Geometric structures and Lie algebroids

Abstract

In this thesis we study geometric structures from Poisson and generalized complex geometry with mild singular behavior using Lie algebroids. The process of lifting such structures to their Lie algebroid version makes them less singular, as their singular behavior is incorporated in the anchor of the Lie algebroid. We develop a framework for this using the concept of a divisor, which encodes the singularities, and show when structures exhibiting such singularities can be lifted to a Lie algebroid built out of the divisor. Once one has successfully lifted the structure, it becomes possible to study it using more powerful techniques. In the case of Poisson structures one can turn to employing symplectic techniques. These lead for example to normal form results for the underlying Poisson structures around their singular loci. In this thesis we further adapt the methods of Gompf and Thurston for constructing symplectic structures out of fibration-like maps to their Lie algebroid counterparts. More precisely, we introduce the notion of a Lie algebroid Lefschetz fibration and show when these give rise to A-symplectic structures for a given Lie algebroid A. We then use this general result to show how log-symplectic structures arise out of achiral Lefschetz fibrations. Moreover, we introduce the concept of a boundary Lefschetz fibration and show when they allow their total space to be equipped with a stable generalized complex structure. Other results in this thesis include homotopical obstructions to the existence of A-symplectic structures using characteristic classes, and splitting results for A-Lie algebroids (i.e., Lie algebroids whose anchor factors through that of a fixed Lie algebroid A), around specific transversal submanifolds.