Curvature operators and scalar curvature invariants

This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in Classical and quantum gravity. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at doi:10.1088/0264-9381/27/9/095014.We continue the study of the question of when a pseudo-Riemannain manifold can be locally characterised by its scalar polynomial curvature invariants (constructed from the Riemann tensor and its covariant deriva- tives). We make further use of alignment theory and the bivector form of the Weyl operator in higher dimensions, and introduce the important notions of diagonalisability and (complex) analytic metric extension. We show that if there exists an analytic metric extension of an arbitrary di- mensional space of any signature to a Riemannian space (of Euclidean signature), then that space is characterised by its scalar curvature in- variants. In particular, we discuss the Lorentzian case and the neutral signature case in four dimensions in more detail