Ricci-flat and Einstein pseudoriemannian nilmanifolds

Abstract

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.

30 pages, 1 figure. v2: added a comment on a recent example of an Einstein nilpotent Lie algebra of dimension 7; added a remark and a question concerning the characteristically nilpotent case; replaced the "σ-compatible" condition with the more general "σ-diagonal"; added 3 references