A method constructs tractor conformal bundles for spacelike submanifolds in Lorentzian manifolds.
problem Characterize conditions for a tractor conformal bundle to be standard and normal.
method Introduce a canonical construction of a tractor conformal bundle and characterize conditions for it to be standard and normal.
result Characterizes conditions for a tractor conformal bundle to be standard and normal.
Study of tractor bundles and spacelike immersions in Lorentzian manifolds.
problem Characterizing and understanding conformal tractor bundles and spacelike immersions.
method Extrinsic viewpoint, relating tractor bundles to spacelike immersions, reformulating equations in terms of spacelike immersion geometry.
result Every Riemannian conformal structure can be realized as a pullback of the tangent bundle of a Lorentzian ambient space.
The realization of tractor bundles as associated bundles in conformal geometry is studied. It is shown that different natural choices of principal bundle with normal Cartan connection corresponding to a given conformal manifold can give rise to topologically distinct associated tractor bundles for the same inducing rep…
Embedding theorem for tractor bundles applied to conformal geometry.
problem Embedding theorem for tractor bundles in Cartan geometries.
method Extension of Gromov-Zimmer embedding theorem to tractor bundles.
result Rigidity result for conformal actions of special pseudo-unitary groups.
The paper studies conformal and projective structures using 2-frame bundles.
problem Understanding connections between conformal and projective structures.
method Using the dressing field method to obtain local, gauge invariant connections.
result A projective tractor bundle can be defined using the same construction as for conformal structures.
New tractor geometry derived from asymptotically flat spacetimes.
problem Understanding the geometry of spacetimes near their boundaries.
method Derived null-tractor bundle from interior spacetime geometry, proved connections' uniqueness, and expressed results in BMS coordinates.
result Tractor connection encodes mass and angular momentum in 3D, and asymptotic shear in higher dimensions.
In this paper we relate the Fefferman-Graham ambient metric construction for conformal manifolds to the approach to conformal geometry via the canonical Cartan connection. We show that from any ambient metric that satisfies a weakening of the usual normalisation condition, one can construct the conformal standard tract…
A Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian (or conformal) structure is conformally Einstein if and only if there is a suitably generic parallel section of a certain vector bundle -- the so-called standard conformal tractor bundle. We show that this characterisation leads to a systematic approach to constructing obstructions to …
Establishes a connection between Kähler metrics and vector bundle sections.
problem Finding Kähler metrics in a conformal class.
method One-to-one correspondence between Kähler metrics and parallel sections of a vector bundle with conformally invariant connection.
result Obstructions for a Riemannian metric to be conformal to a Kähler metric.
We describe an elementary algorithm for expressing, as explicit formulae in tractor calculus, the conformally invariant GJMS operators due to C.R. Graham et alia. These differential operators have leading part a power of the Laplacian. Conformal tractor calculus is the natural induced bundle calculus associated to the …
Characterizes conformal Killing tensors and their Killing scales.
problem Characterizing conformal Killing tensors and their Killing scales.
method Differential prolongation using conformally invariant tractor calculus.
result Provides an invariant characterisation of Einstein Killing scales.
Proposes a new variational principle for Einstein gravity.
problem Formulating Einstein gravity as a gauge theory for the conformal group.
method First order formulation of conformal tractor geometry, variational principle based on abstract principal bundle.
result Provides first order field equations without requiring supplementary constraints.
We develop the natural tractor calculi associated to conformal and CR structures as a fundamental tool for the study of Fefferman's construction of a canonical conformal class on the total space of a circle bundle over a non--degenerate CR manifold of hypersurface type. In particular we construct and treat the basic ob…
New geometrization of gravitational wave phase space.
problem Understanding the geometry of null-infinity in asymptotically flat space-times.
method Proposes a new geometrization using tractor calculus adapted to degenerate conformal metrics.
result Gravitational waves correspond to a class of tractor connections called 'null-normal'.
The aim of this paper is to describe the geometry of conformal structures in Lorentzian signature, which admit a lightlike conformal Killing vector field whose corresponding adjoint tractor acts as complex structure on the standard tractor bundle of conformal geometry. Key to the treatment of this problem is CR-geometr…
Compact formulas for Yang-Mills conditions on conformal manifolds.
problem Finding variational analogs of Yang-Mills conditions.
method Provided compact formulas and proved their equivalence to Yang-Mills conditions under specific metrics.
result Conformal Yang-Mills condition is equivalent to vanishing of Fefferman-Graham obstruction tensor.
A new definition of canonical conformal differential operators Pk (k=1,2,...), with leading term a kth power of the Laplacian, is given for conformally Einstein manifolds of any signature. These act between density bundles and, more generally, between weighted tractor bundles of any rank. By construction …
We introduce the tractor formalism from conformal geometry to the study of smooth metric measure spaces. In particular, this gives rise to a correspondence between quasi-Einstein metrics and parallel sections of certain tractor bundles. We use this formulation to give a sharp upper bound on the dimension of the vector …
The well known conformal covariance of the Dirac operator acting on spinor fields over a semi Riemannian spin manifold does not extend to powers thereof in general. For odd powers one has to add lower order curvature correction terms in order to obtain conformal covariance. We derive an algorithmic construction in term…
We use the manifestly conformally invariant description of a Lorentzian conformal structure in terms of a parabolic Cartan geometry in order to introduce a superalgebra structure on the space of twistor spinors and normal conformal vector fields formulated in purely algebraic terms on parallel sections in tractor bundl…
Quantizes contact structures using dynamical methods.
problem Quantizing contact structures in a flat connection.
method Constructs a dynamical quantization using a flat connection on a Hilbert tractor bundle.
result Determines a contact tractor connection whose parallel sections determine a distinguished choice of Reeb dynamics.
We prove that Fefferman spaces, associated to non--degenerate CR structures of hypersurface type, are characterised, up to local conformal isometry, by the existence of a parallel orthogonal complex structure on the standard tractor bundle. This condition can be equivalently expressed in terms of conformal holonomy. Ex…
A nonstandard invariant fourth order operator acting on functions on a manifold equipped with an almost Grassmannian structure with an arbitrary trorsion is found by means of the curved translation principle. This operator can be viewed as a Grassmannian analogue of the Paneitz operator well known from conformal geomet…
The following are expanded lecture notes for the course of eight one hour lectures given by the second author at the 2014 summer school Asymptotic Analysis in General Relativity held in Grenoble by the Institut Fourier. The first four lectures deal with conformal geometry and the conformal tractor calculus, taking as p…
Conformal geodesics are distinguished curves on a conformal manifold, loosely analogous to geodesics of Riemannian geometry. One definition of them is as solutions to a third order differential equation determined by the conformal structure. There is an alternative description via the tractor calculus. In this article …
We present the general theory of curves in conformal geometry using tractor calculus. This primarily involves a tractorial determination of distinguished parametrizations and relative and absolute conformal invariants of generic curves. The absolute conformal invariants are defined via a tractor analogue of the classic…
We construct polynomial conformal invariants, the vanishing of which is necessary and sufficient for an n-dimensional suitably generic (pseudo-)Riemannian manifold to be conformal to an Einstein manifold. We also construct invariants which give necessary and sufficient conditions for a metric to be conformally relate…
On a conformal manifold, it is well known that parallel sections of the standard tractor bundle with non-vanishing scale are in 1-1 correspondence with solutions of the conformal Einstein equation. In 2 dimensions conformal geometry carries no local information but one can remedy this by equipping the surface with a Mö…
Study parallel tractors and cotractors on almost Grassmannian structures.
problem Characterize parallel tractors and cotractors on almost Grassmannian structures.
method Provide explicit formulae for splitting operators, first BGG operators, and prolongation connections. Characterize solutions of the BGG operators geometrically.
result Describe the geometry of the zero locus of solutions of the first BGG operators.
Tractor Calculus is a powerful tool for analyzing Weyl invariance; although fundamentally linked to the Cartan connection, it may also be arrived at geometrically by viewing a conformal manifold as the space of null rays in a Lorentzian ambient space. For dimension d conformally flat manifolds we show that the (d+2)-di…
The aim of this paper and its sequel is to introduce and classify the holonomy algebras of the projective Tractor connection. After a brief historical background, this paper presents and analyses the projective Cartan and Tractor connections, the various structures they can preserve, and their geometric interpretations…
Defines a new energy for submanifolds, comparing to Willmore energy.
problem Finding new conformally invariant energies for submanifolds.
method Coupling tractor connection to GJMS operators for higher-dimensional analogues.
result Shows comparison with existing energy in 4D.
We study higher form Proca equations on Einstein manifolds with boundary data along conformal infinity. We solve these Laplace-type boundary problems formally, and to all orders, by constructing an operator which projects arbitrary forms to solutions. We also develop a product formula for solving these asymptotic probl…
This paper aims to classify the holonomy of the conformal Tractor connection, and relate these holonomies to the geometry of the underlying manifold. The conformally Einstein case is dealt with through the construction of metric cones, whose Riemmanian holonomy is the same as the Tractor holonomy of the underlying mani…
The article constructs differential operators for parabolic geometries.
problem Developing a machinery for differential operators in parabolic geometries.
method Starting from a relative tractor bundle, constructs a sequence of differential operators.
result Provides a resolution of a sheaf for many geometries.
Study finds conserved quantities for two types of curves on conformal sphere.
problem Identifying conserved quantities for specific types of curves on a conformal sphere.
method Used parallel tractor and Lagrangian formalism to compute conserved quantities.
result Found relation between conserved quantities of two curve types.
We define pure radiation metrics with parallel rays to be n-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian metrics that admit a parallel null line bundle K and whose Ricci tensor vanishes on vectors that are orthogonal to K. We give necessary conditions in terms of the Weyl, Cotton and Bach tensors for a pseudo-Riemannian metric to be …
For the geometry of oriented (2,3,5) distributions (M,D), which correspond to regular, normal parabolic geometries of type (G2,P) for a particular parabolic subgroup P<G2, we develop the corresponding tractor calculus and use it to analyze the first BGG operator Θ0 associa…
New tensors help determine if metrics are related to Poincaré-Einstein ones.
problem Determining when metrics on conformally compact manifolds are related to Poincaré-Einstein metrics.
method Developed new tensors and used conformal tractor calculus to analyze metrics.
result The vanishing of these new tensors is a necessary and sufficient condition for a metric to be related to a Poincaré-Einstein metric.
Researchers study the conformal geometry of bivariate Gaussian manifolds.
problem Exploring the conformal structure of Fisher-Rao metric on statistical manifolds.
method Determined invariants of the conformal structure of the Fisher-Rao metric on the bivariate Gaussian manifold.
result The conformal holonomy group is SO0(1,6) for generic random variables, but SO0(1,4) for independent ones. On conformal manifolds of even dimension n≥4 we construct a family of new conformally invariant differential complexes. Each bundle in each of these complexes appears either in the de Rham complex or in its dual. Each of the new complexes is elliptic if the signature is Riemannian. We also construct gauge compani…
For a conformal manifold we introduce the notion of an ambient connection, an affine connection on an ambient manifold of the conformal manifold, possibly with torsion, and with conditions relating it to the conformal structure. The purpose of this construction is to realise the normal conformal tractor holonomy as aff…
Deser and Nepomechie established a relationship between masslessness and rigid conformal invariance by coupling to a background metric and demanding local Weyl invariance, a method which applies neither to massive theories nor theories which rely upon gauge invariances for masslessness. We extend this method to describ…
Fefferman and Graham showed some time ago that four dimensional conformal geometries could be analyzed in terms of six dimensional, ambient, Riemannian geometries admitting a closed homothety. Recently it was shown how conformal geometry provides a description of physics manifestly invariant under local choices of unit…
There is a well known one--parameter family of left invariant CR structures on SU(2)≅S3. We show how purely algebraic methods can be used to explicitly compute the canonical Cartan connections associated to these structures and their curvatures. We also obtain explicit descriptions of tractor bundles and tracto…
We look at several problems in even dimensional conformal geometry based around the de Rham complex. A leading and motivating problem is to find a conformally invariant replacement for the usual de Rham harmonics. An obviously related problem is to find, for each order of differential form bundle, a ``gauge'' operator …
The paper develops a comprehensive theory of submanifolds in conformal geometries.
problem Understanding submanifolds in conformal geometries of arbitrary dimension.
method Using conformal tractor calculus, the paper provides a new framework for studying submanifolds.
result The theory includes a new notion of distinguished submanifolds and characterizes them in various dimensions.
Working over a pseudo-Riemannian manifold, for each vector bundle with connection we construct a sequence of three differential operators which is a complex (termed a Yang-Mills detour complex) if and only if the connection satisfies the full Yang-Mills equations. A special case is a complex controlling the deformation…