Abstract
The ambient metric, introduced in [FG1], has proven to be an important object in conformal geometry. To a manifold M of dimension n with a conformai class of metrics [g] of signature (p, q) it associates a diffeomorphism class of formal expansions of metrics \( \tilde g \) of signature (p + 1, q + 1) on a space 
of dimension n + 2. This generalizes the realization of the conformal sphere Sn as the space of null lines for a quadratic form of signature (n + 1, 1), with associated Minkowski metric \( \tilde g \) on ℝn+2. The ambient space 
carries a family of dilations with respect to which \( \tilde g \) is homogeneous of degree 2. The other conditions determining \( \tilde g \) are that it be Ricci-flat and satisfy an initial condition specified by the conformal class [g].
This research was partially supported by NSF grant # DMS 0505701 and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, JSPS.
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Graham, C.R., Hirachi, K. (2008). Inhomogeneous Ambient Metrics. In: Eastwood, M., Miller, W. (eds) Symmetries and Overdetermined Systems of Partial Differential Equations. The IMA Volumes in Mathematics and its Applications, vol 144. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73831-4_20
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