The space of closed G2-structures. I. Connections

Abstract

In this article, we develop foundational theory for geometries of the space of closed G2-structures in a given cohomology class as an infinite-dimensional manifold. We construct Levi-Civita connections for Sobolev-type metrics, formulate geodesic equations and analyze the variational structures of torsion-free G2-structures under these Sobolev-type metrics.