Joe Driscoll, University of Leeds
"Deformations of Asymptotically Conical G2-Instantons"
Abstract: Instantons are connections whose curvature satisfies a certain algebraic equation. When the background geometry is a 7-manifold with holonomy G2 Instantons are critical points of the Yang-Mills functional and are candidates for building invariants analogous to the ASD instanton invariants in dimension 4. Some of the best known examples of G2 manifolds are asymptotically conical, the geometry at infinity being that of a nearly Kähler 6-manifold, and carry examples of G2 instantons which asymptote to a pseudo Hermitian-Yang-Mills connection. I will explain how to develop an analytical framework for studying such “asymptotically conical G2 instantons” and explain how one can determine the virtual dimension of the moduli space of some known examples.
Zoom meeting: https://zoom.us/j/93859138328