$G_2$-instantons on twisted connected sums

Abstract

We introduce a method to construct $G_2$-instantons over compact $G_2$-manifolds arising as the twisted connected sum of a matching pair of building blocks [Kov03,KL11,CHNP12]. Our construction is based on gluing $G_2$-instantons obtained from holomorphic bundles over the building blocks via the first named author's work [SE11]. We require natural compatibility and transversality conditions which can be interpreted in terms of certain Lagrangian subspaces of a moduli space of stable bundles on a K3 surface.