Four-dimensional homogeneous Lorentzian manifolds (Q398686): Difference between revisions

A pseudo-Riemannian manifold \((M, g)\) is (locally) homogeneous if for arbitrary points \(p, q \in M\) there is a (local) isometry \(\phi : M \rightarrow M\) with \(\phi (p) =q\). It is well known that any locally homogeneous four-dimensional Riemannnian manifold is either locally symmetric or locally isometric to a Lie group equipped with a left-invariant Riemannian metric. The article under review shows that this is no longer true for the four-dimensional locally homogeneous Lorentzian manifolds \((M,g)\). It shows that all but two of the Segre types of the Ricci operator require \((M,g)\) to be Ricci-parallel or locally isometric to a Lie group equipped with a left-invariant Lorentzian metric. Specific examples of the aforementioned two types establish the existence of locally homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds \((M,g)\), which are neither Ricci-parallel nor isometric to a Lie group. After classifying the Ricci-parallel homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds \((M, g)\), the work provides explicit constructions of two Ricci-parallel non-locally symmetric \((M, g)\). One of them is an Einstein manifold, while the other one is a Walker manifold and has two-step nilpotent Ricci operator. In order to formulate the results precisely, let us recall that the Ricci tensor \(\text{Ric}\) of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) is symmetric and associated with a self-adjoint operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\), such that \(\langle \widehat{\text{Ric}}(u), v \rangle = \text{Ric} (u,v)\) for all tangent vectors \(u,v \in T_p M\) at a point \(p \in M\). If \((M,g)\) is locally homogeneous then the Ricci operator is the same at any point of \(M\). The Segre type of \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) reflects the Jordan normal form \(J(\widehat{\text{Ric}})\) of \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\). For arbitrary \(r \in {\mathbb N}\) and \(\alpha \in {\mathbb R}\), let us denote by \(J_r ( \alpha)\) the Jordan cell of size \(r\), whose diagonal entries equal \(\alpha\). Put \(J=[J_{r_1} ( \alpha _1), \ldots , J_{r_s} ( \alpha _s)]\), \(r_1 + \ldots + r_s =4\) for the Jordan normal form with the listed diagonal blocks. The Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) is non-degenerate if it has eigenvalues \(a,b \in {\mathbb R}\), \(c \pm di \in {\mathbb C} \setminus {\mathbb R}\) with \(a \neq b\) or if its Jordan normal form \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}})\) is \([J_1(a), J_1(b), J_1 (c), J_1(d)]\), \([J_1(a), J_1 (b), J_2 (c)]\) or \([J_1(a), J_3 (b)] \}\) with different \(a, b, c, d \in {\mathbb R}\). The simply connected complete homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds with non-degenerate Ricci operator are shown to be isometric to a Lie group equipped with a left-invariant Lorentzian metric. The proof of this theorem reveals that if a Lorentzian four-manifold \((M,g)\) with a non-degenerate Ricci operator has constant components of the Ricci curvature \(\text{Ric}\) and its first covariant derivative \(\nabla \text{Ric}\) with respect to the Levi-Civita connection \(\nabla\) then \((M,g)\) is locally isometric to a Lie group. Let \(R\) be the curvature tensor of \(\nabla\). A pseudo-Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) is \(k\)-curvature homogeneous for some \(k \in {\mathbb Z}\), \(k \geq 0\), if for any points \(p, q \in M\) there exists a linear isometry \(\phi : T_p M \rightarrow T_qM\) with \(\phi ^* ( \nabla ^{i} R(q)) = \nabla ^{i} R(p)\) for all \(0 \leq i \leq k\). It is clear that the locally homogeneous manifolds \((M,g)\) are \(k\)-curvature homogeneous for all \(k \in {\mathbb Z}\), \(k \geq 0\). In [\textit{R. Milson} and \textit{N. Pelavas}, Int. J. Geom. Methods Mod. Phys. 6, No. 1, 99--127 (2009; Zbl 1165.53048)] showed that the \(3\)-curvature homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds \((M,g)\) are locally homogeneous and there exist \(2\)-curvature homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds \((M,g)\) which are not locally homogeneous. A pseudo-Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) is \(k\)-Ricci curvature homogeneous for some \(k \in {\mathbb Z}\), \(k \geq 0\), if for any points \(p, q \in M\) there exists a linear isometry \(\phi : T_p M \rightarrow T_qM\), such that \(\phi ^* (\nabla ^{i} \text{Ric} (q)) = \nabla ^{i} \text{Ric} (p)\) for all \(0 \leq i \leq k\). The \(k\)-curvature homogeneity implies the \(k\)-Ricci curvature homogeneity, but the converse is not true in general for a pseudo-Riemannian manifold \(M\) with \(\dim M \geq 4\). For Lorentzian four-manifolds \((M,g)\) with non-degenerate Ricci operator, the \(1\)-Ricci curvature homogeneity, the presence of a local isometry to a Lie group equipped with a left-invariant Lorentzian metric, the local homogeneity and the \(1\)-curvature homogeneity turn to be equivalent to each other. The article establishes that if \((M,g)\) is a simply connected complete homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifold, whose Ricci operator is degenerate of Segre type \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_1(c), J_1(c)]\) with different \(a, c \in {\mathbb R}\) then \((M,g)\) is either Ricci-parallel or a Lie group equipped with a left-invariant Lorentzian metric. As a by-product, the following conditions for a Lorentzian four-manifold \((M,g)\) with \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1(a), J_1(a), J_1 (c), J_1 (c)]\), \(a, c \in {\mathbb R}\), \(a \neq c\) turn out to be equivalent to each other: (i) \((M,g)\) is \(2\)-Ricci curvature ho\-mo\-ge\-neous; (ii) \((M,g)\) is either locally symmetric or locally isometric to a Lie group equipped with a left-invariant Lorentzian metric; (iii) \((M,g)\) is locally homogeneous; (iv) \((M,g)\) is \(2\)-curvature homogeneous. The homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds \((M,g)\), whose Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) is of Segre type \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1(a), J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_1 (a)]\) with \(a \in {\mathbb R}\) are Ricci-parallel, as far as such \((M,g)\) are Einstein. If the Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) of a locally homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifold \((M,g)\) has an eigenvalue \(a \in {\mathbb R}\) of multiplicity \(2\) and two complex conjugate eigenvalues \(c \pm di \in {\mathbb C} \setminus {\mathbb R}\) or if \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1 (a), J_3 (a)]\) for some \(a \in {\mathbb R}\), then \(M\) is shown to be locally isometric to a Lie group. Specific examples establish the existence of such \((M,g)\). The locally homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds \((M,g)\), whose Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) is of Segre type \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}})= [ J_1 (a), J_1 (b), J_1 (c), J_1(c)]\), \([ J_1 (a), J_1(a), J_1 (c), J_1(d)]\), \([ J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_1 (d)]\) or \([ J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_2 (b)] \) with different \(a, b, c, d \in {\mathbb R}\) are locally isometric to a Lie group. The locally homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds, whose Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) is of Segre type \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1 (a), J_1 (b), J_1 (b), J_1 (b)]\) with different \(a, b \in {\mathbb R}\) are either Ricci-parallel or locally isometric to a Lie group. Explicit constructions establish the existence of homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds, whose Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) is of Segre type \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1 (a), J_1 (b), J_2 (b)]\) with (possibly equal) \(a, b \in {\mathbb R}\), which are neither Ricci-parallel nor locally isometric to a Lie group. The Ricci-parallel homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds \((M,g)\) are classified in five types, depending on the Segre type \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}})\) of their Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\). More precisely, if \(J(\widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_1 (a)]\) then \((M,g)\) is Einstein. For \(J(\widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_1 (c), J_1 (c)]\) with different \(a, c \in {\mathbb R}\), the manifold \((M,g)\) is locally reducible and isometric to a direct product \(M^2 (k) \times M^2 _1 (k')\) of a Riemannian and a Lorentzian surface of constant curvature. In the case of \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1(a), J_1(a), J_1(a), J_1(d)]\) with different \(a, d \in {\mathbb R}\), the manifold \((M,g)\) is locally reducible and isometric to a direct product \(M^3 (k) \times {\mathbb R}_1\), where \(M^3(k)\) is a three-dimensional Riemannian space form with constant curvature \(k \neq 0\). When \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1 (a), J_1(b), J_1(b), J_1 (b)]\) for different \(a, b \in {\mathbb R}\), the manifold \((M,g)\) is locally reducible and isometric to a direct product \({\mathbb R} \times M^3 _1 (k)\), where \(M^3 _1 (k)\) is a three-dimensional Lorentzian space form of constant curvature \(k \neq 0\). Finally, if \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_2 (a)]\) with \(a \in {\mathbb R}\), then \(M\) is a homogeneous Lorentzian Walker four-manifold and the Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) is two-step nilpotent. The article provides specific examples \((M_1, g_1)\) and \((M_2, g_2)\) of non-locally symmetric Ricci-parallel homogeneous Lorentzian four-manifolds. The Lorentzian manifold \((M_1, g_1)\) is Einstein and has Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) of Segre type \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1(a), J_1 (a), J_1(a), J_1(a)]\) for some \(a \in {\mathbb R}\). The example \((M_2, g_2)\) is a Walker manifold with Ricci operator \(\widehat{\text{Ric}}\) of Segre type \(J( \widehat{\text{Ric}}) = [ J_1 (a), J_1 (a), J_2 (a)]\), \(a \in {\mathbb R}\).