Abstract
We construct an explicit deformation retraction of the manifold of symplectic flags onto the manifold of complex flags. The main tool is the polar decomposition of symplectic matrices. We also give a new definition of symplectic Stiefel manifold and prove that it has the same homotopy type as the complex Stiefel manifold.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Banyaga, A.: An introduction to symplectic geometry. In: Audin, M., et al. (eds.) Holomorphic Curve in Symplectic Geometry. Progress in Mathematics, vol. 117, pp. 17–40. Birkhäuser, Basel (1994)
Hatcher A.: Algebraic Topology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2002)
Hausmann, J.: Mod Two Homology and Cohomology. To appear
Greub W., Halperin S., Vanstone R.: Connections, Curvature, and Cohomology. Academic Press, New York (1973)
Lee J.-H., Leung N.C.: Grassmannians of symplectic subspaces. Manuscr. Math. 136, 383–410 (2011)
Souriau, J.-M.: Structure of dynamical systems—a symplectic view of physics. In: Progress in Mathematics, vol. 149. Birkhäuser, Basel (1997)
Steenrod N.: The Topology of Fibre Bundles. Princeton University Press, Princeton (1951)
Weinstein, A.: Lectures on symplectic manifolds. In: CBMS Regional Conference Series in Mathematics, vol. 29. American mathematical Society, Providence (1977)
Whitehead, J.H.C.: Combinatorial homotopy, I, II. Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 55, 213–245, 453–496 (1949)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ajayi, D.O.A., Banyaga, A. An explicit retraction of symplectic flag manifolds onto complex flag manifolds. J. Geom. 104, 1–9 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00022-013-0148-4
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00022-013-0148-4