English

Affine connections with W=0

Differential Geometry 2007-05-23 v2

Abstract

For a torsionless connection on the tangent bundle of a manifold M the Weyl curvature W is the part of the curvature in kernel of the Ricci contraction. We give a coordinate free proof of Weyl's result that the Weyl curvature vanishes if and only if the manifold is (locally) diffeomorphic to a real projective space with the connection, when transported to the projective space, in the projective class of the Levi-Civita connection of the Fubini-Study metric. Associated to a connection on an even-dimensional M is an almost complex structure on J(M) the bundle of all complex structures on the tangent spaces of M, c.f. [O'Brian-Rawnsley]. We show that this structure is a projective invariant, and when integrable can be obtained from a torsionless connection which must then have W=0. We also show that two torsionless connections define the same almost complex structure if and only if they are projectively equivalent.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0702032,
  title  = {Affine connections with W=0},
  author = {Francis Burstall and John Rawnsley},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0702032},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

18 pages. Revised bibliography