Affine focal sets of codimension-2 submanifolds contained in hypersurfaces

In this paper we study the affine focal set, which is the bifurcation set of the affine distance to submanifolds Nn contained in hypersurfaces Mn+1 of the (n + 2)-space. We give conditions under which this affine focal set is a regular hypersurface and, for curves in 3-space, we describe its stable singularities. For a given Darboux vector field ξ of the immersion N ⊂ M, one can define the affine metric g and the affine normal plane bundle . We prove that the g-Laplacian of the position vector belongs to if and only if ξ is parallel. For umbilic and normally flat immersions, the affine focal set reduces to a single line. Submanifolds contained in hyperplanes or hyperquadrics are always normally flat. For N contained in a hyperplane L, we show that N ⊂ M is umbilic if and only if N ⊂ L is an affine sphere and the envelope of tangent spaces is a cone. For M hyperquadric, we prove that N ⊂ M is umbilic if and only if N is contained in a hyperplane. The main result of the paper is a general description of the umbilic and normally flat immersions: given a hypersurface f and a point O in the (n + 1)-space, the immersion (ν, ν · (f − O)), where ν is the co-normal of f, is umbilic and normally flat, and conversely, any umbilic and normally flat immersion is of this type.

GRAVITATION, ELECTROMAGNETISM AND THE COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT IN PURELY AFFINE GRAVITY

The Eddington Lagrangian in the purely affine formulation of general relativity generates the Einstein equations with the cosmological constant. The Ferraris–Kijowski purely affine Lagrangian for the electromagnetic field, which has the form of the Maxwell Lagrangian with the metric tensor replaced by the symmetrized Ricci tensor, is dynamically equivalent to the Einstein–Maxwell Lagrangian in the metric formulation. We show that the sum of the two affine Lagrangians is dynamically inequivalent to the sum of the analogous Lagrangians in the metric–affine/metric formulation. We also show that such a construction is valid only for weak electromagnetic fields. Therefore the purely affine formulation that combines gravitation, electromagnetism and the cosmological constant cannot be a simple sum of terms corresponding to separate fields. Consequently, this formulation of electromagnetism seems to be unphysical, unlike the purely metric and metric–affine pictures, unless the electromagnetic field couples to the cosmological constant.