Minkowski symmetric Lie algebras and symmetric Berwald spaces (Q2572557)

For a globally symmetric Berwald space, \textit{Z. Szabo} [Tensor, New Ser. 35, 25--39 (1981; Zbl 0464.53025)] proved that there exists a Riemannian metric on the underlying manifold such that its Levi-Civita connection coincides with the Chern-Rund connection of the Berwald space. The authors introduce the notion of Minkowski symmetric Lie algebra to give algebraic descriptions of such symmetric Berwald spaces. Some results regarding the sectional curvature of Riemannian symmetric spaces, due to E. Cartan, can be generalized to Berwald spaces using the introduced algebraic tools.