Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 June 2015
On a (pseudo-)Riemannian manifold ( ${\mathcal M}$ , g), some fields of endomorphisms i.e. sections of End(T
${\mathcal M}$ ) may be parallel for g. They form an associative algebra
$\mathfrak e$ , which is also the commutant of the holonomy group of g. As any associative algebra,
$\mathfrak e$ is the sum of its radical and of a semi-simple algebra
$\mathfrak s$ . Here we study
$\mathfrak s$ : it may be of eight different types, including the generic type
$\mathfrak s$ =
${\mathbb R}$ Id, and the Kähler and hyperkähler types
$\mathfrak s$ ≃
${\mathbb C}$ and
$\mathfrak s$ ≃
${\mathbb H}$ . This is a result on real, semi-simple algebras with involution. For each type, the corresponding set of germs of metrics is non-empty; we parametrize it. We give the constraints imposed to the Ricci curvature by parallel endomorphism fields.