We study optimal curvature-free inequalities of the type discovered by C. Loewner and M. Gromov, using a generalization of the Wirtinger inequality for the comass. Using a model for the classifying space built inductively out of , we prove that the symmetric metrics of certain two-point homogeneous manifolds turn out not to be the systolically optimal metrics on those manifolds. We point out the unexpected role played by the exceptional Lie algebra in systolic geometry, via the calculation of Wirtinger constants. Using a technique of pullback with controlled systolic ratio, we calculate the optimal systolic ratio of the quaternionic projective plane, modulo the existence of a Joyce manifold with Spin()-holonomy and unit middle-dimensional Betti number
Duke Math. J.
146(1):
35-70
(15 January 2009).
DOI: 10.1215/00127094-2008-061
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