Hessian geometry and Frobenius manifolds with curvature
Andreas Vollmer
TL;DR
This paper classifies curved Frobenius manifolds by showing Hessian geometry naturally yields non-flat examples. It defines Hesse-Frobenius structures and derives a prolongation criterion that identifies when the Frobenius potential and Hessian potential coincide. It proves a trichotomy: Hessian-origin, skew-Hessian, or non-flat associative Curved Frobenius manifolds, in constant curvature settings. Finally, it connects this geometry to physics by establishing a 1-to-1 correspondence between certain second-order maximally superintegrable systems and Hessian-consistent curved Frobenius structures, highlighting applications to supersymmetric mechanics and submanifold theory.
Abstract
A Riemannian metric is called Hessian if, locally, it can be written as the Hessian of a function called the Hessian potential. A (flat) Manin-Frobenius manifold is a flat Riemannian manifold furnished with a commutative and associative product compatible with the metric, such that a certain potentiality property is satisfied. Curved Frobenius manifolds generalize this concept to spaces with non-vanishing curvature, and they have applications in supersymmetric mechanics and within the theory of submanifolds. Curved Frobenius manifolds naturally arise from Hessian metrics, and we find that they, conceptually, are the typical non-trivial examples. We obtain that Curved Frobenius structures on constant curvature spaces are consistent with a Hessian structure, if they satisfy a closed prolongation system of finite type. Consistency means that the Frobenius potential and the Hessian potential can be identified. As an application, we show that certain second-order maximally superintegrable systems correspond 1-to-1 to Curved Frobenius structures that are consistent with a Hessian structure.