Levi–Civita Connections on Quantum Spheres

Abstract

We introduce q-deformed connections on the quantum 2-sphere and 3-sphere, satisfying a twisted Leibniz rule in analogy with q-deformed derivations. We show that such connections always exist on projective modules. Furthermore, a condition for metric compatibility is introduced, and an explicit formula is given, parametrizing all metric connections on a free module. On the quantum 3-sphere, a q-deformed torsion freeness condition is introduced and we derive explicit expressions for the Christoffel symbols of a Levi–Civita connection for a general class of metrics. We also give metric connections on a class of projective modules over the quantum 2-sphere. Finally, we outline a generalization to any Hopf algebra with a (left) covariant calculus and associated quantum tangent space.