Second-order renormalization group flow of three-dimensional homogeneous geometries (Q357228)

In this paper the authors work with \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\), Nil, Sol and \(\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb R)\) three-dimensional geometries, locally homogeneous, with two of the three principal directions set equal. The main focus of the paper is to compare the Ricci flow and the RG-2 flow on these geometries. First they studied in which the RG-2 differs from the Ricci flow and the stability of flat solutions under the first flow. For the \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) case the RG-2 flow is everywhere qualitatively the same as Ricci flow. For the \(\text{Nil}\), \(\text{Sol}\) and \(\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb R)\) the authors show that the configuration space is partitioned into two regions which are delineated by a solution curve of the flow that depends on the coupling parameter: in one of the regions the flow develops cigar or pancake singularities that are characteristic for the Ricci flow, while in both directions they shrink. In the \(\text{Nil}\) case, a characterization of the full three-dimensional flow is obtained.