Self-dual gravitational instantons and geometric flows of all Bianchi types

Abstract: We investigate four-dimensional, self-dual gravitational instantons endowed with a product structure RxM_3, where M_3 is homogeneous of Bianchi type. We analyze the general conditions under which Euclidean-time evolution in the gravitational instanton can be identified with a geometric flow of a metric on M_3. This includes both unimodular and non-unimodular groups, and the corresponding geometric flow is a general Ricci plus Yang-Mills flow accompanied by a diffeomorphism.