We compute the Euler-Poincare characteristic of the homogeneous compact manifolds that can be described as minimal orbits for the action of a real form in a complex flag manifold.
We investigate the $CR$ geometry of the orbits $M$ of a real form $G_0$ of a complex simple group $G$ in a complex flag manifold $X=G/Q$. We are mainly concerned with finite type, Levi non-degeneracy conditions, canonical $G_0$-equivariant and Mostow
fibrations, and topological properties of the orbits.
We study, from the point of view of CR geometry, the orbits M of a real form G of a complex semisimple Lie group G in a complex flag manifold G/Q. In particular we characterize those that are of finite type and satisfy some Levi nondegeneracy conditi
ons. These properties are also graphically described by attaching to them some cross-marked diagrams that generalize those for minimal orbits that we introduced in a previous paper. By constructing canonical fibrations over real flag manifolds, with simply connected complex fibers, we are also able to compute their fundamental group.
We discuss the complex geometry of two complex five-dimensional Kahler manifolds which are homogeneous under the exceptional Lie group $G_2$. For one of these manifolds rigidity of the complex structure among all Kahlerian complex structures was prov
ed by Brieskorn, for the other one we prove it here. We relate the Kahler assumption in Brieskorns theorem to the question of existence of a complex structure on the six-dimensional sphere, and we compute the Chern numbers of all $G_2$-invariant almost complex structures on these manifolds.
We define flag structures on a real three manifold M as the choice of two complex lines on the complexified tangent space at each point of M. We suppose that the plane field defined by the complex lines is a contact plane and construct an adapted con
nection on an appropriate principal bundle. This includes path geometries and CR structures as special cases. We prove that the null curvature models are given by totally real submanifolds in the flag space SL(3, C)/B, where B is the subgroup of upper triangular matrices. We also define a global invariant which is analogous to the Chern-Simons secondary class invariant for three manifolds with a Riemannian structure and to the Burns-Epstein invariant in the case of CR structures. It turns out to be constant on homotopy classes of totally real immersions in flag space.
Flag manifolds are in general not symmetric spaces. But they are provided with a structure of $mathbb{Z}_2^k$-symmetric space. We describe the Riemannian metrics adapted to this structure and some properties of reducibility. We detail for the flag ma
nifold $SO(5)/SO(2)times SO(2) times SO(1)$ what are the conditions for a metric adapted to the $mathbb{Z}_2^2$-symmetric structure to be naturally reductive.