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Obstructions to Spin(7) Nahm transforms on tori

Differential Geometry 2026-07-30 v1

Abstract

The Nahm transform for 4-dimensional flat hyperkahler tori is an isometry between the moduli space of anti-self-dual (ASD) instantons on a torus T4T^4 and the moduli space of ASD instantons on the dual torus T4^\hat{T^4} parametrising flat line bundles on T4T^4. This paper studies a generalised Nahm transform on an 8-dimensional torus with a Spin(7) structure. I construct instanton bundles with Dirac kernels respectively in positive and negative chiralities, demonstrating that the usual Nahm transform is not well-defined. I then define a notion of asymptotic holonomy for instantons twisted by a high power k1k \gg 1 of an instanton line bundle, and I show that this asymptotic holonomy reduces to Spin(7) to second order in kk. Finally, I provide examples for which the asymptotic holonomy is u(1)4\mathfrak{u}(1)^4, and thus not Spin(7).

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.28303,
  title  = {Obstructions to Spin(7) Nahm transforms on tori},
  author = {Spencer Whitehead},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.28303},
  year   = {2026}
}

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20 pages