A full classification of contact metric \((k,\mu)\)-spaces (Q1567031)

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A full classification of contact metric \((k,\mu)\)-spaces
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    A full classification of contact metric \((k,\mu)\)-spaces (English)
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    1 October 2001
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    Let \(k\) and \(\mu\) be two real numbers. A contact metric \((k,\mu)\)-space is a contact metric space \((M,\xi,\eta, \varphi,g)\) for which the characteristic vector field \(\xi\) satisfies \(R(X,Y)\xi= k(\eta(Y)X- \eta(X)Y)\) \(+ \mu(\eta(Y)hX- \eta(X) hY)\) for all vector fields \(X\) and \(Y\) on \(M\). Here, \(R\) denotes the Riemann curvature tensor and \(h\) is, up to a scaling constant, the Lie derivative of \(\varphi\) in the direction of \(\xi\). This class generalizes that of Sasakian spaces (\(k=1\), \(h=0\)). Non-Sasakian contact metric \((k,\mu)\)-spaces have nice geometric properties: they are locally homogeneous and the local reflections with respect to the integral curves of \(\xi\) are local isometries [\textit{E. Boeckx}, Arch. Math. 72, 466-472 (1999)]. Until recently, the only known examples of non-Sasakian \((k,\mu)\)-spaces were some three-dimensional unimodular Lie groups with a specific left-invariant contact metric structure and the unit tangent sphere bundles of spaces of constant curvature with their standard contact metric structure. In this paper, we give a full local classification (up to D-homothetic transformations) by explicit examples.
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    characteristic vector field
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    Sasakian space
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    locally homogeneous
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    D-homothetic transformation
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