Four-dimensional Einstein manifolds with Heisenberg symmetry (Q2143341)

It was shown in [the first author et al., ``Symmetries of quaternionic Kähler manifolds with S1-symmetry'', Trans. London Math. Soc. 8, No. 1, 95--119 (2021; \url{doi:10.1112/tlm3.12026})] that all the known homogeneous quaternionic Kähler manifolds of negative Ricci curvature with the exception of the simplest examples (the quaternionic hyperbolic spaces), admit a canonical deformation to a complete quaternionic Kähler manifold with an isometric action of cohomogeneity one. The paper considers Einstein metrics in \(\mathbb{R}^4\) which are invariant under a four-dimensional groups of isometries which includes a principal action of the Heisenberg group. The aim of the paper is to classify these metrics, and study their completeness. In particular, the paper considers metrics which are either Ricci-flat or of negative Ricci curvature. It is shown that all Ricci-flat metrics, including the simplest ones (which are hyper-Kähler), are incomplete. On the other hand, among those of negative Ricci curvature there are precisely two instances of complete metrics: (a) the complex hyperbolic metric; and (b) a metric of cohomogeneity one known as the one-loop deformed universal hypermultiplet.