a

r
X
i
v
:
1
0
1
0
.
2
1
9
4
v
1


[
m
a
t
h
.
D
G
]


1
1

O
c
t

2
0
1
0
RIEMANNIAN FOLIATIONS AND THE TOPOLOGY OF
LORENTZIAN MANIFOLDS
KORDIAN L

ARZ
Abstract. A parallel lightlike vector eld on a Lorentzian manifold X nat-
urally denes a foliation F of codimension one. If either all leaves of F are
compact or X itself is compact admitting a compact leaf and the (transverse)
Ricci curvature is non-negative then a Bochner type argument implies that the
rst Betti number of X is bounded by 1 b
1
dimX if X is compact and
0 b
1
dimX 1 otherwise. We show that these bounds are optimal and
depending on the holonomy of X we obtain further results. Finally, we classify
the holonomy representations for those X admitting a compact leaf with nite
fundamental group.
1. The Class of Decent Spacetimes
Let (X, g
L
) be a Lorentzian manifold and
L
its Levi-Civita connection.
1
Sup-
pose (X, g
L
) admits a
L
-parallel lightlike subbundle TX of rank one, i.e.,

L
(U X, ) (U, ). We write

TX for its orthogonal complement.

Thus,

has codimension one. Being a

L
-parallel subbundle, and there-
fore

induce a foliation A of dimension one and a foliation A

of codimension
one on X. Consider the vector bundle o := Coker(

). We have an induced
metric h
S
and an induced connection
S
on o. Moreover, h
S
has Riemannian sig-
nature and
S
h
S
= 0. We call (o, h
S
,
S
) the (canonical) screen bundle of (X, g).
Given a non-canonical splitting s of the exact sequence
0
//

//

//
o
s
tt
//
0
we dene S := s(o) and call it a (non-canonical) realization of o in TX. The
connection
L
on X induces a connection on S given by
S
:= pr
S

L
[
S
.
The canonical bundle morphism S
F
o is easily shown to be a vector bun-
dle isomorphism such that
S
= F

S
and g[
SS
= F

h
S
, i.e., Hol(S,
S
) =
Hol(o,
S
). Since S

and S

TX has signature (1, 1) the light cone in S

p
is the union of two lines one of which is given by
p
and we derive
Corollary 1.1. Given a realization S TX of the screen bundle of (X, g
L
) there
is a uniquely dened lightlike subbundle TX of rank one with the following
property: If V (U X, ) then there exists a unique section Z (U X, )
such that g
L
(V, Z) = 1.
Using locally future pointing sections as well as Cor. 1.1 and a partition of unity
we conclude that the following are equivalent.
admits a nowhere vanishing section,
(X, g
L
) is time-orientable,
A

is transversely orientable.
2000 Mathematics Subject Classication. 53C29, 53C50.
Key words and phrases. Lorentzian geometry, holonomy group, Riemannian foliation, pp-wave.
Acknowledgment: I am grateful to Helga Baum for many useful discussions on the topic.
1
All manifolds are assumed to be connected, Lorentzian manifolds are assumed to be orientable.
1
2 KORDIAN L

ARZ
Since is
L
-parallel any global section is recurrent.
2
Denition 1.2. Let (X, g
L
) be a Lorentzian manifold and V (X, TX) a global
nowhere vanishing lightlike vector eld. We say (X, g
L
, V ) is an
(1) almost decent spacetime if
L

V = ()V for some 1-form (X, T

X).
(2) decent spacetime if it is almost decent and [

= 0.
For an almost decent spacetime we always assume that V (X, ) is future
pointing. Next, we characterize the class of almost decent spacetimes in the class of
Lorentzian manifolds. If (X, g
L
) is an arbitrary Lorentzian manifold let hol
p
(X, g
L
)
be its holonomy algebra at p X. Then hol
p
(X, g
L
) has the Borel-Lichnerowicz
property, i.e., there is an orthogonal decomposition T
p
X = E
0
. . . E

into
non-degenerate hol
p
(X, g
L
)-invariant subspaces and a corresponding decomposition
hol
p
(X, g
L
) = h
1
. . . h

into commuting ideals such that each h

j
so(E
j
, g
L
[
Ej
)
acts weakly irreducibly on E
j
and trivially on E
i
for i ,= j. Using [DSO01] we
derive three possible cases:
(1) E
0
= 0 or g
L
[
E0
is positive denite and h
i
acts irreducibly for i 1. In this
case, we may assume that g
L
[
Ej
is positive denite for j 2. Hence, h
j
acts as an irreducible Riemannian holonomy representation for j 2 and
h
1
= so(1, n + 1).
(2) E
0
,= 0 and g
L
[
E0
is negative denite or of Lorentzian signature. Thus,
g
L
[
Ej
is positive denite and h
j
acts as an irreducible Riemannian holonomy
representation for j 1.
(3) E
0
= 0 or g
L
[
E0
is positive denite, h
j
acts as an irreducible Riemannian
holonomy representation for j 2 and h
1
so(1, n + 1) is weakly irre-
ducible but not irreducible. In this case, h
1
leaves a degenerate subspace
W invariant.
In the rst case, hol
p
(X, g
L
) does not leave any lightlike line invariant. Hence,
(X, g
L
) is not almost decent. There is no general statement for the second case.
However, if (X, g
L
) is given by the last case then it is almost decent if it is time-
orientable. Let us explain this fact. First, we have an h
1
-invariant line W W

.
If v is a lightlike vector in T
p
X spanning the invariant line then Hol
0
(X, g
L
)
Stab(R v) SO
0
(T
p
X). If we identify T
p
X with R
1,n+1
then it can be shown that
Stab(R v)

= (R

SO(n)) R
n
. If we choose a basis (v, e
1
, . . . , e
n
, z) of R
n+2
satisfying g(e
i
, e
j
) =
ij
, g(v, z) = 1 and g(v, v) = g(z, z) = 0 then the Lie algebra
(R so(n)) R
n
of (R

SO(n)) R
n
is given by
_
_
_
_
_
a w
T
0
0 A w
0 0 a
_
_
: a R, A so(n), w R
n
_
_
_
.
Lemma 1.3. For a Lorentzian manifold (X, g
L
) whose Borel-Lichnerowicz decom-
position is given by
T
p
X = E
0
. . . E

and hol
p
(X, g
L
) = h
1
. . . h

with E
i
positive denite for i ,= 1 and h
1
,= so(1, n+1) let W W

be an isotropic
h
1
-invariant subspace. Then W W

E
1
is invariant under the action of the
full holonomy group Hol(X, g
L
).
Proof. The idea is to apply Hol(X, g
L
) Norm
O(1,dimX1)
(Hol
0
(X, g
L
)). For
v W W

we have h
1
v R v. Let H
i
be the connected Lie subgroup of
Hol
0
(X, g
L
) whose Lie algebra is h
i
. For any h Hol
0
(X, g
L
) we have h(v) =
h
v
since H
i
acts trivially on E
1
for i ,= 1. Therefore, (g
1
hg)(g
1
v) =
h
g
1
(v) for
2
We say V (U, TX) is recurrent if
L

V =
U
()V for some 1-form
U
(U, T

X).
RIEMANNIAN FOLIATIONS AND THE TOPOLOGY OF LORENTZIAN MANIFOLDS 3
g Norm
O(1,dimX1)
(Hol
0
(X, g
L
)) and h Hol
0
(X, g
L
). For 0 i let
v
i
E
i
such that g
1
(v) = v
0
+ . . . + v

. Using H
i
g
1
Hol
0
(X, g
L
)g we derive
R g
1
(v) h g
1
(v) = v
0
+ . . . + v
i1
+ h v
i
+ v
i+1
+ . . . + v

for all h H
i
.
Therefore, h v
i
R v
i
and for i 2 we conclude v
i
= 0 since H
i
acts irreducibly.
Hence, g
1
(v) = v
0
+ v
1
.
On the other hand, we have R g
1
(v) h g
1
(v) = v
0
+ h v
1
for all h H
1
.
Hence, v
1
R v since H
1
acts weakly irreducibly and reducibly on E
1
. If v
0
,= 0
we derive the contradiction 0 = g
1
(v), g
1
(v) = v
0
, v
0
+ 2 v
0
, v
1
+ v
1
, v
1
=
v
0
, v
0
, = 0 since E
0
is denite. Therefore, g
1
(v) R v and Hol(X, g
L
) v
R v.
We conclude that WW

corresponds to a
L
-parallel lightlike subbundle
TX of rank one. If (X, g
L
) is time-orientable
3
we have a global section V (X, ),
i.e., (X, g
L
, V ) is almost decent.
2. A Lorentzian - Riemannian Dictionary
Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime and S a realization of the screen
bundle. Using Cor. 1.1 we x Z (X, ) and dene the following Riemannian
metric on X.
g
R
(A, B) :=
_

_
1 if A = B = V or A = B = Z,
g
L
(A, B) if A, B S,
0 otherwise.
Given a choice for S and V we say g
R
is the (V, S)-metric associated to g
L
. We
have TA

= S and = (TA

g
R
where (TA

g
R
is the normal bundle of
TA

TX w.r.t. g
R
.
Denition 2.1. Let (X, T) be a foliated manifold and (U, TT) the vector elds
on U X tangent to T.
(1) A Riemannian metric g
R
on X is bundle-like w.r.t. T if (L
V
g)(Y
1
, Y
2
) = 0
for any open subset U X and all V (U, TT), Y

(U, TT

g
R
).
(2) We say (X, T) is transversely parallelizable if there exists a global frame
(

Y
1
, . . . ,

Y
codimF
) for TX/
TT
and global sections Y
i
(X, TX) such that
[Y
i
, TT] TT and

Y
i
= pr
TX/
TT
(Y
i
) for all 1 i codimT.
Lemma 2.2. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime. For any realization of
the screen bundle S the following are equivalent.
(1) The (V, S)-metric g
R
is bundle-like w.r.t. A

and (X, A

) is transversely
parallelizable,
(2) the 1-form g
L
(V, ) dening A

is closed and
(3) (X, g
L
) is decent, i.e., [

= 0.
Proof. Suppose [

= 0. Let V (X, ) and x Z (X, ). We have to

show (L
W
g
R
)(Z, Z) = 0 for all W (U,

). Using g
R
(, Z) = g
L
(, V ) we derive
g
R
(
L
W
Z, Z) = g
L
(
L
W
Z, V ) = g
L
(Z,
L
W
V ) = (W) and
(L
W
g
R
)(Z, Z) = W(g
R
(Z, Z))
. .
=0
2g
R
([W, Z], Z) = 2g
R
(
L
Z
W
. .

, Z) 2g
R
(
L
W
Z, Z)
= 2(W).
3
If (X, g) is not time-orientable we may consider its 2-fold time-orientation cover. The global
nowhere vanishing section V (X, ) is recurrent but not necessarily parallel even if h
1
annihi-
lates a vector. In fact, we derive a class in H
1
(X, R) induced by
1
(X) Holp(
L
)/
Hol
0
p
(
L
)

R where the last morphism is induced by pr
p
Holp(
L
)|
p
.
4 KORDIAN L

ARZ
Thus, g
R
is bundle-like w.r.t. A

. Moreover, pr
Z
([W, Z]) := g
R
([W, Z], Z)Z =
(W)Z and Z is globally dened, i.e., the foliation A

is transversely paralleliz-
able. For the last statement we compute
d(g
L
(V, ))(W, Z) = g
L
(
L
W
V, Z) g
L
(
L
Z
V, W)
= (W)g
L
(V, Z) (Z)g
L
(V, W) = (W).
For the converse we follow these equations backwards.
Lemma 2.3. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime and /

a leaf of

.
Let S be any realization of the screen bundle.
(1) The restriction g
R
[
L
of the (V, S)-metric is bundle-like w.r.t. the foliation
(/

, A[
L
).
4
(2) The (V, S)-metric is bundle-like w.r.t. the foliation (X, A) if and only if
(V ) = 0
5
and [V, Z] (X, ).
Proof. Since g
R
[
SS
= g
L
[
SS
we have for any Y
1
, Y
2
(U, S)
(L
V
g
R
)(Y
1
, Y
2
) = V (g
L
(Y
1
, Y
2
)) g
L
([V, Y
1
], Y
2
) g
L
([V, Y
2
], Y
1
)
= g
L
(
L
V
Y
1
, Y
2
) + g
L
(Y
1
,
L
V
Y
2
) g
L
([V, Y
1
], Y
2
) g
L
([V, Y
2
], Y
1
)
= g
L
(
L
Y1
V, Y
2
) + g
L
(Y
1
,
L
Y2
V ) = 0
For the second statement we need to show (L
V
g
R
)(Y
1
, Y
2
) = 0 for any Y
1
, Y
2

(U, S ). If Y
1
= Z and Y
2
(U, S) we derive
(L
V
g
R
)(Z, Y
2
) = V (g
R
(Z, Y
2
)) g
R
([V, Z], Y
2
) g
R
([V, Y
2
], Z)
= g
L
([V, Z], Y
2
) g
L
([V, Y
2
]
. .

, V ) = g
L
([V, Z], Y
2
).
For Y
1
= Y
2
= Z we have (L
V
g
R
)(Z, Z) = V (g
R
(Z, Z)) 2g
R
([V, Z], Z) = 2(V ).
Since g
L
(
L
V
Z, V ) = (V ) we conclude [V, Z] (X, ) if (V ) = 0 and [V, Z]
(X, ).
For a foliated manifold (X, T) let X/
T
be its set of leaves and
: X X/
T
, p (leaf through p).
For Riemannian foliations this map has been studied in [Her60], [Rei61], [Esc82]
and [Mol88]. Given the results in [Con74] and Lemma 2.2 we have
Corollary 2.4 (Conlon [Con74]). For a decent spacetime (X, g
L
, V ) all leaves of
(X, A

) have trivial leaf-holonomy. Suppose there is a realization of the screen

bundle such that Z is complete and let /

be a leaf of A

.
(1) If there is no leaf of A

which is closed in X then each leaf is dense in X.

(2) We have

X =

/

R where

X,

/

denote the universal covers of X, /

.
(3) If there is a closed leaf then X X/
A

is a smooth ber bundle and

X/
A

R, S
1
.
(4) The inclusion /

X induces a monomorphism
1
(/

)
1
(X) onto a
normal subgroup. If X is compact then
1
(X)/

1
(/

)
= Z
r
for some r 1
and r = 1 if and only if /

is closed in X.
A spacetime (X, g
L
) is said to be distinguishing at p X if for any neighborhood
U p there is a neighborhood V U such that p V and any (piecewise smooth)
causal curve : [a, b] X with (a) = p and (b) V is contained in V . We say
4
This fact seems to be well known and the rst reference I could nd is [Zeg99].
5
The integral curves of V are g
L
-geodesics if and only if (V ) = 0 since
L

V = ()V .
RIEMANNIAN FOLIATIONS AND THE TOPOLOGY OF LORENTZIAN MANIFOLDS 5
(X, g
L
) is a distinguishing spacetime if it is distinguishing for all p X. On the
causality ladder (cf. [MS08]) we have
strongly causal distinguishing causal.
Proposition 2.5. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime.
(1) If (X, g
L
) is causal then the leaves of the foliated manifolds (X, A) and
(/

, A[
L
) have trivial leaf holonomy. Moreover, X is not compact.
(2) If (X, g
L
) is distinguishing at p X then the leaf /

of A

through p is
not compact.
(3) If (X, g
L
) is distinguishing then each leaf of A is a closed subset in X and
each leaf of A[
L
is a closed subset in /

.
Proof. Any curve in a leaf / of A is lightlike, i.e.,
1
(/) = 0 since (X, g
L
) is causal.
Suppose /

is compact. There is a bundle-like Riemannian metric on the com-

pact foliated manifold (/

, A[
L
). Consider the leaf / /

of A[
L
through p.
If / is closed in /

then it is compact, i.e., we have a closed lightlike curve through

p. In this case (X, g
L
) would not be causal at p. On the other hand, if / is not
closed in /

then

/ /

is dieomorphic to a torus in /

by [Car84] and (X, g

L
)
is not distinguishing at p.
Let / /

be a leaf of A. Suppose we have q

/ / where the closure
is taken w.r.t. X. For any X-open neighborhood U q we can nd p
U
/
U. In particular, we may choose U to be a coordinate neighborhood ball such
that

U

U where

U is a Walker coordinate neighborhood, i.e., g
L
= 2dxdz +
u

dy

dz + fdz
2
+ g

dy

dy

in

U and V span
x
. In these coordinates we
have p
U
= (x
0
, y
1
0
. . . . , y
n
0
, z
0
) and a curve segment : [0, b] U with t (t +
x
0
, y
1
0
, . . . , y
n
0
, z
0
). Thus, implies ([0, b]) / and since

U

U we may
assume (b) / U. Finally, we can nd p
U
/U such that p
U
/ (, y
1
0
, . . . , y
n
0
, z
0
)
and since / is connected there is a curve in / connecting (b) and p
U
. Therefore,
we have a (piecewise smooth) lightlike curve from p
U
to p
U
which leaves U and
(X, g
L
) is not distinguishing at q. Hence, / is closed in X and being the preimage
of a closed set under /

X it is closed in /

.
Consider a leaf /

in a distinguishing almost decent spacetime. By Prop. 2.5 all

leaves of the foliation A[
L
are closed with vanishing fundamental group. Hence,
/

/
A
is a submersion if /

/
A
is Hausdor [Sha97]. Since g
R
[
L
is bundle-
like a sucient condition is that all segments of horizontal geodesics, i.e., (0)
S[
L
, can be indenitely extended (cf. [Her60]). However, for Y

(U, S) the
Koszul formula implies g
R
(
R
Y1
Y
2
, Y
3
) = g
L
(
L
Y1
Y
2
, Y
3
). Hence, a curve tangent
to S is a horizontal geodesic if
S

= 0.
Example 2.6. Let (M, g) be a simply connected compact Riemannian manifold
and f C

(M). For > 0 and L R, S

1
dene X := S
1
L M and
g
L

:= 2dxdz + fdz
2
+ g
where dx and dz are the standard coordinate 1-forms on S
1
L. If f C

(M)
is suitable then (X, g
L

) is weakly irreducible where

x
is
g
L

-parallel. Moreover,
the leaves of (X, A

) are compact and the universal cover of (X, g

L

) is globally
hyperbolic if is suciently small.
Proof. Each leaf of A

is dieomorphic to S
1
M and the universal cover of X is
given by R
2
M. The pullback of g
L

to R
2
M is of the form 2dxdz +fdz
2
+g
where x and z are the standard coordinates on R
2
. Bazaikin has shown in [Baz09,
Thm. 2] that this metric is globally hyperbolic if is suciently small.
6 KORDIAN L

ARZ
For a Riemannian foliation (X, T) with a bundle-like metric g
R
the transverse
Levi-Civita connection
T
on (TT)

is given by

T
X
Y =
_

(TF)
(
g
R
X
Y ) X (TT)

(TF)
([X, Y ]) X TT,
where Y (U, (TT)

). Consider the foliation (/

, A[
L
) with the (V, S)-metric
g
R
[
L
. Any local section

V (U, ) is given by

V = fV . Hence,

V
Y =
(TF)
(
L

V
Y )
(TF)
(
L
Y
fV
. .

) =
(TF)
(
L

V
Y ) =
S

V
Y
and using g
R
(
R
Y1
Y
2
, Y
3
) = g
L
(
L
Y1
Y
2
, Y
3
) we conclude
Corollary 2.7. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime and /

a leaf of A

.
For any realization S of the screen bundle the transverse Levi-Civita connection
coincides with
S
[
L
.
Denition 2.8. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime. If S is a realization
of the screen bundle we say (X, g
L
, V, S) is
almost horizontal if (Y ) = g
L
(Z,
L
V
Y ) or equivalently [V, Y ] S for any
local section Y (U, S),
horizontal if it is almost horizontal and decent.
Hence,
L
V
Y (U, S) for any section Y (U, S) if (X, g
L
, V, S) is horizontal.
In particular, d(g
L
(Z, ))(V, )[

= g
L
(Z, [V, ])[

= 0 if and only if (X, g

L
, V, S)
is almost horizontal.
Lemma 2.9. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime. If S is a realization of
the screen bundle then
(1) (X, g
L
, V, S) is almost horizontal if and only if for any leaf /

of A

the restriction of g
R
[
L
of the (V, S)-metric denes the structure of an
isometric Riemannian ow on (/

, A[
L
), i.e., L
V
g
R
(W
1
, W
2
) = 0 for all
W
1
, W
2

and V is a g
R
[
L
-Killing vector eld of constant length.
(2) The (V, S)-metric is bundle-like w.r.t. the foliation (X, A) and [
S
= 0 if
and only if (X, g
L
, V, S) is horizontal.
(3) The (V, S)-metric g
R
denes the structure of an isometric Riemannian ow
on (X, A) and [
S
= 0 if and only if (X, g
L
, V, S) is horizontal and = 0.
Proof. Lemma 2.3 implies L
V
g
R
(W
1
, W
2
) = 0 for all W
1
, W
2
S and the rst
equivalence follows from
L
V
g
R
(V, W
2
) = V (g
R
(V, W
2
))g
R
([V, V ], W
2
)g
R
([V, W
2
], V ) = g
L
([V, W
2
], Z).
If (X, g
L
, V, S) is horizontal we have a local orthonormal frame (Y
1
, . . . , Y
dimS
) for
S such that [V, Y
i
] S. Thus, g
L
(
L
V
Z, Y
i
) = g
L
(Z,
L
V
Y
i
) = 0 and pr
S
([V, Z]) =
pr
S
(
L
V
Z) imply [V, Z] (X, ). This implies the second equivalence by Lemma
2.3. For the last statement we consider L
V
g
R
(V, Z) = g
R
([V, Z], V ) = (Z).
Proposition 2.10. Let (X, g
L
, V, S) be a horizontal spacetime. If f C

(X)
is (X, A)-basic, i.e., V (f) = 0, then (X, g
f
) is a horizontal spacetime where the
transverse conformal change g
f
of g
L
by f is dened by
g
f
:=
_

_
g
f
[
SS
= e
f
g
L
[
SS
,
g
f
(V, V ) = g
f
(Z, Z) = g
f
(V, S) = g
f
(Z, S) = 0,
g
f
(V, Z) = 1.
RIEMANNIAN FOLIATIONS AND THE TOPOLOGY OF LORENTZIAN MANIFOLDS 7
Proof. First, we show that
f

V =
L

V . Let (V, Y
1
, . . . , Y
dimS
, Z) be a local frame
of (X, g
L
) where (Y

is a g
L
-orthonormal frame for S. The Koszul formula and
[

= 0 imply for U
1
, U
2
V, Y

, Z
2g
f
(
f
U1
V, U
2
) = V g
f
(U
1
, U
2
) + g
f
([U
1
, V ], U
2
) g
f
([V, U
2
], U
1
).
If U
1
= U
2
= Z we derive 2g
f
(
f
Z
V, Z) = 2g
L
(
L
Z
V, Z) = 2(Z). If U
1
, U
2

we have [V, U

. Hence,
2g
f
(
f
U1
V, U
2
) = V (e
f
)g
L
(U
1
, U
2
)
+ e
f
(V g
L
(U
1
, U
2
) + g
L
([U
1
, V ], U
2
) g
L
([V, U
2
], U
1
))
= V (e
f
)g
L
(U
1
, U
2
) = 0
since f is (X, A)-basic. If U
1
= Z and U
2
S we conclude 2g
f
(
f
U1
V, U
2
) =
e
f
g
L
([Z, V ], U
2
) g
L
([V, U
2
], Z) = (e
f
1)g
L
(Z,
L
V
U
2
) = 0 since (X, g
L
) is hori-
zontal. The case U
1
S and U
2
= Z is similar. On the other hand, U
1
= V and
U
2
= Z implies 2g
f
(
f
U1
V, U
2
) = g
L
([V, Z], V ) = (V ) = 0. Finally,
2g
f
(
f
V
Y

, Z) = g
f
([V, Y

]
. .
S
, Z) g
f
([V, Z], Y

) g
f
([Y

, Z], V )
= e
f
g
L
(Z,
L
V
Y

. .
S
) + g
L
(Z,
L
Y
V ) = 0.
Hence, (X, g
f
) is horizontal.
If (X, g
L
) is a Walker coordinate neighborhood of the form g
L
= 2dxdz +
u

dy

dz + hdz
2
+ g

dy

dy

and we choose V :=
x
and Z :=
z

1
2
h
x
then
the transverse conformal change is given by g
f
= 2dxdz + u

dy

dz + hdz
2
+
e
f
g

dy

dy

.
If (X, g
L
, V, S) is horizontal then [V, Z] (X, ), i.e., V and Z induce a 2-
dimensional foliation on X. The (V, S)-metric g
R
is bundle-like w.r.t. this foliation
if (L
Z
g
R
)[
SS
= 0. If (X, g
L
) is a Walker coordinate neighborhood as above this
condition corresponds to
z
g

= 0.
Corollary 2.11. Let (X, g
L
, V, S) be an almost horizontal spacetime and /

a leaf
of A

. If all leaves of A[
L
are compact then the projection /

/
A[
L

is a
principal S
1
-orbibundle over /

/
A[
L

for which S[
L
denes a connection whose
connection 1-form is g
L
(Z, ).
Proof. Since (X, g
L
, V, S) is almost horizontal (/

, A[
L
, g
R
[
L
) is an isometric
ow and the statement follows from [Mol88, Prop. 3.7] and a theorem of Wadsley.
See [BG08, Thm. 6.3.8] or [SS09, Prop. 3] for the details.
The following examples of horizontal spacetimes show that the leaves of A and
A

are not necessarily closed.

Example 2.12. Let (M := S
1
S
1
, g) be the at torus and a R Q. Write
x
,

y
for the standard coordinate vector elds on M and dene := g(
x

1
a

y
, ).
The trivial S
1
-bundle S
1
T
2
admits a weakly irreducible horizontal Lorentzian
metric g
L
such that the leaves of A are the bers of the bundle. Moreover, all
leaves of A

are dense in S
1
T
2
.
Proof. The construction of the metric is a special case of [L ar08, Prop. 3.1]. There
the foliation A

is dened by

. If := g(
x

1
a

y
, ) then Ker = span
x
+
a
y
. Hence, the leaves of

are dense in S
1
T
2
.
8 KORDIAN L

ARZ
Example 2.13. Let X := T
2
S
1
where T
2
:= S
1
S
1
and a R Q. Write

x
,
y
for the standard coordinate vector elds of T
2
and
z
for the last standard
coordinate vector eld in T
2
S
1
. For f C

(T
2
) dene g
L
f
by
g
L
f
(
x
+ a
y
,
x
+ a
y
) = g
L
f
(
x
+ a
y
,
y
) = g
L
f
(
y
,
z
) = 0,
g
L
f
(
x
+ a
y
,
z
) = g
L
f
(
y
,
y
) = 1 and g
L
f
(
z
,
z
) = f.
Then we have
g
L
f

(
x
+ a
y
) = ()(
x
+a
y
) such that [

= 0 and Hol(X, g
L
f
) =
RR for a suitable choice of f. In particular, /

= T
2
for any leaf of A

and all
leaves of A are dense in T
2
. Finally, (X, g
L
f
,
x
+ a
y
, span
y
) is horizontal.
Proof. Dene V :=
x
+ a
y
. Then [V,
y
] = [V,
z
] = [
y
,
z
] = 0, i.e., locally we
have coordinates ( x, y, z) such that V =
x
,
y
=
y
and
z
=
z
. In these local
coordinates the Lorentzian metric is given by
g
L
f
= 2d xd z + fd z
2
+ d y
2
.
Since V =
x
we conclude that
L

V = ()V and [

= 0. If the restriction of
g
L
to the coordinate neighborhood U is weakly irreducible so is (X, g
L
f
). Using a
suitable choice of f C

(T
2
) we derive a weakly irreducible neighborhood (U, g
L
f
)
and

2
f
x
2
,= 0.
The maximal integral curves of V are dense in T
2
since a R Q. Moreover,

= spanV,
y
, i.e., /

= T
2
. The global vector eld
y
denes a non-canonical
realization S of the screen bundle. Hence, S admits a global nowhere vanishing
section which is
S
-parallel and we conclude Hol(X, g
L
f
) = RR. Finally,
y
=
y
and the local coordinate structure imply
L
V

y
= 0, i.e., (X, g
L
f
) is horizontal.
Example 2.6 is in fact horizontal if V :=
x
and S := TM and another class
of globally hyperbolic decent spacetimes was constructed in [BM08]. Using the
notation of [BM08] we derive horizontal spacetimes if S := TF. Finally, Tom
Krantz constructed another class of weakly irreducible spacetimes which are almost
horizontal by [Kra10, Prop. 4].
3. Ricci Comparison for Decent Spacetimes
Let (X, T) be a foliated manifold. A dierential r-form on X is X-basic or
basic if V = 0 and L
V
= 0. We derive a sheaf of germs of basic r-forms
and write
r
B
T for its space of global sections. By denition, if is basic so is d.
Hence, we have the basic cohomology ring H

B
(X, T) of (X, T). If X is connected we
have H
0
B
(X, T) = R and a group monomorphism H
1
B
(X, T) H
1
(X, R) induced
by
1
B
T
1
TX (cf. [BG08][Prop. 2.4.1]).
Let (X, g
L
, V ) be a decent spacetime and consider the (V, S)-metric g
R
for some
realization S of the screen bundle. If X is compact we have b
1
(X) 1 by Cor.2.4
and if A

admits a compact leaf the projection onto the space of leaves is a ber
bundle X S
1
whose bers are the leaves of A

. Hence, X is a mapping torus, i.e.,

if /

is a leaf of A

there is a dieomorphism F of /

such that X = /

[0, 1]/

where (p, 0) (F(p), 1). Using Cor. 2.4 we have b

1
(X) = b
1
(/

)+1. For the higher

Betti numbers a Mayer-Vietoris argument yields the following exact sequence in
singular homology
H
i
(/

)
IdF
i

H
i
(/

)

H
i
(X) H
i1
(/

)
IdF
i1

H
i1
(/

)
where F
i

is the morphism induced by F and : /

X is the inclusion. On
the other hand, if X is non-compact and all leaves of A

are compact then the

natural projection induces a ber bundle map X R [Sha97], i.e., X

= /

R
and b
i
(X) = b
i
(/

).
RIEMANNIAN FOLIATIONS AND THE TOPOLOGY OF LORENTZIAN MANIFOLDS 9
Consider an arbitrary almost decent spacetime (X, g
L
, V ) and suppose A

ad-
mits a compact leaf /

. If g
R
is a bundle-like Riemannian metric on the compact
foliated manifold (/

, A[
L
) and E

is the g
R
-orthogonal complement of V we
dene the mean curvature 1-form by
g
R := g
R
(pr
E
(
g
R
V
V
g
R
V
V
g
R
), ). Since /

is compact [Dom98] and [Mas00] imply the existence of a bundle-like Riemannian

metric g
B
on /

such that
g
B is basic and harmonic w.r.t. the basic Laplacian.
In this case, the Euler form e of (/

, A[
L
, g
B
) is dened using Rummlers formula
d( g
B
(
V
|V |
, )) = g
B
(
V
|V |
, )
g
B +e.
In [RP01] Royo Prieto proved the existence of a Gysin sequence for (/

, A[
L
, g
B
)
relating the basic cohomology of (/

, A[
L
) to the cohomology of /

by
6
H
i
B
(A[
L
) H
i
(/

, R) H
i1
d
g
B
(A[
L
)
[e]
H
i+1
B
(A[
L
)
Here, we write H

d
g
B
(A[
L
) for the dual basic cohomology which can be dened
in the following way. If (X, T, g
B
) is a Riemannian ow whose mean curvature
g
B
1-form is basic and harmonic w.r.t. the basic Laplacian then H

d
g
B
(X, T) is the
cohomology of the complex (

B
T, d
g
B ). It can be shown that H
i
B
(X, T)

=
H
dimL

i
d
g
B
(X, T) for all i 0 [HR10, Sec. 1.5].
For a Riemannian ow (X, T, g
B
) whose mean curvature 1-form
g
B is basic
and harmonic consider the twisted dierential d

:= d
1
2

g
B. The twisted basic
cohomology H

tw
(X, T) is dened as the cohomology of the complex (

B
T, d

) and
if

denotes the formal L

2
-adjoint of d

on

B
T the twisted basic Laplacian is
dened by

:= d

. In [HR10] Habib and Richardson proved a Hodge

decomposition theorem for

and the following Weitzenb ock formula for any basic

form

B
T

=
T

T
+

i,j
e
j
e
i
R
T
(e
i
, e
j
) +
1
4
[
g
B[
2
.
Here we write
T

for the formal L

2
-adjoint of the transverse Levi-Civita connec-
tion on basic forms and R
T
(e
i
, e
j
) := [
T
ei
,
T
ej
]
T
[ei,ej]
where (e
1
, . . . , e
dimX1
)
is a transverse orthonormal frame. For a basic 1-form Habib and Richardson
proved

, =
T

T
, + Ric
T
(

) +
1
4
[
g
B[
2
[[
2
,
where Ric
T
is the Ricci curvature of
T
.
If (X, g
L
, V ) is an almost decent spacetime and S a realization of the screen
bundle then Cor. 2.7 implies
S
[
L
=
T
where
T
is transverse Levi-Civita
connection of the Riemannian ow (/

, A[
L
, g
R
[
L
). If (Y
1
, . . . , Y
dimS
) is a local
6
We have seen in Lemma 2.9 that (L

, X|
L
, g
R
|
L
) is an isometric Riemannian ow if g
R
is the (V, S)-metric of an almost horizontal spacetime (X, g
L
, V, S). Thus,
g
R
|
L

= 0 and the
Gysin sequence for (L

, X|
L
, g
R
|
L
) is given by
H
i
B
(X|
L
) H
i
(L

, R) H
i1
B
(X|
L
)

H
i+1
B
(X|
L
)
where = [dg
L
(Z, ) ] (cf. [BG08, Thm. 7.2.1]). In particular, the Euler class is given by
[dg
L
(Z, )] H
2
B
(X|
L
).
10 KORDIAN L

ARZ
orthonormal frame of S we write E

:=
1

2
(V Z) and conclude
Ric
L
(Y

, Y

) = g
L
(R
L
(Y

, E

)E

, Y

)) +
dimS

k=1
g
L
(R
L
(Y

, Y
k
)Y
k
, Y

)
+ g
L
(R
L
(Y

, E
+
)E
+
, Y

))
= g
L
(R
L
(Y

, V )Z, Y

)
. .
=g
L
(R
L
(Z,Y

)V,Y)
+g
L
(R
L
(Y

, Z)V
. .

, Y

)
+
dimS

k=1
g
L
(R
L
(Y

, Y
k
)Y
k
, Y

)
=
dimS

k=1
g
R
(R
S
(Y

, Y
k
)Y
k
, Y

) = Ric
T
(Y

, Y

)
for the Ricci curvature Ric
L
of (X, g
L
). Note that Ric
L
(V, )[

= 0.
Proposition 3.1. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime and /

a compact
leaf of A

. If Ric
L
(W, W) 0 for all W T/

then b
1
(/

) dim/

. If
additionally Ric
L
q
(W, W) > 0 for some q /

and all W S
q
then b
1
(/

) 1.
Proof. Suppose Ric
L
(W, W) 0 and let g
B
be a bundle-like Riemannian metric
on (/

, A[
L
) having a basic and harmonic mean curvature form
g
B. By the
Hodge theorem for the basic Laplacian [EKA90] a class [] H
1
B
(A[
L
) can be
represented by a basic 1-form such that d =
B
= 0 where
B
is the L
2
-adjoint
of d[

1
B
X|
L

. In this case, the Weitzenb ock formula (cf. [HR10, Thm. 6.16]) has the
form 0 =
_
L

[
T
[
2
+
_
L

Ric
T
(

). Hence,
T
= 0, i.e., dimH
1
B
(A[
L
)
dimo for dimensional reasons. If Ric
L
q
(Y, Y ) > 0 at q /

[HR10, Cor. 6.17]

implies H
1
B
(A[
L
) = 0. Since H
0
d
g
B
(A[
L
) = H
dimL

1
B
(A[
L
) R, 0 and
0 H
1
B
(A[
L
) H
1
(/

, R) H
0
d
g
B
(A[
L
)
[e]
H
2
B
(A[
L
)
we conclude b
1
(/

) dimH
1
B
(A[
L
) + 1.
Corollary 3.2. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be a decent spacetime and /

a leaf of A

. Suppose
Ric
L
(W, W) 0 for all W T/

.
(1) If X is compact and A

admits a compact leaf then 1 b

1
(X) dimX.
(2) If X is non-compact and all leaves of A

are compact then 0 b

1
(X)
dimX 1.
Moreover, if Ric
L
q
(W, W) > 0 for some q /

and all W S
q
the bounds are
1 b
1
(X) 2 and 0 b
1
(X) 1 respectively.
Proof. Using the Mayer-Vietoris argument and Prop. 3.1 we conclude b
1
(X)
b
1
(/

) + 1 dimX if X is compact. In the non-compact case we observed X

=
/

R, i.e., b
1
(X) = b
1
(/

) dimX 1.
Proposition 3.3. The bounds in Cor. 3.2 are optimal.
Proof. First, we consider the upper bounds. If (M, g) is a compact Riemannian
manifold we derive weakly irreducible Lorentzian metrics on S
1
M R and on
S
1
M S
1
as follows: If
x
is the coordinate eld on S
1
dene g
L
:= 2dxdz +
fdz
2
+ g where
z
is the coordinate eld of the last factor and f C

(M) is
suitable. Then = TS
1
, /

= S
1
M and
S
[
L
is at if (M, g) is the at torus.
RIEMANNIAN FOLIATIONS AND THE TOPOLOGY OF LORENTZIAN MANIFOLDS 11
For the second statement let (M, g) be a compact simply connected Riemannian
manifold with strictly positive Ricci curvature. Hence, Ric
T
> 0 and the upper
bounds are optimal.
For the lower bounds let (M, g) be a compact simply connected Calabi-Yau
manifold, i.e., Hol(M, g) = SU(n). Consider the total space

M of the S
1
-bundle
given by 0 ,= H
1,1
prim
(M) H
2
(M, Z). It is shown in [L ar08, Cor. 4.4] that
X :=

M S
1
and X :=

M S
1
admit weakly irreducible Lorentzian metrics
g
L
such that Hol(X, g
L
) = SU(n) R
2n
. In particular, /

=

M and
S
[
L

is Ricci at. The Gysin sequence for the S

1
-bundles implies b
1
(/

) = 0 since
0 ,= H
2
(M, R).
Finally, we study the lower bounds if Ric
T
> 0. Let (M, g) be a compact
simply connected Riemannian manifold with strictly positive Ricci curvature and
let H
2
(M, Z) be a generator. Using the construction in [L ar08] we derive
weakly irreducible Lorentzian metrics on X =

M S
1
and on X =

M R where

M is the total space of the S

1
-bundle given by . Moreover, Ric
T
[
SS
= Ric(M, g)
and /

=

M. Hence, b
1
(/

) = 0 by the Gysin sequence.

We say (X, g
L
) satises the strong energy (timelike convergence) condition at
p X if Ric
L
p
(W, W) 0 for any timelike vector W T
p
X. If
L

V = 0 we have
Ric
L
(V, ) = 0 and Ric
L
(Z, Z) =

k
g
L
(R
L
(Z, Y
k
)Y
k
, Z) as well as Ric
L
(Z, Y
i
) =

k
g
L
(R
S
(Z, Y
k
)Y
k
, Y
i
).
Remark 3.4. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be a decent spacetime such that
L

V = 0 and p X.
If Ric
L
p
(Z, Z) = 0 and

k
R
S
p
(Z, Y
k
)Y
k
= 0 then (X, g
L
) satises the strong energy
condition at p X if and only if Ric
L
p
(W, W) 0 for all W

p
.
4. Screen Holonomy and the Topology of Decent Spacetimes
If there is an integrable realization of the screen bundle the Blumenthal-Hebda
decomposition theorem [BH83] immediately implies
Corollary 4.1. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime and /

a leaf of A

.
Suppose S is an integrable realization of the screen bundle and p /

.
(1) If g
R
[
L
is complete then

/

= R

o where

/

is the universal cover of

/

and

o is the universal cover of a leaf of S[
L
.
(2) If (X, g
L
, V, S) is horizontal such that (L
Z
g
L
)[
SS
= 0 and g
R
is complete
then

X = R
2

o where

X is the universal cover of X.
(3) In both cases, if Hol
0
(
S
) = H
1
H
2
then

o =

o
1


o
2
as Riemannian
manifolds and Hol(

o
i
) H
i
.
Proof. Since g
R
[
L
is bundle-like for (/

, A[
L
) the leaves of S[
L
are totally
geodesic in /

and we can apply the Blumenthal-Hebda theorem.

As we have seen above V and Z induce a 2-dimensional foliation on X if
(X, g
L
, V, S) is horizontal and g
R
is bundle-like for this foliation if (L
Z
g
L
)[
SS
= 0.
The Blumenthal-Hebda theorem implies

X = M

o where M the universal cover
of a leaf of the foliation induced by V and Z. Since M is a simply connected
parallelizable surface the uniformization theorem implies M

= R
2
.
The last statement follows from the de Rham decomposition theorem since
Hol(
S
[

S
) Hol(
S
[

) Hol
0
(
S
).
Remark 4.2. If M is a compact simply connected manifold and X M is an
S
1
-bundle whose Euler class is a generator of H
2
(M, Z) then the universal cover of
X is compact. Using [L ar08] we derive a decent Lorentzian metric on XR which
does not admit an integrable realization of the screen bundle. In fact, using the
12 KORDIAN L

ARZ
Milnor-Wood inequality [Woo71] we can construct 4-dimensional decent spacetimes
such that (/

, A[
L
) does not admit a transverse foliation.
By Cor. 2.7 and [Con74, Prop. 1.6] the foliated manifold (/

, A[
L
) admits
a transverse G-structure if Hol(
S
[
L
) G. Note that Hol(
S
[
L
) Hol(
S
).
The classication of Lorentzian holonomy representations, i.e., representations of
hol(X, g
L
) has been achieved by Leistner in [Lei07] and the hard part is to show
that hol(
S
) acts as a Riemannian holonomy representation. Galaev [Gal06] con-
structed real analytic decent spacetimes for all possible representations of hol(
S
)
for which hol(
S
[
L
) is trivial for any leaf /

of A

. Since hol(
S
) has the
Borel-Lichnerowicz property (cf. [Lei07, Thm. 2.1]) we have decompositions
S
p
= E
0
. . . E

and Hol
0
p
(
S
) = H
1
. . . H

where H
j
acts irreducibly on E
j
for j 1. If : [0, 1] X is a piecewise smooth
curve such that (0) = p and if
S

is the parallel displacement w.r.t.

S
along
we dene R

p
(v, w) :=
S

1
R
S
(1)
(w, v)
S

for v, w S
(1)
. The Ambrose-Singer
theorem and R
S
(V,

) = 0 imply
hol
p
(
S
[
L
) = spanR

p
(
S

v,
S

w) : v, w S
p
, : [0, 1] /

.
Moreover, each R

p
(
S

(),
S

()) is an algebraic curvature tensor on S

p
. Hence,
hol
p
(
S
[
L
) is a Berger algebra in so(S
p
), i.e., it acts as a Riemannian holonomy
representation. Since each subspace E
j
is Hol
0
p
(
S
[
L
)-invariant we may consider
/(E
j
) := spanR

p
(
S

(),
S

())[
Ej EjEj
.
Suppose 0 ,=

R /(E
k
). Then (E
k
,

R, H
k
) is an irreducible holonomy system and
Simons theorem [Sim62] implies that H
k
acts on E
k
as a Riemannian holonomy
representation.
Lemma 4.3. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime and S a realization
of the screen bundle. Suppose there is a leaf /

of A

such that (/

, g
R
[
L
) is
complete. If p /

and /(E
k
) = 0 then

/

= A R
dimE
k
where

/

is the
universal cover of /

.
Proof. Consider the foliated manifold (

/

,

A[
L
, g
R
[
L
) and the lifted connec-
tion

S
[
L
. Since

/

is simply connected we have

S
[
L
-parallel orthonormal
sections Y
1
, . . . , Y
dimE
k
(

/

,

S). An integral curve of any Y
i
is a horizon-
tal g
R
[
L
-geodesic. Hence, each Y
i
is a complete vector eld on

/

. Dene
T
Y1
:= spanY
1

T

/

. If W (U, T
Y1
) is a local section then [W, Y
1
]

S
W
Y
1

S
Y1
W +

A[
L
T
Y1
. Moreover,

T
Y1
T
Y1
. Thus, T
Y1
induces a
transversely parallelizable codimension one foliation in /

and [Con74, Prop. 5.3]

implies /

= A
Y1
R where A
Y1
is a leaf of T
Y1
. For i 2 we restrict the vector
elds Y
i
to A
Y1
. As above, we derive a transversely parallelizable codimension one
foliation on A
Y1
induced by T
Y2
:= spanY
2
[
AY
1

and Y
2
is a complete transverse
vector eld. Inductively, we have

/

= AR
dimE
k

Theorem 4.4. Let (X, g

L
) be a time-orientable Lorentzian manifold such that
hol(X, g
L
) acts weakly irreducible and reducible. Suppose the associated foliation
A

admits a compact leaf /

such that
1
(/

) is nite. Then hol(X, g

L
) belongs
to one of the following types where g := hol(
S
).
Type 1: hol(X, g
L
) = (R g) R
dimX2
Type 2: hol(X, g
L
) = g R
dimX2
RIEMANNIAN FOLIATIONS AND THE TOPOLOGY OF LORENTZIAN MANIFOLDS 13
Type 3:
hol(X, g
L
) =
_
_
_
_
_
(A) w
T
0
0 A w
0 0 (A)
_
_
: A g, w R
q
_
_
_
where : g R is an epimorphism satisfying [
[g,g]
= 0.
Moreover, identifying g so(dimX 2) there are decompositions
R
dimX2
= F
1
. . . F

and g = g
1
. . . g

such that each g

j
acts trivially on F
i
for i ,= j and as an irreducible Riemann-
ian holonomy representation on F
j
. In particular, g does not act trivially on any
subspace of R
dimX2
.
Proof. The universal cover of /

is compact and Lemma 4.3 implies that g does not

act trivially on any subspace of R
dimX2
. It is shown in [BBI93] that if hol(X, g
L
)
does not belong to one of the three types then it is given as follows. There is
0 < < q such that R
q
= R

R
q
, g so() and
hol(X, g
L
) =
_

_
_
_
_
_
0 (A)
T
w
T
0
0 0 0 (A)
0 0 A w
0 0 0 0
_
_
_
_
: A g, w R

_
for some epimorphism : g R
q
satisfying [
[g,g]
= 0. Since g acts trivially on
R
q
we derive a contradiction.
Let A be a global section of some tensor bundle of S and suppose that A[
L

is invariant under the action of Hol(

S
[
L
) for any leaf /

of A

. Then A is
invariant under the action of Hol(
S
) if and only if
S
Z
A = 0. We remind that
d(g
L
(Z, ))[
L
induces the Euler class of /

if (X, g
L
, V, S) is almost horizontal.
Lemma 4.5. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime and S a realization of
the screen bundle. If J (X, O(S)) with J
2
= id
S
then
S
J = 0 if and only if

S
[
L
J[
L
= 0 for any leaf /

of A

and
0 = d(g
L
(Z, ))(JY
1
, Y
2
) + d(g
L
(Z, ))(Y
1
, JY
2
)
+ g
L
((L
Z
J)(Y
1
), Y
2
) g
L
((L
Z
J)(Y
2
), Y
1
).
Proof. Dene the extension J (X, End(TX)) by J(V ) = J(Z) = 0 and let
(, ) := g
L
(J(), )
2
T

X. Since (L
Z
J)(Y ) = [Z, JY ] J([Z, Y ]) we compute
for Y
1
, Y
2
(U, S)
g
L
((
S
Z
J)(Y
1
), Y
2
) = g
L
(
S
Z
(JY
1
), Y
2
) g
L
(J
S
Z
Y
1
, Y
2
)
= g
L
([Z, JY
1
], Y
2
) + g
L
(
L
JY1
Z, Y
2
)
+ g
L
([Z, Y
1
], JY
2
) + g
L
(
L
Y1
Z, JY
2
)
= g
L
((L
Z
J)(Y
1
), Y
2
) + g
L
(
L
JY1
Z, Y
2
) + g
L
(
L
Y1
Z, JY
2
), i.e.,
g
L
((
S
Z
J)(Y
1
), Y
2
)g
L
((
S
Z
J)(Y
2
), Y
1
) = g
L
((L
Z
J)(Y
1
), Y
2
)g
L
((L
Z
J)(Y
2
), Y
1
)+
d(g
L
(Z, ))(JY
1
, Y
2
) + d(g
L
(Z, ))(Y
1
, JY
2
). We conclude the statement since
S

is a 2-form on S and
S
Z
(Y
1
, Y
2
) = g
L
((
S
Z
J)(Y
1
), Y
2
).
In order to estimate the higher Betti numbers we have to use the dual basic co-
homology in the Gysin sequence of the ow if the basic cohomology does not satisfy
Poincare duality. This is the case if and only if the Riemannian foliation (/

, A[
L
)
is not taut [HR10]. Here we say (/

, A[
L
) is taut if H
dimL

1
B
(A[
L
) ,= 0 which
is equivalent to the vanishing of the

Alvarez-class [
g
B] H
1
B
(A[
L
).
14 KORDIAN L

ARZ
By Cor. 2.7 and [Con74, Prop. 1.6] the condition
S
[
L
J[
L
= 0 means that
J[
L
induces a Kahler foliation on (/

, A[
L
, g
R
[
L
). In particular, basic Dol-
beault cohomology is dened on (/

, A[
L
) [EKA90]. Suppose that /

is compact
such that Ric
L
(W, W) 0 for all W T/

and Hol(
S
[
L
) is irreducible. As in
Prop. 3.1 we conclude dimH
1
B
(A[
L
) = 0 since there is no Hol(
S
[
L
)-invariant
vector. Hence, (/

, A[
L
) is taut.
Lemma 4.6. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be an almost decent spacetime and /

a compact leaf
of A

. If Ric
L
[
TL

TL
= 0 and Hol(
S
[
L
) U(n) then any basic (p, 0)-form
on (/

, A[
L
) is closed if and only if
S
[
L
= 0.
Proof. One part of the proof is implied by d =

dimS
i=1
e
i

S
ei
.
Since is a (p, 0)-form we have

b
= 0 and d = 0 implies

= 0, i.e.,

b
= 0. Thus,
b
= 0 by the transverse Kahler identities [EKA90] and we have
d =
b
= 0 implying
_
L

, =
1
4
[[
2
[[
2
. By the Weitzenb ock formula
0 =
_
L

[
T
[
2
+
_
L

i,j
e
j
e
i
R
T
(e
i
, e
j
), .
However, R
T
beeing the curvature of
S
[
L
has the same symmetries as the cur-
vature tensor of a Kahler manifold. Using the computation in [Joy00, Prop. 6.2.4]
we conclude

i,j
e
j
e
i
R
T
(e
i
, e
j
) = 0, i.e., 0 =
_
L

[
T
[
2
.
Proposition 4.7. Let (X, g
L
, V ) be a decent spacetime and /

a compact leaf of
A

. Suppose Hol(
S
[
L
) is irreducible and Ric
L
(W, W) 0 for all W T/

.
(1) If X is compact then b
1
(X) 1, 2 and b
2
(X) dimH
2
B
(A[
L
) + 1.
(2) If X is non-compact and all leaves of A

are compact then b

1
(X) 0, 1
and b
2
(X) dimH
2
B
(A[
L
) 1, dimH
2
B
(A[
L
).
Moreover, if Hol(
S
[
L
) = SU(n) with n 3 we can replace H
2
B
(A[
L
) by
H
1,1
B
(A[
L
) and if Hol(
S
[
L
) = Sp(n) with n 1 we can replace dimH
2
B
(A[
L
)
by dimH
1,1
B
(A[
L
) + 2.
Proof. Since dimH
1
B
(A[
L
) = 0 and (/

, A[
L
) is taut we derive the bounds for
b
1
(X) and the Gysin sequence implies R
[e]
H
2
B
(A[
L
) H
2
(/

, R) 0, i.e.,
b
2
(/

) dimH
2
B
(A[
L
)1, dimH
2
B
(A[
L
). If X is compact the Mayer-Vietoris
argument implies H
2
(/

)
IdF
2

H
2
(/

)

H
2
(X) H
1
(/

)
IdF
1

H
1
(/

).
Hence, b
2
(X) = b
1
(/

) + dimEig
1
(F
2

), where Eig
1
(F
2

) is the eigenspace of F
2

w.r.t. the eigenvalue 1, i.e., b

2
(X) b
1
(/

) + b
2
(/

) dimH
2
B
(A[
L
) + 1. The
last statements follow from Lemma 4.6.
Proposition 4.8. Let (X, g
L
, V, S) be a horizontal spacetime and /

a leaf of
A

. Suppose d(g
L
(Z, ))[
L

1,1
B
A[
L
for some
S
-parallel almost Hermitian
structure J on S. If Z (X, TX) is complete then there exists a complex structure
on the universal cover of X.
Proof. By Cor. 2.4 the universal cover of X is dieomorphic to

X := /

R
+
.
We write r for the coordinate on R
+
and := g
L
(Z, )[
TL
. If End(T/

)
is given by (w S
p
) := J(w) and (V ) := 0 then (V, , , g
R
[
L
) denes an
almost contact metric structure on /

. On

X we dene the cone metric g
C
:=
dr
r
+ r
2
g
R
[
L
and the section I End(T

X) by
IY :=
_

_
JY if Y S
p
,
r
r
if Y = V,
V if Y = r
r
.
RIEMANNIAN FOLIATIONS AND THE TOPOLOGY OF LORENTZIAN MANIFOLDS 15
Hence, we derive an almost Hermitian manifold (

X, I, g
C
). By [BG08, Thm. 6.5.9]
I is integrable once we prove
7
that N

= V d where N

(Y
1
, Y
2
) := [Y
1
, Y
2
]+

2
[Y
1
, Y
2
] [Y
1
, Y
2
] [Y
1
, Y
2
] for Y

T/

. Let Y
1
S and Y
2
= V .
Since (X, g
L
, V, S) is horizontal we have [Y
1
, V ] =
S
V
Y
1
. Thus, V = 0 and
J
S
=
S
J implies
N

(Y
1
, V ) =
2
[Y
1
, V ] [Y
1
, V ] =
2
(
S
V
Y
1
) + (
S
V
Y
1
)
= J
2
(
S
V
Y
1
) + J(
S
V
JY
1
) = 0.
The same way we compute g
L
(N

(Y
1
, Y
2
), Y
3
) = 0 if Y
1
, Y
2
, Y
3
S. For Y
1
, Y
2
S
we have
g
L
(N

(Y
1
, Y
2
), Z) = g
L
([Y
1
, Y
2
], Z) = g
L
([JY
1
, JY
2
], Z)
= g
L
(
L
JY1
Z, JY
2
) + g
L
(
L
JY2
Z, JY
1
)
= d(g
L
(Z, ))[
L
(JY
1
, JY
2
).
We conclude g
L
(N

(Y
1
, Y
2
), Z) = d(Y
1
, Y
2
) since d(g
L
(Z, ))[
L

1,1
B
A[
L
and
d = d(g
L
(Z, ))[
L
.
References
[Baz09] Yaroslav V. Bazaikin, Globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds with special holonomy
groups, http://arxiv.org/abs/0909.3630, 2009.
[BBI93] L. Berard-Bergery and A. Ikemakhen, On the holonomy of Lorentzian manifolds, Dif-
ferential geometry: geometry in mathematical physics and related topics (Los Angeles,
CA, 1990), Proc. Sympos. Pure Math., vol. 54, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 1993,
pp. 2740. MR MR1216527 (94d:53106)
[BG08] Charles P. Boyer and Krzysztof Galicki, Sasakian geometry, Oxford Mathematical Mono-
graphs, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008. MR MR2382957 (2009c:53058)
[BH83] R. A. Blumenthal and J. J. Hebda, de Rham decomposition theorems for foliated man-
ifolds, Ann. Inst. Fourier (Grenoble) 33 (1983), no. 2, 183198. MR 699494 (84j:53042)
[BM08] Helga Baum and Olaf M uller, Codazzi spinors and globally hyperbolic manifolds with
special holonomy, Math. Z. 258 (2008), no. 1, 185211. MR MR2350042
[Car84] Yves Carri`ere, Les proprietes topologiques des ots riemanniens retrouvees `a laide
du theor`eme des varietes presque plates, Math. Z. 186 (1984), no. 3, 393400.
MR MR744829 (86f:53048)
[Con74] Lawrence Conlon, Transversally parallelizable foliations of codimension two, Trans.
Amer. Math. Soc. 194 (1974), 79102, erratum, ibid. 207 (1975), 406. MR 0370617
(51 #6844)
[Dom98] Demetrio Domnguez, Finiteness and tenseness theorems for Riemannian foliations,
Amer. J. Math. 120 (1998), no. 6, 12371276. MR 1657170 (99k:53045)
[DSO01] Antonio J. Di Scala and Carlos Olmos, The geometry of homogeneous submanifolds of
hyperbolic space, Math. Z. 237 (2001), no. 1, 199209. MR MR1836778 (2002d:53064)
[EKA90] Aziz El Kacimi-Alaoui, Operateurs transversalement elliptiques sur un feuilletage rie-
mannien et applications, Functional analytic methods in complex analysis and applica-
tions to partial dierential equations (Trieste, 1988), World Sci. Publ., River Edge, NJ,
1990, pp. 287340. MR 1146730 (92k:58259)
[Esc82] Richard H. Escobales, Jr., Sucient conditions for a bundle-like foliation to admit a
Riemannian submersion onto its leaf space, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 84 (1982), no. 2,
280284. MR MR637184 (83c:53052)
[Gal06] Anton S. Galaev, Metrics that realize all Lorentzian holonomy algebras, Int. J. Geom.
Methods Mod. Phys. 3 (2006), no. 5-6, 10251045. MR MR2264404 (2007f:53052)
[Her60] Robert Hermann, On the dierential geometry of foliations, Ann. of Math. (2) 72 (1960),
445457. MR MR0142130 (25 #5523)
[HR10] Georges Habib and Ken Richardson, Modied dierentials and basic cohomology for
Riemannian foliations, http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.2955v1, 2010.
[Joy00] Dominic D. Joyce, Compact manifolds with special holonomy, Oxford Mathematical
Monographs, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000. MR 1787733 (2001k:53093)
7
In contrast to [BG08] we dene d(Y
1
, Y
2
) := Y
1
(Y
2
) Y
2
(Y
1
) ([Y
1
, Y
2
]).
16 KORDIAN L

ARZ
[Kra10] Thomas Krantz, Kaluza-Klein-type metrics with special Lorentzian holonomy, J. Geom.
Phys. 60 (2010), no. 1, 7480. MR 2578019
[Lar08] Kordian Larz, A class of Lorentzian manifolds with indecomposable holonomy groups,
http://arxiv.org/abs/0803.4494, 2008.
[Lei07] Thomas Leistner, On the classication of Lorentzian holonomy groups, J. Dierential
Geom. 76 (2007), no. 3, 423484. MR MR2331527
[Mas00] Alan Mason, An application of stochastic ows to Riemannian foliations, Houston J.
Math. 26 (2000), no. 3, 481515. MR 1811936 (2002c:58060)
[Mol88] Pierre Molino, Riemannian foliations, Progress in Mathematics, vol. 73, Birkhauser
Boston Inc., Boston, MA, 1988, Translated from the French by Grant Cairns, With
appendices by Cairns, Y. Carri`ere,

E. Ghys, E. Salem and V. Sergiescu. MR MR932463
(89b:53054)
[MS08] Ettore Minguzzi and Miguel Sanchez, The causal hierarchy of spacetimes, Recent de-
velopments in pseudo-Riemannian geometry, ESI Lect. Math. Phys., Eur. Math. Soc.,
Z urich, 2008, pp. 299358. MR 2436235 (2010b:53128)
[Rei61] Bruce L. Reinhart, Closed metric foliations, Michigan Math. J 8 (1961), 79.
MR MR0120592 (22 #11342)
[RP01] Jose Ignacio Royo Prieto, The Gysin sequence for Riemannian ows, Global dier-
ential geometry: the mathematical legacy of Alfred Gray (Bilbao, 2000), Contemp.
Math., vol. 288, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2001, pp. 415419. MR MR1871045
(2002j:53028)
[Sha97] R. W. Sharpe, Dierential geometry, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 166, Springer-
Verlag, New York, 1997, Cartans generalization of Kleins Erlangen program, With a
foreword by S. S. Chern. MR 1453120 (98m:53033)
[Sim62] James Simons, On the transitivity of holonomy systems, Ann. of Math. (2) 76 (1962),
213234. MR MR0148010 (26 #5520)
[SS09] Pablo Suarez-Serrato, Minimal entropy and geometric decompositions in dimension
four, Algebr. Geom. Topol. 9 (2009), no. 1, 365395. MR 2482083
[Woo71] John W. Wood, Bundles with totally disconnected structure group, Comment. Math.
Helv. 46 (1971), 257273. MR 0293655 (45 #2732)
[Zeg99] Abdelghani Zeghib, Geodesic foliations in Lorentz 3-manifolds, Comment. Math. Helv.
74 (1999), no. 1, 121. MR 1677118 (99k:53049)
Humboldt-Universit at Berlin, Institut f ur Mathematik R. 1.305, Rudower Chaussee
25, 12489 Berlin
E-mail address: laerz@math.hu-berlin.de