Calibrated Geometry - Calibrated Submanifolds

Calibrated Submanifolds

A p-dimensional submanifold Σ of M is said to be a calibrated submanifold with respect to φ (or simply φ-calibrated) if TΣ lies in G(φ).

A famous one line argument shows that calibrated p-submanifolds minimize volume within their homology class. Indeed, suppose that Σ is calibrated, and Σ ′ is a p submanifold in the same homology class. Then

where the first equality holds because Σ is calibrated, the second equality is Stokes' theorem (as φ is closed), and the third equality holds because φ is a calibration.

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