3 research outputs found
The type N Karlhede bound is sharp
We present a family of four-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds whose invariant
classification requires the seventh covariant derivative of the curvature
tensor. The spacetimes in questions are null radiation, type N solutions on an
anti-de Sitter background. The large order of the bound is due to the fact that
these spacetimes are properly , i.e., curvature homogeneous of order 2
but non-homogeneous. This means that tetrad components of are constant, and that essential coordinates first appear as
components of . Covariant derivatives of orders 4,5,6 yield one
additional invariant each, and is needed for invariant
classification. Thus, our class proves that the bound of 7 on the order of the
covariant derivative, first established by Karlhede, is sharp. Our finding
corrects an outstanding assertion that invariant classification of
four-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds requires at most .Comment: 7 pages, typos corrected, added citation and acknowledgemen