The Identification of conformal hypercomplex and quaternionic manifolds

Abstract

We review the map between hypercomplex manifolds that admit a closed homothetic Killing vector (i.e. ‘conformal hypercomplex’ manifolds) and quaternionic manifolds of 1 dimension less. This map is related to a method for constructing supergravity theories using superconformal techniques. An explicit relation between the structure of these manifolds is presented, including curvatures and symmetries. An important role is played by ‘ξ transformations’, relating connections on quaternionic manifolds, and a new type ‘ˆξ transformations’ relating complex structures on conformal hypercomplex manifolds. In this map, the subclass of conformal hyper-Kähler manifolds is mapped to quaternionic-Kähler manifolds.