arXiv research

We solve the metrisability problem for generic three-dimensional projective structures.

In this paper we give a brief introduction to criteria for metrisability of a manifold and to some aspects of non-metrisable manifolds. Bias towards work currently being done by the author and his colleagues at the University of Auckland will be very evident.

Projective surfaces metrisability linked to pseudo-holomorphic curves existence.

We solve the metrisability problem for the six Painlevé equations, and more generally for all 2nd order ODEs with Painlevé property, and determine for which of these equations their integral curves are geodesics of a (pseudo) Riemannian metric on a surface.

Given a projective structure on a three-dimensional manifold, we find explicit obstructions to the local existence of a Levi-Civita connection in the projective class. These obstructions are given by projectively invariant tensors algebraically constructed from the projective Weyl curvature. We show, by examples, that …

Let $U \subset \mathbb A^n$ be an open subset of real affine space. We consider functions $F: U \to \mathbb R$ with non-degenerate Hessian such that the first or the third derivative of $F$ is parallel with respect to the Levi-Civita connection defined by the Hessian metric $F"$. In the former case the solutions are gi…

We investigate contrasting behaviours emerging when studying foliations on non-metrisable manifolds. It is shown that Kneser's pathology of a manifold foliated by a single leaf cannot occur with foliations of dimension-one. On the other hand, there are open surfaces admitting no foliations. This is derived from a quali…

Studies projective geometry and partial differential equations prolongation.

We derive some necessary conditions on a Riemannian metric $(M, g)$ in four dimensions for it to be locally conformal to Kähler. If the conformal curvature is non anti--self--dual, the self--dual Weyl spinor must be of algebraic type $D$ and satisfy a simple first order conformally invariant condition which is necessar…

We show that on a surface locally every affine torsion-free connection is projectively equivalent to a Weyl connection. First, this is done using exterior differential system theory. Second, this is done by showing that the solutions of the relevant PDE are in one-to-one correspondence with the sections of the `twistor…

We derive necessary conditions for a complex projective structure on a complex surface to arise via the Levi-Civita connection of a (pseudo-)Kähler metric. Furthermore we show that the (pseudo-)Kähler metrics defined on some domain in the projective plane which are compatible with the standard complex projective struct…

Recently the first author studied the bifurcation of critical points of families of functionals on a Hilbert space, which are parametrised by a compact and orientable manifold having a non-vanishing first integral cohomology group. We improve this result in two directions: topologically and analytically. From the analy…

A metric projective structure is a manifold equipped with the unparametrised geodesics of some pseudo-Riemannian metric. We make acomprehensive treatment of such structures in the case that there is a projective Weyl curvature nullity condition. The analysis is simplified by a fundamental and canonical 2-tensor invaria…

New quasi-Einstein metrics found on a sphere.

The first half of the thesis concerns Abelian vortices and Yang-Mills (YM) theory. It is proved that the 5 types of vortices recently proposed by Manton are symmetry reductions of (A)SDYM equations with suitable gauge groups and symmetry groups acting as isometries in a 4-manifold. As a consequence, the twistor integra…

Here we treat the problem: given a torsion-free connection do its geodesics, as unparametrised curves, coincide with the geodesics of an Einstein metric? We find projective invariants such that the vanishing of these is necessary for the existence of such a metric, and in generic settings the vanishing of these is also…

A dense amalgam connects boundaries of groups split by finite subgroups.

We carry out the programme of R. Liouville \cite{Liouville} to construct an explicit local obstruction to the existence of a Levi--Civita connection within a given projective structure $[Γ]$ on a surface. The obstruction is of order 5 in the components of a connection in a projective class. It can be expressed as a poi…

V. V. Fedorchuk has recently introduced dimension functions K-dim \leq K-Ind and L-dim \leq L-Ind, where K is a simplicial complex and L is a compact metric ANR. For each complex K with a non-contractible join |K| * |K| (we write |K| for the geometric realisation of K), he has constructed first countable, separable com…

Kernel mean embeddings have recently attracted the attention of the machine learning community. They map measures $μ$ from some set $M$ to functions in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) with kernel $k$. The RKHS distance of two mapped measures is a semi-metric $d_k$ over $M$. We study three questions. (I) For a…

This work introduces a new metric for comparing imprecise probability models.