Isometry groups of Lorentz manifolds (Q1104571)

Let (V,g) be an n-dimensional, compact, real analytic, simply connected Lorentz manifold with metric g of type (n-1,1). It can be shown that if A is a connected Abelian subgroup of the group of all isometries Is(V,g), then there exists an open dense subset U of V such that for all \(u\in U\) the connected component \(A_ u\) of the identity of the isotropy subgroup \(A_ v\subset A\) fixes the connected component of u in U. Is(V,g) has finitely many connected components. From these facts one sees that the subgroup \(A_ u\subset A\) is discrete for all \(u\in U\), if U is an open dense A-invariant subset in V. On the other hand, the orbits A(v) of A for all \(v\in V\) equal those of the maximal torus \(T\subset A\). Therefore, dim A(v)\(=\dim T(v)=\dim A-\dim Av\). Since dim T(v)\(=\dim T-\dim Tv\), it follows that dim A\(=\dim T\), that is, \(A=T\). Thus, we have the following theorem: A compact, real analytic, simply connected Lorentz manifold has a compact isometry group. (Remark: The isometry group of a compact pseudo-Riemannian manifold (V,G) is not always compact.)