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We determine all homogeneous metrics which are critical for some quadratic curvature functional in dimension four.

We use the modified Riemannian extension of an affine surface to construct Bach flat manifolds. As all these examples are VSI (vanishing scalar invariants), we shall construct scalar invariants which are not of Weyl type to distinguish them. We illustrate this phenomena in the context of homogeneous affine surfaces.

Motivated by the construction of Bach flat neutral signature Riemannian extensions, we study the space of parallel trace free tensors of type $(1,1)$ on an affine surface. It is shown that the existence of such a parallel tensor field is characterized by the recurrence of the symmetric part of the Ricci tensor.

We classify non-reductive four-dimensional homogeneous conformally Einstein manifolds., Comment: New version correcting some inaccuracies in the original paper

It is shown that a locally homogeneous proper Ricci almost soliton is either of constant sectional curvature or a product $\mathbb{R}\times N(c)$, where $N(c)$ is a space of constant curvature.

It is shown that four-dimensional generalized symmetric spaces can be naturally equipped with some additional structures defined by means of their curvature operators. As an application, those structures are used to characterize generalized symmetric spaces.

Left-invariant Cotton solitons on homogeneous manifolds are determined. Moreover, algebraic Cotton solitons are studied providing examples of non-invariant Cotton solitons, both in the Riemannian and Lorentzian homogeneous settings.

The non-existence of non-trivial conformally symmetric manifolds in the three-dimensional Riemannian setting is shown. In Lorentzian signature, a complete local classification is obtained. Furthermore, the isometry classes are examined.

Any pseudo-Hermitian or para-Hermitian manifold of dimension 4 admits a unique Kaehler-Weyl structure; this structure is locally conformally Kaehler if and only if the alternating Ricci tensor vanishes. The alternating Ricci tensor takes values in a certain representation space. In this paper, we show that any algebraic possibility in this representation space can in fact be geometrically realized by a left-invariant Kaehler-Weyl structure on a 4-dimensional Lie group in either the Hermitian or the para-Hermitian setting.

We exhibit Osserman metrics with non-nilpotent Jacobi operators and with non-trivial Jordan normal form in neutral signature (n,n) for any n which is at least 3. These examples admit a natural almost para-Hermitian structure and are semi para-complex Osserman with non-trivial Jordan normal form as well; they neither satisfy the third Gray identity nor are they integrable.

It is shown that if a compact four-dimensional manifold with metric of neutral signature is Jordan-Osserman, then it is either of constant sectional curvature or Ricci flat.

We show that a para-Hermitian algebraic curvature model satisfies the para-Gray identity if and only if it is geometrically realizable by a para-Hermitian manifold. This requires extending the Tricerri-Vanhecke curvature decomposition to the para-Hermitian setting. Additionally, the geometric realization can be chosen to have constant scalar curvature and constant *-scalar curvature.

We show that every paracomplex space form is locally isometric to a modified Riemannian extension and give necessary and sufficient conditions so that a modified Riemannian extension is Einstein. We exhibit Riemannian extension Osserman manifolds of signature (3,3) whose Jacobi operators have non-trivial Jordan normal form and which are not nilpotent. We present new four dimensional results in Osserman geometry.

We characterize Osserman and conformally Osserman Riemannian manifolds with the local structure of a warped product. By means of this approach we analyze the twisted product structure and obtain, as a consequence, that the only Osserman manifolds which can be written as a twisted product are those of constant curvature.

In the algebraic context, we show that null Osserman, spacelike Osserman, and timelike Osserman are equivalent conditions for a model of signature (2,2). We also classify the null Jordan Osserman models of signature (2,2). In the geometric context, we show that a pseudo-Riemannian manifold of signature (2,2) is null Jordan Osserman if and only if either it has constant sectional curvature or it is locally a complex space form.

We exhibit Walker manifolds of signature (2,2) with various commutativity properties for the Ricci operator, the skew-symmetric curvature operator, and the Jacobi operator. If the Walker metric is a Riemannian extension of an underlying affine structure A, these properties are related to the Ricci tensor of A.

We survey some recent results concerning Stanilov-Tsankov-Videv theory, conformal Osserman geometry, and Walker geometry which relate algebraic properties of the curvature operator to the underlying geometry of the manifold., Comment: This is a contribution to the Proceedings of the 2007 Midwest Geometry Conference in honor of Thomas P. Branson, published in SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications) at http://www.emis.de/journals/SIGMA/

Walker manifolds of signature (2,2) have been used to provide examples of Osserman and of conformal Osserman manifolds of signature (2,2). We study questions of geodesic completeness and Ricci blowup in this context.