Related papers: Octonionic Gravitational Instantons
We explain a construction of $G_2$-instantons on manifolds obtained by resolving $G_2$-orbifolds. This includes the case of $G_2$-instantons on resolutions of $T^7/\Gamma$ as a special case. The ingredients needed are a $G_2$-instanton on…
We present a non-singular instanton describing the creation of an open universe with a compactified extra dimension. The four dimensional section of this solution is a singular instanton of the type introduced by Hawking and Turok. The…
We study compact, simply connected, homogeneous 8-manifolds admitting invariant Spin(7)-structures, classifying all canonical presentations G/H of such spaces, with G simply connected. For each presentation, we exhibit explicit examples of…
Group theory indicates the existence of a $SO(8) X SO(7) \subset SO(16)$ invariant self-duality equation for a 3-form in 16 dimensions. It is a signal for interesting topological field theories, especially on 8-dimensional manifolds with…
We interpret an open orbit in a 32-dimensional representation space of Spin(9,1) x SL(2,R) as a substitute for the non-existent group of invertible 2x2 matrices over the octonions and study various natural homogeneous subspaces. The…
This paper investigates the geometric structures and properties of 8-dimensional manifolds with Spin(7)-holonomy. We focus on the characterization and implications of 4-planes within these manifolds, which are endowed with an almost…
In this paper we study ${\rm Spin}(7)$-instantons on asymptotically conical ${\rm Spin}(7)$-orbifolds (and manifolds) obtained by filling in certain squashed $3$-Sasakian $7$-manifolds. We construct a $1$-parameter family of explicit ${\rm…
We derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a Killing spinor in N=(1,0) gauge supergravity in six dimensions coupled to a single tensor multiplet, vector multiplets and hypermultiplets. These are shown to imply…
We test exact marginality of the deformation describing the resolution of a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ orbifold by analyzing the closed superstring equations of motion to third order in the size, including $\alpha'$ corrections. We find that the third…
We construct examples of deformed Hermitian Yang-Mills connections and deformed Spin(7)-instantons (also called Spin(7) deformed Donaldson-Thomas connections) on the cotangent bundle of $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2$ endowed with the Calabi…
A non-local classical duality between the three-block truncated 11D supergravity and the 8D vacuum gravity with two commuting Killing symmetries is established. The supergravity four-form field is generated via an inverse dualisation of the…
In this paper, we show that the number of hyperbolic gravitational instantons grows superexponentially with respect to volume. As an application, we show that the Hartle-Hawking wave function for the universe is infinitely peaked at a…
We use a G2-structure on a 7-dimensional Riemannian manifold with a fixed metric to define an octonion bundle with a fiberwise non-associative product. We then define a metric-compatible octonion covariant derivative on this bundle that is…
We initiate the systematic study of $G_2$-instantons with $SU(2)^2$-symmetry. As well as developing foundational theory, we give existence, non-existence and classification results for these instantons. We particularly focus on…
We construct a five-parameter family of gauge-nonequivalent SU(2) instantons on a noncommutative four sphere $S_\theta^4$ and of topological charge equal to -1. These instantons are critical points of a gauge functional and satisfy…
We construct a consistent truncation of six-dimensional matter coupled $F(4)$ gauged supergravity on a cornucopia of two-dimensional surfaces including a spindle, disc, domain wall and other novel backgrounds to four-dimensional minimal…
We study the interaction between toric Ricci-flat metrics in dimension 4 and axisymmetric harmonic maps from the 3-dimensional Euclidean space into the hyperbolic plane. Applications include (1). The construction of complete Ricci-flat…
We describe a quaternionic-based Ansatz generalizing the Gibbons-Hawking Ansatz to a class of hyperk\"ahler metrics with hidden symmetries. We then apply it to obtain explicit expressions for gravitational instanton metrics of type $D_k$.
The Abelian Higgs model and the Georgi-Glashow model in 2 and 3 Euclidean dimensions respectively, support both finite size instantons and sphalerons. The instantons are the familiar Nielsen-Oleson vortices and the 't Hooft-Polyakov…
We provide an off-shell formulation of four-dimensional higher spin gravity based on a covariant Hamiltonian action on an open nine-dimensional Poisson manifold whose boundary consists of the direct product of spacetime and a noncommutative…