Manifolds with multiplication on the tangent sheaf

Abstract

This is a survey of the current state of the theory of $F$--(super)manifolds $(M,\circ )$, first defined in [HeMa] and further developed in [He], [Ma2], [Me1]. Here $\circ$ is an $\Cal{O}_M$--bilinear multiplication on the tangent sheaf $\Cal{T}_M$, satisfying an integrability condition. $F$--manifolds and compatible flat structures on them furnish a useful weakening of Dubrovin's Frobenius structure which naturally arises in the quantum $K$--theory, theory of extended moduli spaces, and unfolding spaces of singularities.

16 pages. Talk at the Conference dedicated to the memory of B. Segre, Inst. Mat. Guido Castelnuovo, Rome, June 2004