A nonstandard operator for almost Grassmannian geometries with a torsion

Abstract

A nonstandard invariant fourth order operator acting on functions on a manifold equipped with an almost Grassmannian structure with an arbitrary trorsion is found by means of the curved translation principle. This operator can be viewed as a Grassmannian analogue of the Paneitz operator well known from conformal geometry. It is obtained by translating a Grassmannian analogue of the Laplace operator to a certain tractor bundle with a specific tractor connection, which is not normal in general.