The local structure of conformally symmetric manifolds (Q1009510): Difference between revisions

A pseudo-Riemannian manifold of dimension \(n\geq 4\) is called essentially conformally symmetric if it is conformally symmetric without being conformally flat or locally symmetric. The metric of an essentially conformally symmetric manifold is always indefinite. On every conformally symmetric manifold there is a naturally distinguishably parallel distribution \(\mathcal D\), of some dimension \(d\), which is called the Olszak distribution. It was shown by \textit{Z. Olszak} [On conformally recurrent manifolds, I: Special distributions. Zesz. Nauk. Politech. Sl., Mat.-Fiz. 68, 213--225 (1993)] that for an essentially conformally symmetric manifold one has \(d\in \{1, 2\}\). In a previous paper the authors described the local structure of all conformally symmetric manifolds with \(d=2\). Here they establish an analogous result for the case of \(d=1\) and they explain why a similar classification result cannot be valid just for essentially conformally symmetric manifolds. Thus the present paper provides a finishing touch in a local classification of essentially conformally symmetric pseudo-Riemannian metrics.