Generalized Ricci solitons (Q282823)

The authors study a three-parameter family of overdetermined partial differential equations of finite type on (pseudo-)Riemannian manifolds which they call the generalised Ricci soliton equations. For special values of the parameters one obtains a number of well-known equations like Killing's equations, Ricci solitons, some Einstein-Weyl equations or the vacuum near-horizon geometry equation. The article consists of two parts. In Sections 2--5 the construction of integrability conditions and constraint equations is investigated mainly in two and three dimensions. In Sections 6--8 many explicit examples are considered mainly in two dimensions. It rapidly turns out that a complete compatibility analysis is technically too demanding even in two dimensions. Therefore the authors study in depth a number of relevant situations like classical Ricci solitons, gradient generalised Ricci solitons, homotheties or Killing's equations. In most cases an explicit obstruction tensor is constructed whose vanishing characterises the existence of solutions of the desired form. The gradient case is later also studied in arbitrary dimensions; Ricci solitons and homotheties in three dimensions. In the second part many special cases in two dimensions are studied. When the first parameter equals 1 and 0, respectively, a potential formulation is provided leading to a Poisson and Laplace equation, respectively. For certain diagonal metrics, an explicit four-parameter family of solutions is given generalising among others the Hamilton cigar soliton. Explicit solutions are also provided for some cases where the quadratic terms are present, including the extremal Kerr black hole horizon. Finally, the case of a null 1-form is considered. It includes somewhat surprisingly the reduced dispersionless KP equation.