We give a complete local classification of all Riemannian 3-manifolds $(M,g)$ admitting a nonvanishing Killing vector field $T$. We then extend this classification to timelike Killing vector fields on Lorentzian 3-manifolds, which are automatically nonvanishing. The two key ingredients needed in our classification are the scalar curvature $S$ of $g$ and the function $\text{Ric}(T,T)$, where $\text{Ric}$ is the Ricci tensor; in fact their sum appears as the Gaussian curvature of the quotient metric obtained from the action of $T$. Our classification generalizes that of Sasakian structures, which is the special case when $\text{Ric}(T,T) = 2$. We also give necessary, and separately, sufficient conditions, both expressed in terms of $\text{Ric}(T,T)$, for $g$ to be locally conformally flat. We then move from the local to the global setting, and prove two results: in the event that $T$ has unit length and the coordinates derived in our classification are globally defined on $\mathbb{R}^3$, we give conditions under which $S$ completely determines when the metric will be geodesically complete. In the event that the 3-manifold $M$ is compact, we give a condition stating when it admits a metric of constant positive sectional curvature.
We call a connected Lie group endowed with a left-invariant Lorentzian flat metric Lorentzian flat Lie group. In this Note, we determine all Lorentzian flat Lie groups admitting a timelike left-invariant Killing vector field. We show that these Lie groups are 2-solvable and unimodular and hence geodesically complete. Moreover, we show that a Lorentzian flat Lie group $(\mathrm{G},μ)$ admits a timelike left-invariant Killing vector field if and only if $\mathrm{G}$ admits a left-invariant Riemannian metric which has the same Levi-Civita connection of $μ$. Finally, we give an useful characteriza…
In the first part of this paper, we give a global description of simply connected maximal Lorentzian surfaces whose group of isometries is of dimension 1 (i.e. with a complete Killing field), in terms of a 1-dimensional generally non-Hausdorff manifold (the space of Killing orbits) and a smooth function defined there. In the second part, we study the completeness of such surfaces and prove in particular that under the hypothesis of bounded curvature, completeness is equivalent to null completeness. We also give completeness criterions involving the topological structure of the space of Killing…
We study the geometry and the periodic geodesics of a compact Lorentzian manifold that has a Killing vector field which is timelike somewhere. Using a compactness argument for subgroups of the isometry group, we prove the existence of one timelike non self-intersecting periodic geodesic. If the Killing vector field is never vanishing, then there are at least two distinct periodic geodesics; as a special case, compact stationary manifolds have at least two periodic timelike geodesics. We also discuss some properties of the topology of such manifolds. In particular, we show that a compact manifo…
We consider three-dimensional Lorentzian metrics that locally admit four independent Killing vectors. Their classification is summarized, and conditions for characterizing them are found. These consist of algebraic classification of the traceless Ricci tensor, and other conditions satisfied by the curvature and its derivative.
We study the geometric structure of Lorentzian spin manifolds, which admit imaginary Killing spinors. The discussion is based on the cone construction and a normal form classification of skew-adjoint operators in signature $(2,n-2)$. Derived geometries include Brinkmann spaces, Lorentzian Einstein-Sasaki spaces and certain warped product structures. Exceptional cases with decomposable holonomy of the cone are possible.
In this paper, we extend the study of generalized Killing spinors on Riemannian Spin$^c$ manifolds started by Moroianu and Herzlich to complex Killing functions. We prove that such spinor fields are always real Spin$^c$ Killing spinors or imaginary generalized Spin$^c$ Killing spinors, providing that the dimension of the manifold is greater or equal to 4. Moreover, we classify Riemannian Spin$^c$ manifolds carrying imaginary and imaginary generalized Killing spinors.
We study a Killing spinor type equation on spin Riemannian flows. We prove integrability conditions and partially classify those Riemannian flows $M$ carrying non-trivial solutions to that equation in case $M$ is a local Riemannian product, a Sasakian manifold or 3-dimensional.
This paper is a survey on special geometric structures that admit conformal Killing spinors based on lectures, given at the ``Workshop on Special Geometric Structures in String Theory'', Bonn, September 2001 and at ESI, Wien, November 2001. We discuss the case of Lorentzian signature and explain which geometries occur up to dimension 6.
It is proved the existence and uniqueness of graphs with prescribed mean curvature in Riemannian submersions fibered by flow lines of a vertical Killing vector field.
We give a classification for connected complete locally irreducible Riemannian manifolds with nonpositive curvature operator, which admit a nonzero closed or co-closed conformal Killing $L^{2}-$form. Moreover, we prove vanishing theorems for closed and co-closed conformal Killing $L^{2}-$forms on some complete Riemannian manifolds.
Conformal Killing forms are a natural generalization of conformal vector fields on Riemannian manifolds. They are defined as sections in the kernel of a conformally invariant first order differential operator. We show the existence of conformal Killing forms on nearly Kaehler and weak G_2-manifolds. Moreover, we give a complete description of special conformal Killing forms. A further result is a sharp upper bound on the dimension of the space of conformal Killing forms.
A formal treatment of Killing 1-form and 2-Killing 1-form on Riemannian Poisson manifold, Riemannian Poisson warped product space are presented. In this way, we obtain Bochner type result on compact Riemannian Poisson manifold, compact Riemannian Poisson warped product space for Killing 1-form and 2-Killing 1-form. Finally, we give the characterization of a 2-Killing 1-form on $(\mathbb{R}^2,g,Π)$.
Semi-Riemannian $\text{spin}^c$ manifolds carrying generalized Killing spinors and the classification of Riemannian $\text{spin}^c$ manifolds admitting a type I imaginary generalized Killing spinor
We present definitions and properties of conformal Killing, Killing and planarity forms on a Riemannian manifold and determine Tachibana, Killing and planarity numbers as an analog of the well known Betti numbers. We state some set of conditions to characterize these numbers. Moreover, we formulate the main results on the relationship between the Betti, Tachibana, Killing and planarity numbers.
In this paper we study a semi-Riemannian submersion from Lorentzian (para)almost contact manifolds and find necessary and sufficient conditions for the characteristic vector field to be vertical or horizontal. We also obtain decomposition theorems for an anti-invariant semi-Riemannian submersion from Lorentzian (para)Sasakian manifolds onto a Lorentzian manifold.
Several characterizations of umbilic points of submanifolds in arbitrary Riemannian and Lorentzian manifolds are given. As a consequence, we obtain new characterizations of spheres in the Euclidean space and of hyperbolic spaces in the Lorentz-Minkowski space. We also prove the Lorentzian version of a classical result by Cartan.
In this paper we present some structural results on the Lie algebras of transitive isometry groups of a general compact homogenous Riemannian manifold with nontrivial Killing vector fields of constant length.
We find out upper bounds for the first eigenvalue of the stability operator for compact constant mean curvature orientable surfaces immersed in a Riemannian Killing submersion. As a consequence, the strong stability of such surfaces is studied. We also characterize constant mean curvature Hopf tori as the only ones attaining the bound in certain cases.
Riemannian manifolds with non-zero Killing spinors are Einstein manifolds. Klaus Kröncke proved that all complete Riemannian manifolds with imaginary Killing spinors are (linearly) strictly stable in \cite{Kro15}. In this paper, we obtain a new proof for this stability result by using a Bochner type formula in \cite{DWW05} and \cite{Wan91}. Moreover, existence of real Killing spinors is closely related to the Sasaki-Einstein structure. A regular Sasaki-Einstein manifold is essentially the total space of a certain principal $S^{1}$-bundle over a Kähler-Einstein manifold. We prove that if the ba…
A smooth foliation is Riemannian when its leaves are locally equidistant. The closures of the leaves of a Riemannian foliation on a simply connected manifold, or more generally of a Killing foliation, are described by flows of transverse Killing vector fields. This offers significant technical advantages in the study of this class of foliations, which nonetheless includes other important classes, such as those given by the orbits of isometric Lie group actions. Aiming at a broad audience, in this survey we introduce Killing foliations from the very basics, starting with a brief revision of the…
In this paper, we use a Killing form on a Riemannian manifold to construct a class of Finsler metrics. We find equations that characterize Einstein metrics among this class. In particular, we construct a family of Einstein metrics on $S^3$ with ${\rm Ric} = 2 F^2$, ${\rm Ric}=0$ and ${\rm Ric}=- 2 F^2$, respectively. This family of metrics provide an important class of Finsler metrics in dimension three, whose Ricci curvature is a constant, but the flag curvature is not.
In this paper we define and analyze singularities of discrete linear Weingarten surfaces with Weierstrass-type representations in $3$-dimensional Riemannian and Lorentzian spaceforms. In particular, we discuss singularities of discrete surfaces with non-zero constant Gaussian curvature, and parallel surfaces of discrete minimal and maximal surfaces, and discrete constant mean curvature $1$ surfaces in de Sitter $3$-space, including comparisons with different previously known definitions of such singularities.
In this paper, using connections between Clifford-Wolf isometries and Killing vector fields of constant length on a given Riemannian manifold, we classify simply connected Clifford-Wolf homogeneous Riemannian manifolds. We also get the classification of complete simply connected Riemannian manifolds with the Killing property defined and studied previously by J.E. D'Atri and H.K. Nickerson. In the last part of the paper we study properties of Clifford-Killing spaces, that is, real vector spaces of Killing vector fields of constant length, on odd-dimensional round spheres, and discuss numerous c…
Let $M$ be a pseudo-Riemannian spin manifold of dimension $n$ and signature $s$ and denote by $N$ the rank of the real spinor bundle. We prove that $M$ is locally homogeneous if it admits more than ${3/4}N$ independent Killing spinors with the same Killing number, unless $n\equiv 1 \pmod 4$ and $s\equiv 3 \pmod 4$. We also prove that $M$ is locally homogeneous if it admits $k_+$ independent Killing spinors with Killing number $λ$ and $k_-$ independent Killing spinors with Killing number $-λ$ such that $k_++k_->{3/2}N$, unless $n\equiv s\equiv 3\pmod 4$. Similarly, a pseudo-Riemannian manifold …
We prove the instability of some families of Riemannian manifolds with non-trivial real Killing spinors. These include the invariant Einstein metrics on the Aloff-Wallach spaces $N_{k, l}={\rm SU}(3)/i_{k, l}(S^{1})$ (which are all nearly ${\rm G}_2$ except $N_{1,0}$), and Sasaki Einstein circle bundles over certain irreducible Hermitian symmetric spaces. We also prove the instability of most of the simply connected non-symmetric compact homogeneous Einstein spaces of dimensions $5, 6, $ and $7$, including the strict nearly Kähler ones (except ${\rm G}_2/{\rm SU}(3)$).
In this paper nontrivial Killing vector fields of constant length and corresponding flows on smooth complete Riemannian manifolds are investigated. It is proved that such a flow on symmetric space is free or induced by a free isometric action of the circle $S^1$. The properties of the set of all points with finite (infinite) period for general isometric flow on Riemannian manifolds are described. It is shown that this flow is generated by an effective almost free isometric action of the group $S^1$ if there are no points of infinite or zero period. In the last case the set of periods is at mos…
A rank $m$ symmetric tensor field on a Riemannian manifold is called a Killing field if the symmetric part of its covariant derivative is equal to zero. Such a field determines the first integral of the geodesic flow which is a degree $m$ homogeneous polynomial in velocities. There exist global isothermal coordinates on a two-dimensional Riemannian torus such that the metric is of the form $ds^2=λ(z)|dz|^2$ in the coordinates. The torus admits a third rank Killing tensor field if and only if the function $λ$ satisfies the equation $\Re\big(\frac{\partial}{\partial z}\big(λ(cΔ^{-1}λ_{zz}+a)\big…
We prove that the Cauchy problem for parallel null vector fields on smooth Lorentzian manifolds is well posed. The proof is based on the derivation and analysis of suitable hyperbolic evolution equations given in terms of the Ricci tensor and other geometric objects. Moreover, we classify Riemannian manifolds satisfying the constraint conditions for this Cauchy problem. It is then possible to characterise certain holonomy reductions of globally hyperbolic manifolds with parallel null vector in terms of flow equations for Riemannian special holonomy metrics. For exceptional holonomy groups thes…
We study the simply connected inextendable Lorentzian surfaces admitting a Killing vector field. We construct a natural family of such surfaces, that we call "universal extensions". They are characterized by a condition of symmetry, the "reflexivity", and a by a rather weak completeness assumption, the absence of "saddles at infinity". Considering these surfaces as model spaces, we study their minimal quotients, divisible open sets and conjugate points. We show uniformisation results (by an open subset of one of these universal extensions, which is uniquely determined) in the following cases: …
A vector field on a Riemannian manifold is called conformal Killing if it generates one-parameter group of conformal transformations. The class of conformal Killing symmetric tensor fields of an arbitrary rank is a natural generalization of the class of conformal Killing vector fields, and appears in different geometric and physical problems. A symmetric tensor field is a trace-free field if the contraction of the field with the metric tensor is identically equal to zero. On a Riemannian manifold of dimension at least three, the space of trace-free conformal Killing symmetric tensor fields of …
We introduce an appropriate formalism in order to study conformal Killing (symmetric) tensors on Riemannian manifolds. We reprove in a simple way some known results in the field and obtain several new results, like the classification of conformal Killing $2$-tensors on Riemannian products of compact manifolds, Weitzenböck formulas leading to non-existence results, and construct various examples of manifolds with conformal Killing tensors.
A $3$-dimensional Riemannian manifold is called Killing submersion if it admits a Riemannian submersion over a surface such that its fibers are the trajectories of a complete unit Killing vector field. In this paper, we give a characterization of proper biharmonic CMC surfaces in a Killing submersion. In the last part, we also classify the proper biharmonic Hopf cylinders in a Killing submersion.
A symmetric tensor field on a Riemannian manifold is called Killing field if the symmetric part of its covariant derivative is equal to zero. There is a one to one correspondence between Killing tensor fields and first integrals of the geodesic flow which depend polynomially on the velocity. Therefore Killing tensor fields closely relate to the problem of integrability of geodesic flows. In particular, the following question is still open: does there exist a Riemannian metric on the 2-torus which admits an irreducible Killing tensor field of rank $\geq 3$? We obtain two necessary conditions on…
It is proved that the holomorphic quadratic differential associated to CMC surfaces in Riemannian products $\mathbb{S}^2\times\Rr$ and $\mathbb{H}^2\times \Rr$ discovered by U. Abresch and H. Rosenberg could be obtained as a linear combination of usual Hopf differentials. Using this fact, we are able to extend it for Lorentzian products. Families of examples of helicoidal CMC surfaces on these spaces are explicitly described. We also present some characterizations of CMC rotationally invariant discs and spheres. Finally, after establish some height and area estimates, we prove the existence of…
We determine the Killing superalgebras underpinning field theories with rigid unextended supersymmetry on Lorentzian four-manifolds by re-interpreting them as filtered deformations of $\mathbb{Z}$-graded subalgebras with maximum odd dimension of the $N{=}1$ Poincaré superalgebra in four dimensions. Part of this calculation involves computing a Spencer cohomology group which, by analogy with a similar result in eleven dimensions, prescribes a notion of Killing spinor, which we identify with the defining condition for bosonic supersymmetric backgrounds of minimal off-shell supergravity in four d…
Killing forms on Riemannian manifolds are differential forms whose covariant derivative is totally skew--symmetric. We show that a compact simply connected symmetric space carries a non--parallel Killing $p$--form ($p\ge2$) if and only if it isometric to a Riemannian product $S^k\times N$, where $S^k$ is a round sphere and $k>p$.
We calculate the Spencer cohomology of the $(1,0)$ Poincaré superalgebras in six dimensions: with and without R-symmetry. As the cases of four and eleven dimensions taught us, we may read off from this calculation a Killing spinor equation which allows the determination of which geometries admit rigidly supersymmetric theories in this dimension. We prove that the resulting Killing spinors generate a Lie superalgebra and determine the geometries admitting the maximal number of such Killing spinors. They are divided in two branches. One branch consists of the lorentzian Lie groups with bi-invari…
We consider Lie groups equipped with a left-invariant cyclic Lorentzian metric. As in the Riemannian case, in terms of homogeneous structures, such metrics can be considered as different as possible from bi-invariant metrics. We show that several results concerning cyclic Riemannian metrics do not extend to their Lorentzian analogues, and obtain a full classification of three- and four-dimensional cyclic Lorentzian metrics.
We calculate the relevant Spencer cohomology of the minimal Poincaré superalgebra in 5 spacetime dimensions and use it to define Killing spinors via a connection on the spinor bundle of a 5-dimensional lorentzian spin manifold. We give a definition of bosonic backgrounds in terms of this data. By imposing constraints on the curvature of the spinor connection, we recover the field equations of minimal (ungauged) 5-dimensional supergravity, but also find a set of field equations for an $\mathfrak{sp}(1)$-valued one-form which we interpret as the bosonic data of a class of rigid supersymmetric th…
The tangent bundle of a Riemannian manifold (M,g) with non-degenerated g-natural metric G that admits a Killing vector field is investigated. Using Taylor's formula (TM,G) is decomposed into four classes that are investigated separately. The equivalence of the existence of Killing vector field on M and TM is proved. Key words: Riemannian manifold, tangent bundle, g-natural metric, Killing vector field, non-degenerate metric.
On a smooth $n$-manifold $M$ with $n \geq 3$, we study pairs $(g,T)$ consisting of a Riemannian metric $g$ and a unit length closed vector field $T$. Motivated by how Ricci solitons generalize Einstein metrics via a distinguished vector field, we propose to generalize space forms by considering those pairs $(g,T)$ whose corresponding Lorentzian metric $g_{\scriptscriptstyle L} = g - 2T^{\flat} \otimes T^{\flat}$ has constant curvature. We show by examples that such pairs exist when $M$ is noncompact, and that complete metrics exist among them. When $M$ is compact, however, the situation is mor…
We consider a contact manifold with a pseudo-Riemannian metric and define a contact vector field intrinsically associated to this pair of structures. We call this new differential invariant the contact Riemannian curl. On a Riemannian manifold, Killing vector fields are those that annihilate the metric; a Killing $1$-form is obtained from a Killing vector field by lowering indices. We show that the contact Riemannian curl vanishes if the metric is of constant curvature and the contact structure is defined by a Killing $1$-form. We also show that the contact Riemannian curl has a strong similar…
The notion of $Γ$-symmetric space is a natural generalization of the classical notion of symmetric space based on $\z_2$-grading of Lie algebras. In our case, we consider homogeneous spaces $G/H$ such that the Lie algebra $\g$ of $G$ admits a $Γ$-grading where $Γ$ is a finite abelian group. In this work we study Riemannian metrics and Lorentzian metrics on the Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}_3$ adapted to the symmetries of a $Γ$-symmetric structure on $\mathbb{H}_3$. We prove that the classification of $\z_2^2$-symmetric Riemannian and Lorentzian metrics on $\mathbb{H}_3$ corresponds to the class…
It is known that all left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metrics on $H_3$ are algebraic Ricci solitons. We consider generalizations of Riemannian $H$-type, namely pseudo$H$-type and $pH$-type. We study algebraic Ricci solitons of left-invariant Lorentzian metrics on 2-step nilpotent Lie groups of both types.
The paper is devoted to metric connections with parallel skew-symmetric torsion in Lorentzian signature. This is motivated by recent progress in the Riemannian signature and by possible applications to supergravity theories. We provide a complete information about holonomy algebras, torsion and curvature of the considered connections up to the corresponding objects from the Riemannian signature. Various examples are constructed. It is shown how to construct all simply connected Lorentzian naturally reductive homogeneous spaces of arbitrary dimension from Riemannian naturally reductive homogene…
We determine the space of commuting symmetries of the Laplace operator on pseudo-Riemannian manifolds of constant curvature, and derive its algebra structure. Our construction is based on the Riemannian tractor calculus, allowing to construct a prolongation of the differential system for symmetric Killing tensors. We also discuss some aspects of its relation to projective differential geometry.
Killing vector fields of constant length correspond to isometries of constant displacement. Those in turn have been used to study homogeneity of Riemannian and Finsler quotient manifolds. Almost all of that work has been done for group manifolds or, more generally, for symmetric spaces. This paper extends the scope of research on constant length Killing vector fields to a class of Riemannian normal homogeneous spaces.
We study left-invariant Killing $k$-forms on simply connected $2$-step nilpotent Lie groups endowed with a left-invariant Riemannian metric. For $k=2,3$, we show that every left-invariant Killing $k$-form is a sum of Killing forms on the factors of the de Rham decomposition. Moreover, on each irreducible factor, non-zero Killing $2$-forms define (after some modification) a bi-invariant orthogonal complex structure and non-zero Killing $3$-forms arise only if the Riemannian Lie group is naturally reductive when viewed as a homogeneous space under the action of its isometry group. In both cases,…
