We develop the theory of left-invariant generalized pseudo-Riemannian metrics on Lie groups. Such a metric accompanied by a choice of left-invariant divergence operator gives rise to a Ricci curvature tensor, and we study the corresponding Einstein equation. We compute the Ricci tensor in terms of the tensors (on the sum of the Lie algebra and its dual) encoding the Courant algebroid structure, the generalized metric, and the divergence operator. The resulting expression is polynomial and homogeneous of degree 2 in the coefficients of the Dorfman bracket and the divergence operator with respect to a left-invariant orthonormal basis for the generalized metric. We determine all generalized Einstein metrics on three-dimensional Lie groups.

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the curvature behavior of four-dimensional shrinking gradient Ricci solitons. For such a soliton $M$ with bounded scalar curvature $S$, it is shown that the curvature operator $\text{Rm}$ of $M$ satisfies the estimate $|\text{Rm}|\leqslant cS$ for some constant $c$. Moreover, the curvature operator $\text{Rm}$ is asymptotically nonnegative at infinity and admits a lower bound $\text{Rm}\geqslant -c(\ln (r+1))^{-1/4}$, where $r$ is the distance function to a fixed point in $M$. As an application, we prove that if the scalar curvature converges to zero at infinity, then the soliton must be asymptotically conical. As a separate issue, a diameter upper bound for compact shrinking gradient Ricci solitons of arbitrary dimension is derived in terms of the injectivity radius.

We study the geometry of non-reductive four-dimensional homogeneous spaces. In particular, after describing their Levi-Civita connection and curvature properties, we classify homogeneous Ricci solitons on these spaces, proving the existence of shrinking, expanding and steady examples. For all the non-trivial examples we find, the Ricci operator is diagonalizable.