Killing vectors for a given Kahler potential

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the computation of Killing vectors for a given Kahler potential, specifically focusing on the challenges faced in solving the associated partial differential equations (PDEs) and expressing the metric in a suitable form. The scope includes theoretical aspects of differential geometry and mathematical reasoning related to the properties of Kahler manifolds.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant presents a Kahler potential and expresses difficulty in computing the Killing vectors using the equation \nabla_a \bar{\xi_b} + \bar{\nabla}_b \xi_a =0, noting that they can only find trivial solutions.
  • Another participant mentions attempts to use Cartan's calculus but indicates that the metric cannot be expressed as a differential form and suggests using the product rule for the Lie derivative.
  • A participant points out that the initial metric expression provided is incorrect and suggests that the correct form should involve the wedge product of differentials, but they struggle to extract the components of the metric tensor.
  • There is a critique regarding the handling of indices in the metric expression, suggesting that the participant may not fully understand the index manipulation required.
  • One participant acknowledges the incorrectness of their metric and expresses difficulty in writing it compactly, while also stating that they have computed the metric in matrix form but are unable to solve the Killing equations.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express various challenges and uncertainties regarding the computation of the Killing vectors and the formulation of the metric. There is no consensus on the correct approach or solution to the problem, and multiple viewpoints on the metric representation and PDE solutions are presented.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention limitations in expressing the metric covariantly and the challenges in solving the Killing equations, indicating unresolved mathematical steps and dependencies on definitions.

L0r3n20
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Hi all!
It's already a couple of days that I'm trying to solve this problem. I've been given the following Kahler potential
\mathcal{K} = - Log\left[ i \left(s-\bar{s}\right)\left(t-\bar{t}\right)\left(u-\bar{u}\right)\right]
and I have to compute the Killing vectors of such a manifold. I've tried to compute them using
\nabla_a \bar{\xi_b} + \bar{\nabla}_b \xi_a =0
but then I can't solve the PDE system if not trivially.
Any suggestion? =)
 
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By the way I forgot to tell you I've tried using Cartan's calculus
\mathcal{L}\left(g\right) =\iota_{\xi}\left(\mathrm{d}g\right) + \mathrm{d}\left(\iota_{\xi}g\right)
but I wasn't able to write the metric in a "covariant" way. It should be something like (I know this formula is wrong it's just to give you the taste)
-\frac{1}{\left(x_i-\bar{x}_j\right)\delta^{ij}}\delta_{ij}
since I have a diagonal metric...
 
L0r3n20 said:
By the way I forgot to tell you I've tried using Cartan's calculus
\mathcal{L}\left(g\right) =\iota_{\xi}\left(\mathrm{d}g\right) + \mathrm{d}\left(\iota_{\xi}g\right)

This formula is not applicable, because g is not a differential form. However, you can use the product rule:

\begin{align*}\mathcal{L}_\xi g &= \mathcal{L}_\xi (g_{ij} \, dx^i \otimes dx^j) \\ &= (\mathcal{L}_\xi g_{ij}) \, dx^i \otimes dx^j + g_{ij} \, (\mathcal{L}_\xi dx^i) \otimes dx^j + g_{ij} \, dx^i \otimes (\mathcal{L}_\xi dx^j) \end{align*}
but I wasn't able to write the metric in a "covariant" way.

What do you mean?

It should be something like (I know this formula is wrong it's just to give you the taste)
-\frac{1}{\left(x_i-\bar{x}_j\right)\delta^{ij}}\delta_{ij}
since I have a diagonal metric...

Might want to work on that. It appears that you don't understand how the index gymnastics works. You have too many i, j indices.
 
First of all thank you for your reply.
I knew the metric was wrong but I cannot write it in a compact form. It should read
g_{i \bar{j}} \mathrm{d} z^i \wedge \mathrm{d} \bar{z}^{\bar{j}} = -\frac{1}{\left( s-\bar{s}\right)} \mathrm{d} s \wedge \mathrm{d} \bar{s} -\frac{1}{\left( t-\bar{t}\right)} \mathrm{d} t \wedge \mathrm{d} \bar{t} -\frac{1}{\left( u-\bar{u}\right)} \mathrm{d} u \wedge \mathrm{d} \bar{u} from which I'm not able to extract g_{i \bar{j}}
However this is not my main problem because I wrote the metric in a matrix form and compute the Killing equation but now I can't solve it... :(
 

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