Lorentz dynamics on closed 3-manifolds (Q779671)

It is well known that the isometry group of a closed Riemannian manifold is compact. In Lorentzian and pseudo-Riemannian geometry, this is not true in general. In the present paper, closed 3-dimensional manifolds which admit a Lorentzian metric with a noncompact isometry group are studied in detail. To illustrate various topologies, possibilities for the isometry group and other phenomena, various examples are analyzed in detail. These are, for instance, quotients of \({\widetilde{\operatorname{PSL}}}(2,{\mathbb{R}})\), 3-torus or torus bundles. The topological classification of manifolds in question is obtained. Compared with the list of Thurston's geometries, topologies which do not admit such metrics are identified. A deeper study of the isometry group is done, which allows better insight into the structure of the isometry group, than in previous works. Finally, geometrical classification of closed 3-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds with noncompact isometry group is obtained.