Harmonic structures and intrinsic torsion

Abstract

We discuss the construction of Sp(2)Sp(1)-structures whose fundamental form is closed. In particular, we find 10 new examples of 8-dimensional nilmanifolds that admit an invariant closed 4-form with stabiliser Sp(2)Sp(1). Our constructions entail the notion of SO(4)-structures on 7-manifolds. We present a thorough investigation of the intrinsic torsion of such structures, leading to the construction of explicit Lie group examples with invariant intrinsic torsion.