New quasi-Einstein metrics on a two-sphere

Abstract

We construct all axi-symmetric non-gradient $m$-quasi-Einstein structures on a two-sphere. This includes the spatial cross-section of the extreme Kerr black hole horizon corresponding to $m=2$, as well as a family of new regular metrics with $m\ne 2$ given in terms of hypergeometric functions. We also show that in the case $m=-1$ with vanishing cosmological constant the only orientable compact solution in dimension two is the flat torus, which proves that there are no compact surfaces with a metrisable affine connection with skew Ricci tensor.

v2: minor edits, reference added. v3: minor edits, to appear in the Journal of Geometric Analysis