Killing vector fields on Riemannian and Lorentzian 3-manifolds
Abstract
We give a complete local classification of all Riemannian 3-manifolds admitting a nonvanishing Killing vector field . 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 of and the function , where is the Ricci tensor; in fact their sum appears as the Gaussian curvature of the quotient metric obtained from the action of . Our classification generalizes that of Sasakian structures, which is the special case when . We also give necessary, and separately, sufficient conditions, both expressed in terms of , for to be locally conformally flat. We then move from the local to the global setting, and prove two results: in the event that has unit length and the coordinates derived in our classification are globally defined on , we give conditions under which completely determines when the metric will be geodesically complete. In the event that the 3-manifold is compact, we give a condition stating when it admits a metric of constant positive sectional curvature.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2011.01144,
title = {Killing vector fields on Riemannian and Lorentzian 3-manifolds},
author = {Amir Babak Aazami and Robert Ream},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.01144},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
Final published version; minor changes; fixed a typo in the statement of Theorem 1