Pure spinors, intrinsic torsion and curvature in odd dimensions

We study the geometric properties of a $(2m+1)$-dimensional complex manifold $\mathcal{M}$ admitting a holomorphic reduction of the frame bundle to the structure group $P \subset \mathrm{Spin}(2m+1,\mathbb{C})$, the stabiliser of the line spanned by a pure spinor at a point. Geometrically, $\mathcal{M}$ is endowed with a holomorphic metric $g$, a holomorphic volume form, a spin structure compatible with $g$, and a holomorphic pure spinor field $\xi$ up to scale. The defining property of $\xi$ is that it determines an almost null structure, i.e.\ an $m$-plane distribution $\mathcal{N}_\xi$ along which $g$ is totally degenerate. We develop a spinor calculus, by means of which we encode the geometric properties of $\mathcal{N}_\xi$ and of its rank-$(m+1)$ orthogonal complement $\mathcal{N}_\xi^\perp$ corresponding to the algebraic properties of the intrinsic torsion of the $P$-structure. This is the failure of the Levi-Civita connection $\nabla$ of $g$ to be compatible with the $P$-structure. In a similar way, we examine the algebraic properties of the curvature of $\nabla$. Applications to spinorial differential equations are given. Notably, we relate the integrability properties of $\mathcal{N}_\xi$ and $\mathcal{N}_\xi^\perp$ to the existence of solutions of odd-dimensional versions of the zero-rest-mass field equation. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for the almost null structure associated to a pure conformal Killing spinor to be integrable. Finally, we conjecture a Goldberg--Sachs-type theorem on the existence of a certain class of almost null structures when $(\mathcal{M},g)$ has prescribed curvature. We discuss applications of this work to the study of real pseudo-Riemannian manifolds.Comment: Odd-dimensional version of arXiv:1212.3595 v2: Presentation improved. A number of corrections made: diagrams describing the curvature and intrinsic torsion classification; Geometric interpretation of spinorial equations; some errors in formulae now fixed. Some material regarding parallel spinors removed (to be including in a separate article) v3: as publishe

Pure spinors, intrinsic torsion and curvature in even dimensions

We study the geometric properties of a $2m$-dimensional complex manifold $\mathcal{M}$ admitting a holomorphic reduction of the frame bundle to the structure group $P \subset \mathrm{Spin}(2m,\mathbb{C})$, the stabiliser of the line spanned by a pure spinor at a point. Geometrically, $\mathcal{M}$ is endowed with a holomorphic metric $g$, a holomorphic volume form, a spin structure compatible with $g$, and a holomorphic pure spinor field $\xi$ up to scale. The defining property of $\xi$ is that it determines an almost null structure, ie an $m$-plane distribution $\mathcal{N}_\xi$ along which $g$ is totally degenerate. We develop a spinor calculus, by means of which we encode the geometric properties of $\mathcal{N}_\xi$ corresponding to the algebraic properties of the intrinsic torsion of the $P$-structure. This is the failure of the Levi-Civita connection $\nabla$ of $g$ to be compatible with the $P$-structure. In a similar way, we examine the algebraic properties of the curvature of $\nabla$. Applications to spinorial differential equations are given. In particular, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the almost null structure associated to a pure conformal Killing spinor to be integrable. We also conjecture a Goldberg-Sachs-type theorem on the existence of a certain class of almost null structures when $(\mathcal{M},g)$ has prescribed curvature. We discuss applications of this work to the study of real pseudo-Riemannian manifolds.Comment: v2. Cleaned up version. Typos and errors fixed. Some reordering. v3. Restructured - some material moved to an additional appendix for clarity - further typos fixed and other minor improvements v4. Presentation improved. Some material removed to be included in a future article. v5. As published: Abstract and intro rewritten. Presentation simplifie

A Goldberg-Sachs theorem in dimension three

We prove a Goldberg-Sachs theorem in dimension three. To be precise, given a three-dimensional Lorentzian manifold satisfying the topological massive gravity equations, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the tracefree Ricci tensor for the existence of a null line distribution whose orthogonal complement is integrable and totally geodetic. This includes, in particular, Kundt spacetimes that are solutions of the topological massive gravity equations.Comment: 31 pages. v2: minor typographic changes in the bibliograph

Electron heating mode transitions in dual frequency capacitive discharges

The authors consider electron heating in the sheath regions of capacitive discharges excited by a combination of two frequencies, one much higher than the other. There is a common supposition that in such discharges the higher frequency is the dominant source of electron heating. In this letter, the authors discuss closed analytic expressions quantifying the Ohmic and collisionless electron heating in a dual frequency discharge. In both cases, the authors show that the lower frequency parameters strongly influence the heating effect. Moreover, this influence is parametrically different, so that the dominant heating mechanism may be changed by varying the low frequency current density

The Baum-Connes Conjecture for KK-theory

We define and compare two bivariant generalizations of the topological $K$-group $K^\top(G)$ for a topological group $G$. We consider the Baum-Connes conjecture in this context and study its relation to the usual Baum-Connes conjecture.Comment: v2: major rewrite based on new development v3: 23 pages, to appear in Journal of K-theor