Related papers: On the Geometry of Chains

There are two well-known parabolic split $G_2$-geometries in dimension five, $(2,3,5)$-distributions and $G_2$-contact structures. Here we link these two geometries with yet another $G_2$-related contact structure, which lives on a…

A general model for geometric structures on differentiable manifolds is obtained by deforming infinitesimal symmetries. Specifically, this model consists of a Lie algebroid, equipped with an affine connection compatible with the Lie…

Using the theory of extensors developed in a previous paper we present a theory of the parallelism structure on arbitrary smooth manifold. Two kinds of Cartan connection operators are introduced and both appear in intrinsic versions (i.e.,…

This article studies the fundamental invariants of 2--nondegenerate CR geometries with simple models. We show that there are two sources of these invariants. The first source is the harmonic curvature of the parabolic geometry that appears…

The extension functors between categories of Cartan geometries can be used to define different categories of Cartan geometries with additional morphisms. The Cartan geometries modeled on skeletons can be used for the description of such…

Parabolic almost conformally symplectic structures were introduced in the first part of this series of articles as a class of geometric structures which have an underlying almost conformally symplectic structure. If this underlying…

This is the last part of a series of articles on a family of geometric structures (PACS-structures) which all have an underlying almost conformally symplectic structure. While the first part of the series was devoted to the general study of…

Given a 3-dimensional (para-)CR structure, its family of chains define a 3-dimensional path geometry. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions that determine whether a path geometry in dimension three arises from chains of a CR or…

On a real analytic 5-dimensional CR-generic submanifold M^5 in C^4 of codimension 3, hence of CR dimension 1, which enjoys the generically satisfied nondegeneracy condition that Lie brackets up to length 3 of T^{1,0}M generate CTM, a…

Almost paracontact metric manifolds are the famous examples of almost para-CR manifolds. We find necessary and suffcient conditions for such manifolds to be para-CR. Next we examine these conditions in certain subclasses of almost…

We study low-dimensional problems in topology and geometry via a study of contact and Cauchy-Riemann ($CR$) structures. A contact structure is called spherical if it admits a compatible spherical $CR$ structure. We will talk about spherical…

First we introduce a generalization of symmetric spaces to parabolic geometries. We provide construction of such parabolic geometries starting with classical symmetric spaces and we show that all regular parabolic geometries with smooth…

In the physics literature, Bilal--Fock--Kogan \cite{BFK} introduced the idea of parabolic reduced flat connections on a surface to give a geometric origin to $W$-algebras. In this paper, we combine these ideas with higher complex…

We make a case for the unique relevance of Cartan geometry for gauge theories of gravity and supergravity. We introduce our discussion by recapitulating historical threads, providing motivations. In a first part we review the geometry of…

This article investigates a few questions about orbits of local automorphisms in manifolds endowed with rigid geometric structures. We give sufficient conditions for local homogeneity in a broad class of such structures, namely Cartan…

Starting from the classical notion of an oriented congruence (i.e. a foliation by oriented curves) in $R^3$, we abstract the notion of an oriented congruence structure. This is a 3-dimensional CR manifold $(M,H, J)$ with a preferred…

We describe a complete system of invariants for 4-dimensional CR manifolds of CR dimension 1 and codimension 2 with Engel CR distribution by constructing an explicit canonical Cartan connection. We also investigate the relation between the…

The geometric content of the MacDowell-Mansouri formulation of general relativity is best understood in terms of Cartan geometry. In particular, Cartan geometry gives clear geometric meaning to the MacDowell-Mansouri trick of combining the…

We discuss the generalized Newton-Cartan geometries that can serve as gravitational background fields for particles and strings. In order to enable us to define affine connections that are invariant under all the symmetries of the structure…

A contact projective structure is a contact path geometry the paths of which are among the geodesics of some affine connection. In the manner of T.Y. Thomas there is associated to each contact projective structure an ambient affine…