Classification of compact Lorentzian 2-orbifolds with noncompact full isometry groups (Q1935739)

The authors study the two-dimensional compact Lorentzian orbifolds admitting an improper action of the isometry group. For every \(n\) greater or equal to 3, the standard \(n\)-dimensional flat torus equipped with the canonical metric has a noncompact full isometry Lie group. The problem of classifying closed Lorentzian manifolds with noncompact full isometry Lie groups posed in [\textit{M. Deffaf} et al., Geom. Funct. Anal. 18, No. 2, 463--488 (2008; Zbl 1155.53034)] is now stated for a larger class of objects: Lorentzian orbifolds (manifolds with singularities). In this paper the authors solve the problem in dimension two (the classification of metrics on the two-dimensional torus with noncompact full isometry Lie group). The conclusion is that there exists a countable family of classes of similar flat Lorentzian metrics on the torus with a noncompact full isometry group. They also prove that every two-dimensional Lorentzian orbifold is very good (the existence of a unique smooth compact two-orbifold called pillow, admitting a Lorentzian metric with a noncompact full isometry group). The study of two-dimensional Lorentzian orbifolds with improper action of the full isometry groups is reduced to Lorentzian surfaces with improper action of the full isometry groups. An other result establishes an equivalence of the classifications of compact Lorentzian surfaces and two-orbifolds with noncompact full isometry groups. At the end of the paper there are some interesting examples.