Gallot-Tanno theorem for closed incomplete pseudo-Riemannian manifolds and applications (Q708845)

Let \((M,g)\) be a pseudo-Riemannian manifold and let \(\nabla\) be the corresponding covariant derivative. There is a problem of the existence of non-constant functions \(\alpha:M\to\mathbb R\) satisfying the equation \((*)\, \nabla\nabla\nabla \alpha(X,Y,Z)+c\cdot[2(\nabla\alpha\otimes g)(X,Y,Z)+(\nabla\alpha\otimes g)(Y,X,Z)+(\nabla\alpha\otimes g)(Z,X,Y)]=0\), where \(c\) is a real constant. The equivalent tensor form of this equation is a linear system of partial differential equations for \(\alpha\), \(\alpha_{;ijk}=c(2\alpha_{;k}g_{ij}+\alpha_{;j}g_{ik}+\alpha_{;i}g_{kj})\). In this paper, the authors show that, if \((M,g)\) is a closed, connected pseudo-Riemannian manifold and \(c\) is a real number, then, if \(\alpha:M\to\mathbb R\) is a non-constant function satisfying \((*)\), \(c\neq 0\) and the metric \(c\cdot g\) is a Riemannian metric of constant curvature \(1\). As an application of this result, the authors show that the holonomy group of a closed \((O(p+1,q),S^{p,q})\)-manifold does not preserve any non-degenerate splitting of \(\mathbb{R}^{p+1,q}\). \textit{S.~Gallot} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 12, 235--267 (1978; Zbl 0412.58009)] and \textit{S.~Tanno} [J. Math. Soc. Japan 30, 509--531 (1978; Zbl 0387.53015)] proved a similar result for the Riemannian case and with the assumption that \(c>0\).