Curvature decomposition of G_2 manifolds

Abstract

Explicit formulas for the $G_2$-components of the Riemannian curvature tensor on a manifold with a $G_2$ structure are given in terms of Ricci contractions. We define a conformally invariant Ricci-type tensor that determines the 27-dimensional part of the Weyl tensor and show that its vanishing on compact $G_2$ manifold with closed fundamental form forces the three-form to be parallel. A topological obstruction for the existence of a $G_2$ structure with closed fundamental form is obtained in terms of the integral norms of the curvature components. We produce integral inequalities for closed $G_2$ manifold and investigate limiting cases. We make a study of warped products and cohomogeneity-one $G_2$ manifolds. As a consequence every Fernández-Gray type of $G_2$ structure whose scalar curvature vanishes may be realized such that the metric has holonomy contained in $G_2$.