Conformal groups and conformally equivalent isometry groups

It is shown that if ann dimensional Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian manifold admits a proper conformal scalar, every (local) conformal group is conformally isometric, and that if it admits a proper conformal gradient every (local) conformal group is conformally homothetic. In the Riemannian case there is always a conformal scalar unless the metric is conformally Euclidean. In the case of a Lorentzian 4-manifold it is proved that the only metrics with no conformal scalars (and hence the only ones admitting a (local) conformal group not conformally isometric) are either conformal to the plane wave metric with parallel rays or conformally Minkowskian.