Isometry groups of 4-dimensional nilpotent Lie groups (Q2405144)

A complete description of the isometry groups of left invariant metrics on 4-dimensional simply connected nilpotent Lie groups \(N\) is given. There are only two nonabelian 4-dimensional nilpotent Lie algebras - 2-nilpotent \(n_3\oplus \mathbf R\) and 3-nilpotent \(n_4\). Riemannian and pseudo-Riemannian invariant metrics on the corresponding Lie groups \(N_3\times \mathbf R\) are \(N_4\) are described. Two geometrically distinct cases of degenerate and nondegenerate center of the Lie group \(N\) are considered separately. The special case of Walker metrics (which have nontrivial totally isotropic parallel distributions) is investigated.