Abstract for Sfb Preprint No. 588

The Casimir operator of a metric connection with skew-symmetric torsion Ilka Agricola and Thomas Friedrich For any triple $(M^n, g, \nabla)$ consisting of a Riemannian manifold and a metric connection with skew-symmetric torsion, we introduce an elliptic, second order operator $\Omega$ acting on spinor fields. In case of a reductive space and its canonical connection our construction yields the Casimir operator of the isometry group. Several non-homogeneous geometries (Sasakian, nearly K\"ahler, cocalibrated $\mathrm{G}_2$-structures) admit unique connections with skew-symmetric torsion. We study the corresponding Casimir operator and compare its kernel with the space of $\nabla$-parallel spinors.