All spacetimes with vanishing curvature invariants (Q4797244)

The Riemannian spaces it holds: If the curvature invariant \(R_{ijkl} R^{ijkl}\) identically vanishes, then the space is flat. A similar statement is \textit{not} valid in the Lorentz signature case. Moreover, it is even not possible to find any continuous curvature invariant possessing such a property to discriminate between flat and non-flat space-times. This property is already known for decades, and it follows from the fact that the Lorentz group fails to be compact in contrast to the compactness of the rotation group applicable to the Riemann case. The present authors systematically construct the set of all those Lorentz space-times for which all curvature invariants of the Riemann tensor and its covariant derivatives vanish. Among their examples there exist several classes of gravitational wave solutions of the Einstein field equation.