Null Killing vectors and geometry of null strings in Einstein spaces

Abstract

Einstein complex spacetimes admitting null Killing or null homothetic Killing vectors are studied. Such vectors define totally null and geodesic 2-surfaces called the null strings or twistor surfaces. Geometric properties of these null strings are discussed. It is shown, that spaces considered are hyperheavenly spaces ( $$\mathcal {HH}$$ -spaces) or, if one of the parts of the Weyl tensor vanishes, heavenly spaces ( $$\mathcal {H}$$ -spaces). The explicit complex metrics admitting null Killing vectors are found. Some Lorentzian and ultrahyperbolic slices of these metrics are discussed.