Singer invariants and various types of curvature homogeneity (Q2450921)

The property of homogeneity of type (1,3) is studied in the context of the standard Singer theory. The investigation is focused on the special case of homothety \(r\)-curvature homogeneity characterized by the invariance of the covariant derivatives (up to the order \(r\)) of the curvature operator under a homothety (an isometry followed by a dilatation). The analysis is based on the Singer number \(k\) which has the property that if a manifold satisfies a certain type of curvature homogeneity up to order \(k\) then it is locally homogeneous. The definition of the model spaces is given and they are related with the curvature homogeneity. These model spaces provide an algebraic portrait of the curvature of a manifold at any point and this motivates the terminology. The notion of isometry invariant is introduced and it is used to characterize the \(r\)-curvature homogeneity. Two families of three-dimensional Lorentzian metrics on Euclidean spaces are presented and various relationships between the curvature homogeneity and local homogeneity are shown. Some concluding remarks are also summarized and a comparison with other results is given.