A classification of left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metrics on some nilpotent Lie groups (Q2102444)

Suppose \(G\) is a connected, simply connected Lie group. The paper under consideration studies the problem of counting the number of non-equivalent left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metrics on \(G\), where two such metrics are considered equivalent if they are isometric up to scaling. When the metric is Riemannian, i.e. positive definite, \textit{J. Lauret} [Differ. Geom. Appl. 18, No. 2, 177--194 (2003; Zbl 1022.22019)] showed that all left-invariant metrics are equivalent if and only if \(G\) is be isomorpic to \(\mathbb{R}^n\), \(G_{\mathbb{R}H^n}\), or to \(H_3\times \mathbb{R}^n\). Here, the notation \(G_{\mathbb{R}H^n}\) refers to the semi-simple part of the identity component of the indefinite orthogonal group \(SO(n,1)\), and \(H_3\) refers to the \(3\)-dimensional Heisenberg group. In order to extend Lauret's result to the pseudo-Riemannian case, the first step is to determine for each signature \((p,q)\), which of \(\mathbb{R}^n\), \(G_{\mathbb{R}H^n}\), or \(H_3\times \mathbb{R}^n\) has the property that all pseudo-Riemannian metrics are equivalent. It is well known that \(\mathbb{R}^n\) admits a unique (up to scaling an isometry) left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric of signature \((p,q)\). In contrast to this, \textit{A. Kubo} et al. [Hiroshima Math. J. 46, No. 3, 357--374 (2016; Zbl 1360.53029)] showed that \(G_{\mathbb{R}H^n}\) admits precisely three non-equivalent metrics in any indefinite signature. The paper under review considers the remaining case of \(H_3\times \mathbb{R}^n\) when \(n\geq 1\), but under a slightly weaker notion than the above equivalence: where isometries are restricted to be group automorphisms. The main result (Theorem 1) is an enumeration of such metrics for each indefinite signature. It is also noted (Remark 3) that some of these classes are, in fact, isometric (up to scaling) to each other. The idea of the proof is as follows. A left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric on \(G = H_3\times \mathbb{R}^n\) is determined by its value at the identity, that is, by a non-degenerate symmetric bilinear form on the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g}\) on \(G\). Using the structure of the Lie algebra, one sees that counting such forms up to automorphisms and scaling is equivalent to counting orbits of the natural \(O(p,q)\)-action on the set of flags \(V_1\subseteq V_2\subseteq \mathfrak{g}\) with \(\dim V_1 = 1\) and \(\dim V_2 = n+1\). The \(O(p,q)\)-orbits are then characterized in terms the signature and nullity of the restriction of the standard form of signature \((p,q)\) to each of \(V_1\) and \(V_2\). Enumerating the possibilities then leads to the count in Theorem 1.