A solution of a problem of Sophus Lie: normal forms of two-dimensional metrics admitting two projective vector fields (Q2471764)

Let \(g\) be a Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian metric on a two dimensional surface \(D.\) A diffeomorphism \(\phi : U_1\mapsto U_2\) between two open subset of \(D\) is said to be projective with respect to \(g\) if it takes the unparametrized geodesics of \(g\) in \(U_1\) to the unparametrized geodesics of \(g\) in \(U_2.\) Lie showed that the pseudo-group \(P(g)\) of projective transformations of \(g\) is a Lie group. A vector field \(v\) on \(D\) is said to be projective with respect to \(g\), if its flow belongs to \(P(g).\) The set of vector fields projective with respect to a given \(g\) forms a Lie algebra, denoted by \(p(g).\) In the present paper the following problem is solved: (Lie) \textit{Find all metrics \(g\) such that \(\dim (p(g))\geq 2\).} The main result of the paper gives the list of local normal forms for metrics \(g\) whose projective pseudo-group \(P(g)\) is locally transitive, namely: Suppose that a metric \(g\) on \(D^2\) possesses two projective vector fields that are linearly independent at some \( p \in D^2.\) Then either \(g\) has constant curvature on some neighborhood of \(p\) or else, on some neighborhood of \(p\), there exist coordinates \(x, y\) in which the metric \(g\) takes one of the following forms: 1. \(\dim (p(g))=2\). {\parindent5mm \begin{itemize}\item[a)] \(\varepsilon _1e^{(b+2)x}dx^2+\varepsilon _2e^{bx}dy^2\), where \(b \in {\mathbb R}{\setminus} \{-2,0,1\}\) and \(\varepsilon _i \in \{-1,1\}.\) \item[b)] \(a({e^{(b+2)x}dx^2\over (e^{bx}+\varepsilon _2)^2}+ \varepsilon _1{e^{bx}dy^2\over e^{bx}+\varepsilon_2}), \) where \(a \in {\mathbb R}\setminus \{0\}, b \in {\mathbb R}{\setminus} \{-2,0,1\}\) and \(\varepsilon _i \in \{-1,1\}.\) \item[c)] \(a(e^{2x}{dx^2\over x^2}+\varepsilon {dy^2\over x}), \) where \(a \in {\mathbb R}\setminus \{0\}\) and \(\varepsilon _i \in \{-1,1\}.\) \end{itemize}} 2. \(\dim (p(g))=3\). {\parindent5mm \begin{itemize}\item[a)] \(\varepsilon _1e^{3x}dx^2+\varepsilon _2e^xdy^2,\) where \(\varepsilon_i \in \{-1,1\}.\) \item[b)] \(a({e^{3x}dx^2\over (e^{x}+\varepsilon _2)^2}+ \varepsilon _1{e^{x}dy^2\over e^{x}+\varepsilon_2}), \) where \(a \in {\mathbb R}\setminus \{0\}\) and \(\varepsilon _i \in \{-1,1\}.\) \item[c)] \(a({dx^2\over (cx+2x^2+\varepsilon _2)^2x}+\varepsilon _1{xdy^2\over (cx+2x^2+\varepsilon _2)}),\) where \(a>0, \varepsilon _i \in \{-1,1\}, c \in {\mathbb R}.\) \end{itemize}} No two distinct metrics from this list are isometric. It is also shown that for a metric \(g\) of nonconstant curvature on a surface \(D\) any two-dimensional subalgebra \(s \subset p(g)\) acts locally transitively on a dense open subset of \(D.\) If \(\dim(p(g))\geq 2,\) then either \(g\) has constant curvature or else, outside a closed set with no interior, \(g\) is locally isometric to one of the metrics listed above.