Spin(7) metrics from Kähler geometry

Abstract

We investigate the $\mathbb{T}^2$-quotient of a torsion free $Spin(7)$-structure on an $8$-manifold under the assumption that the quotient $6$-manifold is Kähler. We show that there exists either a Hamiltonian $S^1$ or $\mathbb{T}^2$ action on the quotient preserving the complex structure. Performing a Kähler reduction in each case reduces the problem of finding $Spin(7)$ metrics to studying a system of PDEs on either a $4$- or $2$-manifold with trivial canonical bundle, which in the compact case corresponds to either $\mathbb{T}^4$, a $K3$ surface or an elliptic curve. By reversing this construction we give infinitely many new explicit examples of $Spin(7)$ holonomy metrics. In the simplest case, our result can be viewed as an extension of the Gibbons-Hawking ansatz.