English

Locally homogeneous pp-waves

Differential Geometry 2016-09-12 v2 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We show that every n-dimensional locally homogeneous pp-wave is a plane wave, provided it is indecomposable and its curvature operator, when acting on 22-forms, has rank greater than one. As a consequence we obtain that indecomposable, Ricci-flat locally homogeneous pp-waves are plane waves. This generalises a classical result by Jordan, Ehlers and Kundt in dimension 4. Several examples show that our assumptions on indecomposability and the rank of the curvature are essential.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1410.3572,
  title  = {Locally homogeneous pp-waves},
  author = {Wolfgang Globke and Thomas Leistner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1410.3572},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

In v2 Example 4.3 is added which shows that in the main theorems the assumption on the rank of the curvature is essential

R2 v1 2026-06-22T06:22:28.392Z