Space-time and holonomy groups (Q1893828)

Let \(M\) denote a smooth space-time manifold admitting a smooth Lorentz metric \(g\), associated Levi-Civita connection \(\Gamma\) and curvature tensor \(R\). For any \(p \in M\) let \(C^k (p)\) denote the set of all piecewise \(C^k\) closed curves at \(p\). Each \(c \in C^k (p)\) gives rise to an isomorphism \(f(c) : T_p M \to T_p M\) through parallel transport along \(c\) with respect to \(\Gamma\). The set \(\Phi\) of all such isomorphisms arising from all members of \(C^k (p)\) is a subgroup of the group \(\text{GL}(T_p M)\) of all isomorphisms of \(T_p M\) and is isomorphic to a Lie subgroup of \(\text{GL}(4, \mathbb{R})\). \(\Phi\) is called holonomy group of \(M\). If one restricts to curves which are homotopic to zero, one obtains, similarly, the restricted holonomy group \(\Phi^0\) of \(M\), which is the identity component of \(\Phi\). Clearly, \(\Phi\) and \(\Phi^0\) are equal if \(M\) is simply connected. \(\Phi\) and \(\Phi^0\) are Lie subgroups of the Lorentz group \(\mathcal L\) and \(\Phi^0\) is a connected Lie subgroup of the identity component \({\mathcal L}^0\) of \(\mathcal L\). The Lie algebra of \(\Phi\) (and \(\Phi^0\)) shall be denoted by \(\phi\) and that of \(\mathcal L\) (and \({\mathcal L}^0\)) by \(A\). Then \(\phi\) is a subalgebra of \(A\). A study of the various holonomy groups is thus facilitated by a study of the subalgebras of the Lorentz algebra \(A\) since they lie in one-to-one correspondence with the connected subgroups of \({\mathcal L}^0\). These subalgebras are grouped into fifteen types labelled \(R_1, \dots, R_{15}\). In this paper the author proves, among other things, that the holonomy algebra of a vacuum space-time \(M\) is of type \(R_1\), \(R_8\), \(R_{14}\) or \(R_{15}\), and its restricted holonomy group is isomorphic to a connected Lie subgroup of \({\mathcal L}^0\) corresponding to one of these algebra types.