Three-dimensional spacetimes of maximal order

Abstract

We show that the equivalence problem for three-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds requires at most the fifth covariant derivative of the curvature tensor. We prove that this bound is sharp by exhibiting a class of 3D Lorentzian manifolds which realize this bound. The analysis is based on a three-dimensional analogue of the Newman-Pen-rose formalism, and spinorial classification of the three-dimensional Ricci tensor.