Poisson manifolds with compatible pseudo-metric and pseudo-Riemannian Lie algebras

Abstract

In a previous paper (C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Sér. I 333 (2001) 763–768), the author introduced a notion of compatibility between a Poisson structure and a pseudo-Riemannian metric. In this paper, we introduce a new class of Lie algebras called pseudo-Riemannian Lie algebras. The two notions are closely related: we prove that the dual of a Lie algebra endowed with its canonical linear Poisson structure carries a compatible pseudo-Riemannian metric if and only if the Lie algebra is a pseudo-Riemannian Lie algebra. Moreover, the Lie algebra obtained by linearizing at a point a Poisson manifold with a compatible pseudo-Riemannian metric is a pseudo-Riemannian Lie algebra. We also give some properties of the symplectic leaves of such manifolds, and we prove that every Poisson manifold with a compatible Riemannian metric is unimodular. Finally, we study Poisson Lie groups endowed with a compatible pseudo-Riemannian metric, and we give the classification of all pseudo-Riemannian Lie algebras of dimension 2 and 3.