The only known examples of noncompact Einstein homogeneous spaces are standard solvmanifolds (special solvable Lie groups endowed with a left invariant metric), and according to a long standing conjecture, they might be all. The classification of Einstein solvmanifolds is equivalent to the one of Einstein nilradicals, i.e. nilpotent Lie algebras which are nilradicals of the Lie algebras of Einstein solvmanifolds. Up to now, there have been found very few examples of graded nilpotent Lie algebras that can not be Einstein nilradicals. In particular, in each dimension, there are only finitely many known. We exhibit in the present paper two curves of pairwise non-isomorphic 9-dimensional 2-step nilpotent Lie algebras which are not Einstein nilradicals.
In this paper we investigate the existence of invariant SKT, balanced and generalized Kähler structures on compact quotients $Γ\backslash G$, where $G$ is an almost nilpotent Lie group whose nilradical has one-dimensional commutator and $Γ$ is a lattice of $G$. We first obtain a characterization of Hermitian almost nilpotent Lie algebras $\mathfrak{g}$ whose nilradical $\mathfrak{n}$ has one-dimensional commutator and a classification result in real dimension six. Then, we study the ones admitting SKT and balanced structures and we examine the behaviour of such structures under flows. In parti…
We construct many examples of Lie groups with compact Levi factor admitting a left-invariant metric with negative Ricci curvature. We start with a Lie algebra with Levi factor su(n) or so(n) acting on an abelian nilradical via the representation on the space of homogeneous polynomials. In the case of su(2) we obtain a more general construction where the nilradical can be any nilpotent Lie algebra. We also prove a general result in the case when the Levi factor is a semisimple Lie algebra of non-compact type.
We introduce a combinatorial method to construct indefinite Ricci-flat metrics on nice nilpotent Lie groups. We prove that every nilpotent Lie group of dimension $\leq6$, every nice nilpotent Lie group of dimension $\leq7$ and every two-step nilpotent Lie group attached to a graph admits such a metric. We construct infinite families of Ricci-flat nilmanifolds associated to parabolic nilradicals in the simple Lie groups ${\rm SL}(n)$, ${\rm SO}(p,q)$, ${\rm Sp}(n,\mathbb R)$. Most of these metrics are shown not to be flat.
We give an overview of what is known on Lie groups admitting a left-invariant metric of negative Ricci curvature, including many natural questions and conjectures in the solvable case. We also introduce an open and convex cone C(n) of derivations attached to each nilpotent Lie algebra n, which is defined as the image of certain moment map and parametrizes a set of solvable Lie algebras with nilradical n admitting Ricci negative metrics.
In this paper, we study Lorentzian left invariant Einstein metrics on nilpotent Lie groups. We show that if the center of such Lie groups is degenerate then they are Ricci-flat and their Lie algebras can be obtained by the double extension process from an abelian Euclidean Lie algebra. We show that all nilpotent Lie groups up to dimension $5$ endowed with a Lorentzian Einstein left invariant metric have degenerate center and we use this fact to give a complete classification of these metrics. We show that if $\mathfrak{g}$ is the Lie algebra of a nilpotent Lie group endowed with a Lorentzian l…
This is partly an expository paper, where the authors' work on pseudoriemannian Einstein metrics on nilpotent Lie groups is reviewed. A new criterion is given for the existence of a diagonal Einstein metric on a nice nilpotent Lie group. Classifications of special classes of Ricci-flat metrics on nilpotent Lie groups of dimension $\leq8$ are obtained. Some related open questions are presented.
On a smooth metric measure spacetime $(M,g,e^{-f} dvol_g)$, we define a weighted Einstein tensor. It is given in terms of the Bakry-Émery Ricci tensor as a tensor which is symmetric, divergence-free, concomitant of the metric and the density function. We consider the associated vacuum weighted Einstein field equations and show that isotropic solutions have nilpotent Ricci operator. Moreover, the underlying manifold is a Brinkmann wave if it is $2$-step nilpotent and a Kundt spacetime if it is $3$-step nilpotent. More specific results are obtained in dimension $3$, where all isotropic solutions…
We introduce a systematic method to produce left-invariant, non-Ricci-flat Einstein metrics of indefinite signature on nice nilpotent Lie groups. On a nice nilpotent Lie group, we give a simple algebraic characterization of non-Ricci-flat left-invariant Einstein metrics in both the class of metrics for which the nice basis is orthogonal and a more general class associated to order two permutations of the nice basis. We obtain classifications in dimension 8 and, under the assumption that the root matrix is surjective, dimension 9; moreover, we prove that Einstein nilpotent Lie groups of nonzero…
In this paper, we consider exponential, connected and simply connected Lie groups which are corresponding to Lie algebras of dimension 7 such that the nilradical of them is 5-dimensional nilpotent Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}_{5,2}$ in Table 1. In particular, we give a description of the geometry of the generic orbits in the coadjoint representation of some considered Lie groups. We prove that, for each considered group, the family of the generic coadjoint orbits forms a measurable foliation in the sense of Connes. The topological classification of these foliations is also provided.
Any expanding homogeneous Ricci soliton (in particular any homogeneous Einstein manifold of negative scalar curvature) can be obtained, up to isometry, from a Lie subgroup of a nilpotent Iwasawa group $N$ whose induced metric is a Ricci soliton. By nilpotent Iwasawa group we mean the nilpotent Lie group $N$ of the Iwasawa decomposition associated with a symmetric space of non-compact type. Motivated by this fact, in this paper we classify codimension one Lie subgroups of any nilpotent Iwasawa group $N$ whose induced metric is a Ricci soliton.
We answer in the affirmative the question posed by Conti and Rossi on the existence of nilpotent Lie algebras of dimension 7 with an Einstein pseudo-metric of nonzero scalar curvature. Indeed, we construct a left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric $g$ of signature $(3, 4)$ on a nilpotent Lie group of dimension 7, such that $g$ is Einstein and not Ricci-flat. We show that the pseudo-metric $g$ cannot be induced by any left-invariant closed $G_2^*$-structure on the Lie group. Moreover, some results on closed and harmonic $G_2^*$-structures on an arbitrary 7-manifold $M$ are given. In particular,…
The goal of this paper is to show that many key results found in the study of Einstein Lorentzian nilpotent Lie algebras can still hold in the more general settings of unimodular Lie algebras and (completely) solvable Lie algebras.
It has been known that there exist exactly three left-invariant Lorentzian metrics up to scaling and automorphisms on the three dimensional Heisenberg group. In this paper, we classify left-invariant Lorentzian metrics on the direct product of three dimensional Heisenberg group and the Euclidean space of dimension $n-3$ with $n \geq 4$, and prove that there exist exactly six such metrics on this Lie group up to scaling and automorphisms. Moreover we show that only one of them is flat, and the other five metrics are Ricci solitons but not Einstein. We also characterize this flat metric as the u…
A nilsoliton is a nilpotent Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ with a metric such that $\operatorname{Ric}=λ\operatorname{Id}+D$, with $D$ a derivation. For indefinite metrics, this determines four different geometries, according to whether $λ$ and $D$ are zero or not. We illustrate with examples the greater flexibility of the indefinite case compared to the Riemannian setting. We determine the algebraic properties that $D$ must satisfy when it is nonzero. For each of the four geometries, we show that under suitable assumptions it is possible to extend the nilsoliton metric to an Einstein solvmanifold…
Let $M$ be pseudo-Riemannian homogeneous Einstein manifold of finite volume, and suppose a connected Lie group $G$ acts transitively and isometrically on $M$. In this situation, the metric on $M$ induces a bilinear form $\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle$ on the Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ of $G$ which is nil-invariant, a property closely related to invariance. We study such spaces $M$ in three important cases. First, we assume $\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle$ is invariant, in which case the Einstein property requires that $G$ is either solvable or semisimple. Next, we investigate the case where $G$ is solv…
