A result of rigidity for Ricci-flat warped products (Q6170454)

\textit{A. Einstein} [Ann. Math. (2) 40, 922--936 (1939; Zbl 0023.42501)] proposed a field equation to describe the gravitational effects produced by a given mass in general relativity, \[ \mathrm{Ric}_g -\frac{1}{2}sg=T, \] where \(g\) is a Lorentz metric on a manifold \(M^4\), \(s\) is the scalar curvature of \((M^4, g)\) and \(T\) is the stress/energy tensor, a symmetric 2-covariant tensor field on \(M\). This equation is known as the Einstein field equation, see, e.g., [\textit{A. L. Besse}, Einstein manifolds. Berlin etc.: Springer-Verlag (1987; Zbl 0613.53001)]. When \(T \equiv 0\), we obtain an equation for a gravitational field in a vacuum and in this case the metric \(g\) satisfies the condition \[ \mathrm{Ric}_g =\lambda g,\, \, \lambda \in \mathbb R. \] Semi-Riemannian manifolds \((M^n, g)\) that satisfy the last equation are said to be Einstein. In particular, when \(\lambda = 0, (M^n, g)\) is said to be Ricci-flat. The classical solution for the Einstein field equation in a vacuum is the Schwarzschild metric: it models the gravitational fields outside an isolated, static, spherically symmetric star. An Einstein metric is a good candidate for a privileged metric on a given manifold. In dimension two, the only Einstein manifolds are space forms, which have constant curvature. In dimensions greater than two, having constant Ricci curvature is a good condition, representing an intermediate level between constant sectional curvature and constant scalar curvature. Einstein manifolds are special in different contexts: they are fixed points of the famous Ricci flow and Yamabe flow, and critical points of Riemannian functionals, among others. There are many studies on such manifolds and the interest in obtaining new classifications and examples extends to the present day. Conforming transformations between Einstein spaces were studied in [\textit{W. Kühnel}, Aspects Math.: E, 12, 105--146 (1988; Zbl 0667.53039)], where, in particular, it was shown that locally conformally flat Einstein manifolds have constant sectional curvature. This result was generalized to the semi-Riemannian case in [\textit{W. Kühnel} and \textit{H. B. Rademacher}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 123, No. 9, 2841--2848 (1995; Zbl 0851.53039)]. So, we have no non-trivial Einstein manifolds with metric conformal to a pseudo-Euclidean metric. A good strategy to obtain locally conformally flat manifolds is to study warped products of two semi-Riemannian manifolds \((B^n, g_B)\) and \((F^m, g_F )\). The manifold \(B\) is said to be base, \(F\) is the fiber and \(h\) is the warping function, and the warped product is denoted by \(B\times_h F\). Generalized Schwarzschild metrics invariant by rotation were obtained by \textit{J. P. dos Santos} and \textit{B. Leandro} [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 469, No. 2, 882--896 (2019; Zbl 1400.83020)]. They studied the static vacuum Einstein equation and by using an Ansatz method, they found the most general invariant that reduces the system of PDEs which describes the problem to a system of ODEs. The invariant found by them shows that the maximum invariance is obtained by rotation. They also provided the entire set of solutions of the reduced system. They studied Einstein warped products when the base is conformal to a pseudo-Euclidean space and presented the system of PDEs that describes the problem, thus obtaining all Ricci-flat solutions invariant under the action of the \((n- 1)\)-dimensional translation group. In this work the authors seek solutions for a system of PDEs invariant by rotation, i.e., when the functions assume the same value across \((n-1)\)-dimensional spheres in \(\mathbb R^n\), transforming the system of PDEs into a system of ordinary differential equations. They prove a rigidity result on Ricci-flat semi-Riemannian warped products when the base is locally conformally flat with scalar curvature zero and invariant by the action of the pseudo-orthogonal group. They find that in these manifolds the fiber must be \(1\)-dimensional. As an application, every metric with these characteristics is a generalized Schwarzschild metric.