Geometric structures on Lie groups with flat bi-invariant metric

Abstract

Let L\subset V=\bR^{k,l} be a maximally isotropic subspace. It is shown that any simply connected Lie group with a bi-invariant flat pseudo-Riemannian metric of signature (k,l) is 2-step nilpotent and is defined by an element η\in Λ^3L\subset Λ^3V. If ηis of type (3,0)+(0,3) with respect to a skew-symmetric endomorphism J with J^2=\e Id, then the Lie group {\cal L}(η) is endowed with a left-invariant nearly Kähler structure if \e =-1 and with a left-invariant nearly para-Kähler structure if \e =+1. This construction exhausts all complete simply connected flat nearly (para-)Kähler manifolds. If η\neq 0 has rational coefficients with respect to some basis, then {\cal L}(η) admits a lattice Γ, and the quotient Γ\setminus {\cal L}(η) is a compact inhomogeneous nearly (para-)Kähler manifold. The first non-trivial example occurs in six dimensions.