1 4 N ov 2 00 6 Parallel submanifolds of complex projective space and their normal holonomy ∗

The object of this article is to compute the holonomy group of the normal connection of complex parallel submanifolds of the complex projective space. We also give a new proof of the classification of complex parallel submanifolds by using a normal holonomy approach. Indeed, we explain how these submanifolds can be regarded as the unique complex orbits of the (projectivized) isotropy representation of an irreducible Hermitian symmetric space. Moreover, we show how these important submanifolds are related to other areas of mathematics and theoretical physics. Finally, we state a conjecture about the normal holonomy group of a complete and full complex submanifold of the complex projective space. Mathematics Subject Classification(2000): 53C42, 53B25