Killing Vector Fields of Generic Semi-Riemannian Metrics

Abstract

Let M be a smooth oriented connected n-dimensional manifold and let M be the space of pseudo-Riemannian metrics on M of a given signature (n+,n−),n++n−=n>1. A system of n metric invariants is attached to each metric in M, called the Ricci invariants, and by using the geometric properties of such invariants, the following result is proved: The subset O⊂M of metrics with no Killing vector fields other than the trivial one is open and dense with respect to the strong topology.