The equivalence problem for generic four-dimensional metrics with two commuting Killing vectors

Abstract: We consider the equivalence problem of four-dimensional semi-Riemannian metrics with the $2$-dimensional Abelian Killing algebra. In the generic case we determine a semi-invariant frame and a fundamental set of first-order scalar differential invariants suitable for solution of the equivalence problem. Genericity means that the Killing leaves are not null, the metric is not orthogonally transitive (i.e., the distribution orthogonal to the Killing leaves is non-integrable), and two explicitly constructed scalar invariants $C_\rho$ and $\ell_{\mathcal C}$ are nonzero. All the invariants are designed to have tractable coordinate expressions. Assuming the existence of two functionally independent invariants, we solve the equivalence problem in two ways. As an example, we invariantly characterise the Van den Bergh metric. To understand the non-generic cases, we also find all $\Lambda$-vacuum metrics that are generic in the above sense, except that either $C_\rho$ or $\ell_{\mathcal C}$ is zero. In this way we extend the Kundu class to $\Lambda$-vacuum metrics. The results of the paper can be exploited for invariant characterisation of classes of metrics and for extension of the set of known solutions of the Einstein equations.