Indefinite Einstein metrics on simple Lie groups

Abstract

The set E of Levi-Civita connections of left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian Einstein metrics on a given semisimple Lie group always includes D, the Levi-Civita connection of the Killing form. For the groups SU(l,j) (or SL(n,R), or SL(n,C) or, if n is even, SL(n/2,IH)), with 0<=j<=l and j+l>2 (or, n>2), we explicitly describe the connected component C of E, containing D. It turns out that C, a relatively-open subset of E, is also an algebraic variety of real dimension 2lj (or, real/complex dimension [n^2/2] or, respectively, real dimension 4[n^2/8]), forming a union of (j + 1)(j + 2)/2 (or, [n^2]+1 or, respectively, [n/4] + 1) orbits of the adjoint action. In the case of SU(n) one has 2lj=0, so that a positive-definite multiple of the Killing form is isolated among suitably normalized left-invariant Riemannian Einstein metrics on SU(n).