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The global qualitative behaviour of fields of principal directions for the graph of a real valued polynomial function $f$ on the plane are studied. We provide a Poincar\'e-Hopf type formula where the sum over all indices of the principal directions at its umbilic points only depends upon the number of real linear factors of the homogeneous part of highest degree of $f$. Moreover, we study the projective extension of these fields and prove, under generic conditions, that every umbilic point at infinity of these extensions is isolated, has index equal to 1/2 and its topological type is a Lemon., Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures

As was shown by a part of the authors, for a given $(2, 3, 5)$-distribution $D$ on a $5$-dimensional manifold $Y$, there is, locally, a Lagrangian cone structure $C$ on another $5$-dimensional manifold $X$ which consists of abnormal or singular paths of $(Y, D)$. We give a characterization of the class of Lagrangian cone structures corresponding to $(2, 3, 5)$-distributions. Thus we complete the duality between $(2, 3, 5)$-distributions and Lagrangian cone structures via pseudo-product structures of type $G_2$. A local example of non-flat perturbations of the global model of flat Lagrangian cone structure which corresponds to $(2,3,5)$-distributions is given., Comment: 13 pages

The Hilbert metric on convex subsets of $\mathbb R^n$ has proven a rich notion and has been extensively studied. We propose here a generalization of this metric to subset of complex projective spaces and give examples of applications to diverse fields. Basic examples include the classical Hilbert metric which coincides with the hyperbolic metric on real hyperbolic spaces as well as the complex hyperbolic metric on complex hyperbolic spaces.

We show that the standard definitions of Sasaki structures have elegant and simplifying interpretations in terms of projective differential geometry. For Sasaki-Einstein structures we use projective geometry to provide a resolution of such structures into geometrically less rigid components; the latter elemental components are separately, complex, orthogonal, and symplectic holonomy reductions of the canonical projective tractor/Cartan connection. This leads to a characterisation of Sasaki-Einstein structures as projective structures with certain unitary holonomy reductions. As an immediate application, this is used to describe the projective compactification of indefinite (suitably) complete non-compact Sasaki-Einstein structures and to prove that the boundary at infinity is a Fefferman conformal manifold that thus fibres over a nondegenerate CR manifold (of hypersurface type). We prove that this CR manifold coincides with the boundary at infinity for the c-projective compactification of the K\"ahler-Einstein manifold that arises, in the usual way, as a leaf space for the defining Killing field of the given Sasaki-Einstein manifold. A procedure for constructing examples is given. The discussion of symplectic holonomy reductions of projective structures leads us moreover to a new and simplifying approach to contact projective geometry. This is of independent interest and is treated in some detail., Comment: 55 pages; minor modifications: references updated, citations added and typos corrected. To appear in Dissertationes Mathematicae

We construct in projective differential geometry of the real dimension $2$ higher symmetry algebra of the symplectic Dirac operator ${D}\kern-0.5em\raise0.22ex\hbox{/}_s$ acting on symplectic spinors. The higher symmetry differential operators correspond to the solution space of a class of projectively invariant overdetermined operators of arbitrarily high order acting on symmetric tensors. The higher symmetry algebra structure corresponds to a completely prime primitive ideal having as its associated variety the minimal nilpotent orbit of $\mathfrak{sl}(3,{\mathbb{R}})$., Comment: Symplectic Dirac operator, Higher symmetry algebra, Projective differential geometry, Minimal nilpotent orbit, $\mathfrak{sl}(3,\mR)$

Pseudo-Riemannian metrics with Levi-Civita connection in the projective class of a given torsion free affine connection can be obtained from (and are equivalent to) the maximal rank solutions of a certain overdetermined projectively invariant differential equation often called the metrizability equation. Dropping this rank assumption we study the solutions to this equation given less restrictive generic conditions on its prolonged system. In this setting we find that the solution stratifies the manifold according to the strict signature (pointwise) of the solution and does this in way that locally generalizes the stratification of a model, where the model is, in each case, a corresponding Lie group orbit decomposition of the sphere. Thus the solutions give curved generalizations of such embedded orbit structures. We describe the smooth nature of the strata and determine the geometries of each of the different strata types; this includes a metric on the open strata that becomes singular at the strata boundary, with the latter a type of projective infinity for the given metric. The approach reveals and exploits interesting highly non-linear relationships between different linear geometric partial differential equations. Apart from their direct significance, the results show that, for the metrizability equation, strong results arising for so-called normal BGG solutions, and the corresponding projective holonomy reduction, extend to a far wider class of solutions. The work also provides new results for the projective compactification of scalar-flat metrics., Comment: 27 pages. Minor typographical corrections

The Killing tensor equation is a first order differential equation on symmetric covariant tensors that generalises to higher rank the usual Killing vector equation on Riemannian manifolds. We view this more generally as an equation on any manifold equipped with an affine connection, and in this setting derive its prolongation to a linear connection. This connection has the property that parallel sections are in 1-1 correspondence with solutions of the Killing equation. Moreover this connection is projectively invariant and is derived entirely using the projectively invariant tractor calculus which reveals also further invariant structures linked to the prolongation., Comment: 24 pages

We investigate the common underlying discrete structures for various smooth and discrete nets. The main idea is to impose the characteristic properties of the nets not only on elementary quadrilaterals but also on larger parameter rectangles. For discrete planar quadrilateral nets, circular nets, $Q^*$-nets and conical nets we obtain a characterization of the corresponding discrete multi-nets. In the limit these discrete nets lead to some classical classes of smooth surfaces. Furthermore, we propose to use the characterized discrete nets as discrete extensions for the nets to obtain structure preserving subdivision schemes., Comment: 27 pages, 14 figures

The generalized Feix--Kaledin construction shows that c-projective $2n$-manifolds with curvature of type $(1,1)$ are precisely the submanifolds of quaternionic $4n$-manifolds which are fixed points set of a special type of quaternionic $S^1$ action $v$. In this paper, we consider this construction in the presence of infinitesimal symmetries of the two geometries. First, we prove that the submaximally symmetric c-projective model with type $(1,1)$ curvature is a submanifold of a submaximally symmetric quaternionic model, and show how this fits into the construction. We give conditions for when the c-projective symmetries extend from the fixed points set of $v$ to quaternionic symmetries, and we study the quaternionic symmetries of the Calabi-- and Eguchi-Hanson hyperk\"ahler structures, showing that in some cases all quaternionic symmetries are obtained in this way.

$G$-deformability of maps into projective space is characterised by the existence of certain Lie algebra valued 1-forms. This characterisation gives a unified way to obtain well known results regarding deformability in different geometries., Comment: 16 pages. Peer reviewed version

We solve the metrisability problem for generic three-dimensional projective structures., Comment: 14 pages. As pointed out by Maciej Dunajski, the previous proof of Theorem 3 was incomplete. In this version, the proof is complete. Also, following helpful discussions with Felipe Contatto and Maciej Dunajski, Theorem 4 has been added

Quadratic points of a surface in the projective 3-space are the points which can be exceptionally well approximated by a quadric. They are also singularities of a 3-web in the elliptic part and of a line field in the hyperbolic part of the surface. We show that generically the index of the 3-web at a quadratic point is 1/3 or -1/3, while the index of the line field is 1 or -1. Moreover, for an elliptic quadratic point whose cubic form is semi-homogeneous, we can use Loewner's conjecture to show that the index is at most 1. From the above local results we can conclude some global results: A generic compact elliptic surface has at least 6 quadratic points, a compact elliptic surfaces with semi-homogeneous cubic forms has at least 2 quadratic points and the number of quadratic points in a hyperbolic disc is odd. By studying the behavior of the cubic form in a neighborhood of the parabolic curve, we also obtain a relation between the indices of the quadratic points of a generic surface with non-empty elliptic and hyperbolic regions., Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures

We use Beltrami's theorem as an excuse to present some arguments from parabolic differential geometry without any of the parabolic machinery., Comment: 5 pages

In an article of 1967 W. Edge gave a description of some beautiful geometric properties of the Kummer surface complete intersection of three quadrics in $\mathbb P^5$. Working on it, R. Dye proved that all its osculating spaces have dimension less than the expected 5. Here we discuss these results, also at the light of some recent result about varieties with hypo-osculating behaviour., Comment: 9 pages, accepted for publication in European Journal of Mathematics

In this paper we study the Nil geometry that is one of the eight homogeneous Thurston 3-geomet\-ri\-es. We determine the equation of the translation-like bisector surface of any two points. We prove, that the isosceles property of a translation triangle is not equivalent to two angles of the triangle being equal and that the triangle inequalities do not remain valid for translation triangles in general. We develop a method to determine the centre and the radius of the circumscribed translation sphere of a given {\it translation tetrahedron}. A further aim of this paper is to study lattice-like coverings with congruent translation balls in Nil space. We introduce the notion of the density of the considered coverings and give upper estimate to it using the radius amd the volume of the circumscribed translation sphere of a given {\it translation tetrahedron}. The found minimal upper bound density of the translation ball coverings $\Delta \approx 1.42783$. In our work we will use for computations and visualizations the projective model of Nil described by E. Moln\'ar in \cite{M97}., Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1705.04207, arXiv:1105.1986

We determine local topological types of binary differential equations of asymptotic curves at parabolic and flat umbilical points for generic $2$-parameter families of surfaces in $\mathbb P^3$ by comparing our projective classification of Monge forms and classification of general BDE obtained by Tari and Oliver. In particular, generic bifurcations of the parabolic curve are classified. The flecnodal curve is also examined by direct computations, and we present new bifurcation diagrams in typical examples., Comment: 20 pages

For a closed, strictly convex projective manifold of dimension $n\geq 3$ that admits a hyperbolic structure, we show that the ratio of Hilbert volume to hyperbolic volume is bounded below by a constant that depends only on dimension. We also show that for such spaces, if topological entropy of the geodesic flow goes to zero, the volume must go to infinity. These results follow from adapting Besson--Courtois--Gallot's entropy rigidity result to Hilbert geometries., Comment: 15 pages

In this work, we are interested in the differential geometry of curves in the simply isotropic and pseudo-isotropic 3-spaces, which are examples of Cayley-Klein geometries whose absolute figure is given by a plane at infinity and a degenerate quadric. Motivated by the success of rotation minimizing (RM) frames in Euclidean and Lorentzian geometries, here we show how to build RM frames in isotropic geometries and apply them in the study of isotropic spherical curves. Indeed, through a convenient manipulation of osculating spheres described in terms of RM frames, we show that it is possible to characterize spherical curves via a linear equation involving the curvatures that dictate the RM frame motion. For the case of pseudo-isotropic space, we also discuss on the distinct choices for the absolute figure in the framework of a Cayley-Klein geometry and prove that they are all equivalent approaches through the use of Lorentz numbers (a complex-like system where the square of the imaginary unit is $+1$). Finally, we also show the possibility of obtaining an isotropic RM frame by rotation of the Frenet frame through the use of Galilean trigonometric functions and dual numbers (a complex-like system where the square of the imaginary unit vanishes)., Comment: 2 figures. To appear in "Tamkang Journal of Mathematics"

We show that for any complete connected K\"ahler manifold the index of the group of complex affine transformations in the group of c-projective transformations is at most two unless the K\"ahler manifold is isometric to complex projective space equipped with a positive constant multiple of the Fubini-Study metric. This establishes a stronger version of the recently proved Yano-Obata conjecture for complete K\"ahler manifolds., Comment: 24 pages; a few more minor corrections; to appear in Annals of Global Analysis and Geometry

We give a complete list of mutually non-diffeomorphic normal forms for the two-dimensional metrics that admit one essential (i.e., non-homothetic) projective vector field. This revises a result from the literature and extends the results of two papers, by R.L. Bryant & G. Manno & V.S. Matveev (2008) and V.S. Matveev (2012) respectively, solving a problem posed by Sophus Lie in 1882., Comment: 47 pages, 4 figures

In the present paper we study the $\SOL$ geometry that is one of the eight homogeneous Thurston 3-geomet\-ri\-es. We determine the equation of the translation-like bisector surface of any two points. We prove, that the isosceles property of a translation triangle is not equivalent to two angles of the triangle being equal and that the triangle inequalities do not remain valid for translation triangles in general. Moreover, we develop a method to determine the centre and the radius of the circumscribed translation sphere of a given {\it translation tetrahedron}. In our work we will use for computations and visualizations the projective model of $\SOL$ described by E. Moln\'ar in \cite{M97}., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1703.06646

In this paper, it is proved that a connected 3-dimensional Riemannian manifold or a closed connected semi-Riemannian manifold $M^n$($n>1$) admitting a projective vector field with a non-linearizable singularity is projectively flat.

Let M be a compact Riemannian manifold and let $\mu$,d be the associated measure and distance on M. Robert McCann obtained, generalizing results for the Euclidean case by Yann Brenier, the polar factorization of Borel maps S : M -> M pushing forward $\mu$ to a measure $\nu$: each S factors uniquely a.e. into the composition S = T \circ U, where U : M -> M is volume preserving and T : M -> M is the optimal map transporting $\mu$ to $\nu$ with respect to the cost function d^2/2. In this article we study the polar factorization of conformal and projective maps of the sphere S^n. For conformal maps, which may be identified with elements of the identity component of O(1,n+1), we prove that the polar factorization in the sense of optimal mass transport coincides with the algebraic polar factorization (Cartan decomposition) of this Lie group. For the projective case, where the group GL_+(n+1) is involved, we find necessary and sufficient conditions for these two factorizations to agree., Comment: Statement of Theorem 4 improved; 11 pages

After having investigated the geodesic and translation triangles and their angle sums in $\NIL$ and $\SLR$ geometries we consider the analogous problem in $\SOL$ space that is one of the eight 3-dimensional Thurston geometries. We analyse the interior angle sums of translation triangles in $\SOL$ geometry and prove that it can be larger or equal than $\pi$. In our work we will use the projective model of $\SOL$ described by E. Moln\'ar in \cite{M97}, Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures

We study the homogeneous artinian ideals of the polynomial ring $K[x,y,z]$, generated by the homogenous polynomials of degree $d$ which are invariant under an action of the cyclic group $\mathbb Z/d\mathbb Z$, for any $d\geq 3$. We prove that they are all monomial Togliatti systems, and that they are minimal if the action is defined by a diagonal matrix having on the diagonal $(1, e, e^a)$, where $e$ is a primitive $d$-th root of the unity. We get a complete description when $d$ is prime or a power of a prime. We also establish the relation of these systems with linear Ceva configurations., Comment: 28 pages, 1 figure; final version published in Journal of Algebra

In this paper we study the interior angle sums of geodesic triangles in $\NIL$ geometry and prove that it can be larger, equal or less than $\pi$. We use for the computations the projective model of $\NIL$ introduced by E. {Moln\'ar} in \cite{M97}., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1607.04401, arXiv:1610.01500

For $d=4, 5, 6$, we exhibit the first examples of complete finite volume hyperbolic $d$-manifolds $M$ with cusps such that infinitely many $d$-orbifolds $M_{m}$ obtained from $M$ by generalized Dehn filling admit properly convex real projective structures. The orbifold fundamental groups of $M_m$ are Gromov-hyperbolic relative to a collection of subgroups virtually isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}^{d-2}$, hence the images of the developing maps of the projective structures on $M_m$ are new examples of divisible properly convex domains of the projective $d$-space which are not strictly convex, in contrast to the previous examples of Benoist., Comment: 45 pages, 12 figures, 10 tables

In the paper "Pappus's theorem and the modular group", R. Schwartz constructed a 2-dimensional family of faithful representations $\rho_\Theta$ of the modular group $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$ into the group $\mathscr{G}$ of projective symmetries of the projective plane via Pappus Theorem. The image of the unique index 2 subgroup $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})_o$ of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$ under each representation $\rho_\Theta$ is in the subgroup $\mathrm{PGL}(3,\mathbb{R})$ of $\mathscr{G}$ and preserves a topological circle in the flag variety, but $\rho_\Theta$ is not Anosov. In her PhD Thesis, V. P. Val\'erio elucidated the Anosov-like feature of Schwartz representations: For every $\rho_\Theta$, there exists a 1-dimensional family of Anosov representations $\rho^\varepsilon_{\Theta}$ of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})_o$ into $\mathrm{PGL}(3,\mathbb{R})$ whose limit is the restriction of $\rho_\Theta$ to $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})_o$. In this paper, we improve her work: For each $\rho_\Theta$, we build a 2-dimensional family of Anosov representations of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})_o$ into $\mathrm{PGL}(3,\mathbb{R})$ containing $\rho^\varepsilon_{\Theta}$ and a 1-dimensional subfamily of which can extend to representations of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$ into $\mathscr{G}$. Schwartz representations are therefore, in a sense, the limits of Anosov representations of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$ into $\mathscr{G}$., Comment: 32 pages, 16 figures, to appear at Annales de l'Institut Fourier

Equal-volume polygons are obtained from adequate discretizations of curves in 3-space, contained or not in surfaces. In this paper we explore the similarities of these polygons with the affine arc-length parameterized smooth curves to develop a theory of discrete affine invariants. Besides obtaining discrete affine invariants, equal-volume polygons can also be used to estimate projective invariants of a planar curve. This theory has many potential applications, among them evaluation of the quality and computation of affine invariants of silhouette curves., Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures

Reconstructing 3D scenes from multiple views has made impressive strides in recent years, chiefly by correlating isolated feature points, intensity patterns, or curvilinear structures. In the general setting - without controlled acquisition, abundant texture, curves and surfaces following specific models or limiting scene complexity - most methods produce unorganized point clouds, meshes, or voxel representations, with some exceptions producing unorganized clouds of 3D curve fragments. Ideally, many applications require structured representations of curves, surfaces and their spatial relationships. This paper presents a step in this direction by formulating an approach that combines 2D image curves into a collection of 3D curves, with topological connectivity between them represented as a 3D graph. This results in a 3D drawing, which is complementary to surface representations in the same sense as a 3D scaffold complements a tent taut over it. We evaluate our results against truth on synthetic and real datasets., Comment: Expanded ECCV 2016 version with tweaked figures and including an overview of the supplementary material available at multiview-3d-drawing.sourceforge.net

Given a smooth polarized Riemann surface (X, L) endowed with a hyperbolic metric $\omega$ with cusp singularities along a divisor D, we show the L^2 projective embedding of (X, D) defined by L^k is asymptotically almost balanced in a weighted sense. The proof depends on sufficiently precise understanding of the behavior of the Bergman kernel in three regions, with the most crucial one being the neck region around D. This is the first step towards understanding the algebro-geometric stability of extremal K\"ahler metrics with singularities., Comment: 22 pages, 3 pictures

The classical Patterson-Walker construction of a split-signature (pseudo-)Riemannian structure from a given torsion-free affine connection is generalized to a construction of a split-signature conformal structure from a given projective class of connections. A characterization of the induced structures is obtained. We achieve a complete description of Einstein metrics in the conformal class formed by the Patterson-Walker metric. Finally, we describe all symmetries of the conformal Patterson-Walker metric. In both cases we obtain descriptions in terms of geometric data on the original structure., Comment: v2: The article has been restructured: a section has been added and includes a characterisation of Patterson-Walker metrics. An error in Proposition 6.6 has been fixed v3: One reference clarified. v4: References added. Remark 6.9 added. Accepted for publication in The Asian Journal of Mathematics on 21 June 2018 v5: Minor changes, as published

The field of multiple view geometry has seen tremendous progress in reconstruction and calibration due to methods for extracting reliable point features and key developments in projective geometry. Point features, however, are not available in certain applications and result in unstructured point cloud reconstructions. General image curves provide a complementary feature when keypoints are scarce, and result in 3D curve geometry, but face challenges not addressed by the usual projective geometry of points and algebraic curves. We address these challenges by laying the theoretical foundations of a framework based on the differential geometry of general curves, including stationary curves, occluding contours, and non-rigid curves, aiming at stereo correspondence, camera estimation (including calibration, pose, and multiview epipolar geometry), and 3D reconstruction given measured image curves. By gathering previous results into a cohesive theory, novel results were made possible, yielding three contributions. First we derive the differential geometry of an image curve (tangent, curvature, curvature derivative) from that of the underlying space curve (tangent, curvature, curvature derivative, torsion). Second, we derive the differential geometry of a space curve from that of two corresponding image curves. Third, the differential motion of an image curve is derived from camera motion and the differential geometry and motion of the space curve. The availability of such a theory enables novel curve-based multiview reconstruction and camera estimation systems to augment existing point-based approaches. This theory has been used to reconstruct a "3D curve sketch", to determine camera pose from local curve geometry, and tracking; other developments are underway., Comment: International Journal of Computer Vision Final Accepted version. International Journal of Computer Vision, 2016. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11263-016-0912-7

For complete complex connections on almost complex manifolds we introduce a natural definition of compactification. This is based on almost c--projective geometry, which is the almost complex analogue of projective differential geometry. The boundary at infinity is a (possibly non-integrable) CR structure. The theory applies to almost Hermitean manifolds which admit a complex metric connection of minimal torsion, which means that they are quasi--Kaehler in the sense of Gray--Hervella; in particular it applies to Kaehler and nearly Kaehler manifolds. Via this canonical connection, we obtain a notion of c-projective compactification for quasi--Kaehler metrics of any signature. We describe an asymptotic form for metrics that is necessary and sufficient for c--projective compactness. This metric form provides local examples and, in particular, shows that the usual complete Kaehler metrics associated to smoothly bounded, strictly pseudoconvex domains in C^n are c--projectively compact. For a smooth manifold with boundary and a complete quasi-Kaehler metric $g$ on the interior, we show that if its almost c--projective structure extends smoothly to the boundary then so does its scalar curvature. We prove that $g$ is almost c--projectively compact if and only if this scalar curvature is non-zero on an open dense set of the boundary, in which case it is, along the boundary, locally constant and hence nowhere zero there. Finally we describe the asymptotics of the curvature, showing, in particular, that the canonical connection satisfies an asymptotic Einstein condition. Key to much of the development is a certain real tractor calculus for almost c--projective geometry, and this is developed in the article., Comment: 39 PAGES

We extend T. Y. Thomas's approach to the projective structures, over the complex analytic category, by involving the $\rho$-connections. This way, a better control of the projective flatness is obtained and, consequently, we have, for example, the following application: if the twistor space of a quaternionic manifold $P$ is endowed with a complex projective structure then $P$ can be locally identified, through quaternionic diffeomorphisms, with the quaternionic projective space., Comment: Dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Romanian Academy

We consider the volume expansion of the Blaschke metric, which is a projectively invariant metric on a strictly convex domain in a locally flat projective manifold. When the boundary is even dimensional, we express the logarithmic coefficient L as the integral of affine invariants over the boundary. We also formulate an intrinsic geometry of the boundary as a conformal Codazzi structure and show that L gives a global conformal invariant of the boundary., Comment: 28 pages, Minor modifications

A real projective orbifold has a radial end if a neighborhood of the end is foliated by projective geodesics that develop into geodesics ending at a common point. It has a totally geodesic end if the end can be completed to have the totally geodesic boundary. The purpose of this paper is to announce some partial results. A real projective structure sometimes admits deformations to parameters of real projective structures. We will prove a homeomorphism between the deformation space of convex real projective structures on an orbifold $\mathcal{O}$ with radial or totally geodesic ends with various conditions with the union of open subspaces of strata of the corresponding subset of \[ Hom(\pi_{1}(\mathcal{O}), PGL(n+1, \mathbb{R}))/PGL(n+1, \mathbb{R}).\] Lastly, we will talk about the openness and closedness of the properly (resp. strictly) convex real projective structures on a class of orbifold with generalized admissible ends., Comment: 36 pages, 2 figure. Corrected a few mistakes including the condition (NA) on page 22, arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1011.1060

We are interested in the local extrinsic geometry of smooth surfaces in 4-space, and classify jets of Monge forms by projective transformations according to $\mathcal{A}^3$-types of their central projections., Comment: 10 pages

Starting from a complex manifold S with a real-analytic c-projective structure whose curvature has type (1,1), and a complex line bundle L with a connection whose curvature has type (1,1), we construct the twistor space Z of a quaternionic manifold M with a quaternionic circle action which contains S as a totally complex submanifold fixed by the action. This extends a construction of hypercomplex manifolds, including hyperkaehler metrics on cotangent bundles, obtained independently by B. Feix and D. Kaledin. When S is a Riemann surface, M is a self-dual conformal 4-manifold, and the quotient of M by the circle action is an Einstein-Weyl manifold with an asymptotically hyperbolic end, and our construction coincides with a construction presented by the first author in a previous paper. The extension also applies to quaternionic Kaehler manifolds with circle actions, as studied by A. Haydys and N. Hitchin., Comment: 28 pages, (v2) added material on Swann bundles, quaternionic Kaehler metrics and the Haydys-Hitchin correspondence, (v3) refereed version, restructured content, to appear in TAMS

An $(\alpha,\beta)$-manifold $(M,F)$ is a Finsler manifold with the Finsler metric $F$ being defined by a Riemannian metric $\alpha$ and $1$-form $\beta$ on the manifold $M$. In this paper, we classify $n$-dimensional $(\alpha,\beta)$-manifolds (non-Randers type) which are positively complete and locally projectively flat. We show that the non-trivial class is that $M$ is homeomorphic to the $n$-sphere $S^n$ and $(S^n,F)$ is projectively related to a standard spherical Riemannian manifold, and then we obtain some special geometric properties on the geodesics and scalar flag curvature of $F$ on $S^n$, especially when $F$ is a metric of general square type., Comment: 18 pages

We develop in detail the theory of c-projective geometry, a natural analogue of projective differential geometry adapted to complex manifolds. We realise it as a type of parabolic geometry and describe the associated Cartan or tractor connection. A Kaehler manifold gives rise to a c-projective structure and this is one of the primary motivations for its study. The existence of two or more Kaehler metrics underlying a given c-projective structure has many ramifications, which we explore in depth. As a consequence of this analysis, we prove the Yano-Obata conjecture for complete Kaehler manifolds: if such a manifold admits a one parameter group of c-projective transformations that are not affine, then it is complex projective space, equipped with a multiple of the Fubini-Study metric., Comment: 117 pages; v2 added material on cones, local classification and outlook

We study a Fefferman-type construction based on the inclusion of Lie groups ${\rm SL}(n+1)$ into ${\rm Spin}(n+1,n+1)$. The construction associates a split-signature $(n,n)$-conformal spin structure to a projective structure of dimension $n$. We prove the existence of a canonical pure twistor spinor and a light-like conformal Killing field on the constructed conformal space. We obtain a complete characterisation of the constructed conformal spaces in terms of these solutions to overdetermined equations and an integrability condition on the Weyl curvature. The Fefferman-type construction presented here can be understood as an alternative approach to study a conformal version of classical Patterson-Walker metrics as discussed in recent works by Dunajski-Tod and by the authors. The present work therefore gives a complete exposition of conformal Patterson-Walker metrics from the viewpoint of parabolic geometry.

Y. Benoist proved that if a closed three-manifold M admits an indecomposable convex real projective structure, then M is topologically the union along tori and Klein bottles of finitely many sub-manifolds each of which admits a complete finite volume hyperbolic structure on its interior. We describe some initial results in the direction of a potential converse to Benoist's theorem. We show that a cusped hyperbolic three-manifold may, under certain assumptions, be deformed to convex projective structures with totally geodesic torus boundary. Such structures may be convexly glued together whenever the geometry at the boundary matches up. In particular, we prove that many doubles of cusped hyperbolic three-manifolds admit convex projective structures., Comment: 48 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

A metric projective structure is a manifold equipped with the unparametrised geodesics of some pseudo-Riemannian metric. We make acomprehensive treatment of such structures in the case that there is a projective Weyl curvature nullity condition. The analysis is simplified by a fundamental and canonical 2-tensor invariant that we discover. It leads to a new canonical tractor connection for these geometries which is defined on a rank $(n+1)$-bundle. We show this connection is linked to the metrisability equations that govern the existence of metrics compatible with the structure. The fundamental 2-tensor also leads to a new class of invariant linear differential operators that are canonically associated to these geometries; included is a third equation studied by Gallot et al. We apply the results to study the metrisability equation, in the nullity setting described. We obtain strong local and global results on the nature of solutions and also on the nature of the geometries admitting such solutions, obtaining classification results in some cases. We show that closed Sasakian and K\"ahler manifold do not admit nontrivial solutions. We also prove that, on a closed manifold, two nontrivially projectively equivalent metrics cannot have the same tracefree Ricci tensor. We show that on a closed manifold a metric having a nontrivial solution of the metrisablity equation cannot have two-dimensional nullity space at every point. In these statements the meaning of trivial solution is dependent on the context. There is a function $B$ naturally appearing if a metric projective structure has nullity. We analyse in detail the case when this is not a constant, and describe all nontrivially projectively equivalent Riemannian metrics on closed manifolds with nonconstant $B$., Comment: Minor adjustments and typographical corrections. 50 pages