Four-dimensional Einstein manifolds with Heisenberg symmetry

Abstract

We classify Einstein metrics on ${\mathbb{R}}^4$ invariant under a four-dimensional group of isometries including a principal action of the Heisenberg group. The metrics are either Ricci-flat or of negative Ricci curvature. We show that all of the Ricci-flat metrics, including the simplest ones which are hyper-Kähler, are incomplete. By contrast, those of negative Ricci curvature contain precisely two complete examples: the complex hyperbolic metric and a metric of cohomogeneity one known as the one-loop deformed universal hypermultiplet.

22 pages, no figures. v2: minor corrections, new references added