytic torsion of the $m$ dimensional disc in the Euclidean $m$ dimensional space, using the base for the homology defined by Ray and Singer in \cite{RS}. We prove that the Reidemeister torsion coincides with a power of the volume of the disc. We study the additional terms ar…

In this paper we define the adjoint Reidemeister torsion as a differential form on the character variety of a compact oriented 3-manifold with toral boundary, and prove it defines a regular volume form. Then we show that the torsion form can vanish only at singular points of the character variety. In fact, if the singu…

Suppose $\bar{M}$ is a compact connected odd-dimensional manifold with boundary, whose interior $M$ comes with a complete hyperbolic metric of finite volume. We will show that the $L^2$-topological torsion of $\bar{M}$ and the $L^2$-analytic torsion of the Riemannian manifold $M$ are equal. In particular, the $L^2$-top…

This review article intends to introduce the reader to non-integrable geometric structures on Riemannian manifolds and invariant metric connections with torsion, and to discuss recent aspects of mathematical physics--in particular superstring theory--where these naturally appear. Connections with skew-symmetric torsion…

We express the signature modulo 4 of a closed, oriented, $4k$-dimensional $PL$ manifold as a linear combination of its Euler characteristic and the new absolute torsion invariant defined in Korzeniewski [11]. Let $F \to E \to B$ be a $PL$ fibre bundle, where $F$, $E$ and $B$ are closed, connected, and compatibly orient…

We extend Turaev's definition of torsion invariants of 3-dimensional manifolds equipped with non-singular vector fields, by allowing (suitable) tangency circles to the boundary, and manifolds with non-zero Euler characteristic. We show that these invariants apply in particular to (the exterior of) Legendrian links in c…

Characterizes almost Abelian Lie algebras with special $H$-structures.

Khovanov homology is a recently introduced invariant of oriented links in $\mathbb{R}^3$. It categorifies the Jones polynomial in the sense that the (graded) Euler characteristic of the Khovanov homology is a version of the Jones polynomial for links. In this paper we study torsion of the Khovanov homology. Based on ou…

By analyzing how the Borel regulator classes vanish on various groups related to $\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathrm{Z})$, we define three series of secondary characteristic classes for subgroups of automorphism groups of free groups. The first case is the $\mathrm{IA}$-automorphism groups and we show that our classes coincide with…

We study almost Hermitian structures admitting a Hermitian connexion with totally skew-symmetric torsion or equivalently, those almost Hermitian structures with totally skew-symmetric Nijenhuis tensor. We investigate up to what extent the Nijenhuis tensor fails to be parallel with respect to the characteristic connexio…

Study non-orientable link cobordisms using Floer homologies to prove inequalities.

We present a classification theorem for closed smooth spin 2-connected 7-manifolds M. This builds on the almost-smooth classification from the first author's thesis. The main additional ingredient is an extension of the Eells-Kuiper invariant for any closed spin 7-manifold, regardless of whether the spin characteristic…

Any 7-dimensional cocalibrated G_2-manifold admits a unique connection $\nabla$ with skew symmetric torsion. We study these manifolds under the additional condition that the $\nabla$-Ricci tensor vanishes. In particular, we describe their geometry in case of a maximal number of $\nabla$-parallel vector fields.

Study G2-instantons on specific Lie groups, finding conditions and structures.

Algorithm to compute cohomology groups of real flag manifolds, proving torsion and Schubert varieties.

Let S be an orientable surface with negative Euler characteristic, let ψ\in\Mod(S) be a mapping class of S, and let T_ψ be the mapping torus of ψ. We study the action of lifts of ψon the homology of finite covers of S via the torsion homology growth of towers of finite covers of T_ψ. We show that ψadmits a lift to a fi…