Einstein nilpotent Lie groups (Q1621581)

The Ricci tensors of left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metrics and Einstein metrics on nilpotent Lie groups are investigated. More generally, the class of unimodular Lie groups with Killing form equals to zero (this condition is intermediate between nilpotent and solvable) is considered. Necessary conditions on the Lie algebra of a nilpotent Lie group for the existence of an Einstein metric of nonzero scalar curvature are given. A connection between the Ricci operator and the momentum map is established. It is proved that for a nilpotent Lie algebra of dimension up to six, Einstein metrics are Ricci-flat. This is also proved for some class of 7-dimension nilpotent Lie groups (with ``nice'' Lie algebras). The proofs of these results use corresponding classifications of nilpotent Lie algebras. It is also proved that for nilpotent Lie groups of class 2, all Einstein metrics are Ricci-flat. The first example for an indefinite signature of an Einstein metric of nonzero scalar curvature on a 8-dimensional nilpotent Lie group is constructed.