We give a basic treatment of lattices $Γ$ in these groups. Certain tori $T_F$ and $T_B$ provide the model fiber and the base for a submersion of $Γ\backslash N$. This submersion may not be pseudoriemannian in the usual sense, because the tori may be degenerate. We then begin the study of periodic geodesics in these compact nilmanifolds, obtaining a complete calculation of the period spectrum of certain flat spaces.
This is a survey article with a limited list of references (as required by the publisher) which appears in the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics, eds. J.-P. Francoise, G.L. Naber and Tsou S.T. Oxford: Elsevier, 2006. vol.4, pp.94--104.
We determine the complete conjugate locus along all geodesics parallel or perpendicular to the center (Theorem 2.3). When the center is 1-dimensional we obtain formulas in all cases (Theorem 2.5), and when a certain operator is also diagonalizable these formulas become completely explicit (Corollary 2.7). These yield some new information about the smoothness of the pseudoriemannian conjugate locus. We also obtain the multiplicities of all conjugate points.
This is partly an expository paper, where the authors' work on pseudoriemannian Einstein metrics on nilpotent Lie groups is reviewed. A new criterion is given for the existence of a diagonal Einstein metric on a nice nilpotent Lie group. Classifications of special classes of Ricci-flat metrics on nilpotent Lie groups of dimension $\leq8$ are obtained. Some related open questions are presented.
We begin a systematic study of these spaces, initially following along the lines of Eberlein's comprehensive study of the Riemannian case. In particular, we integrate the geodesic equation, discuss the structure of the isometry group, and make a study of lattices and periodic geodesics. Some major differences from the Riemannian theory appear. There are many flat groups (versus none), including Heisenberg groups. While still a semidirect product, the isometry group can be strictly larger than the obvious analogue. Everything is illustrated with explicit examples. We introduce the notion of pH-…
The space of all non degenerate bilinear structures on a manifold $M$ carries a one parameter family of pseudo Riemannian metrics. We determine the geodesic equation, covariant derivative, curvature, and we solve the geodesic equation explicitly. Each space of pseudo Riemannian metrics with fixed signature is a geodesically closed submanifold. The space of non degenerate 2-forms is also a geodesically closed submanifold. Then we show that, if we fix a distribution on $M$, the space of all Riemannia metrics splits as the product of three spaces which are everywhere mutually orthogonal, for the …
Hedlund constructed Riemannian metrics on n-tori, $n \geq 3$ for which minimal geodesics are very rare. In this paper we construct similar examples for every nilpotent fundamental group. These examples show that Bangert's existence results of minimal geodesics are optimal for nilpotent fundamental groups.
We show that strictly abnormal geodesics arise in graded nilpotent Lie groups. We construct such a group, for which some Carnot geodesics are strictly abnormal; in fact, they are not normal in any subgroup. In the step-2 case we also prove that these geodesics are always smooth. Our main technique is based on the equations for the normal and abnormal curves, that we derive (for any Lie group) explicitly in terms of the structure constants.
We study the Ricci tensor of left-invariant pseudoriemannian metrics on Lie groups. For an appropriate class of Lie groups that contains nilpotent Lie groups, we introduce a variety with a natural $\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb{R})$ action, whose orbits parametrize Lie groups with a left-invariant metric; we show that the Ricci operator can be identified with the moment map relative to a natural symplectic structure. From this description we deduce that the Ricci operator is the derivative of the scalar curvature $s$ under gauge transformations of the metric, and show that Lie algebra derivations with…
A metric Lie algebra g is a Lie algebra equipped with an inner product. A subalgebra h of a metric Lie algebra g is said to be totally geodesic if the Lie subgroup corresponding to h is a totally geodesic submanifold relative to the left-invariant Riemannian metric defined by the inner product, on the simply connected Lie group associated to g. A nonzero element of g is called a geodesic if it spans a one-dimensional totally geodesic subalgebra. We give a new proof of Kaizer's theorem that every metric Lie algebra possesses a geodesic. For nilpotent Lie algebras, we give several results on the…
Some nilpotent Lie groups possess a transformation group analogous to the similarity group acting on the Euclidean space. We call such a pair a nilpotent similarity structure. It is notably the case for all Carnot groups and their dilatations. We generalize a theorem of Fried: closed manifolds with a nilpotent similarity structure are either complete or radiant and, in the latter case, complete for the structure of the space deprived of a point. The proof relies on a generalization of convexity arguments in a setting where, in the coordinates given by the Lie algebra, we study geodesic segment…
We study the geodesics problem in Heisenberg group H (case SR and riemannian). The sheaf of infinitesimal automorphisms of the (2n,2n+1) distribution D over H is an infinite, transitive Lie algebra sheaf.
We prove injectivity and a support theorem for the X-ray transform on $2$-step nilpotent Lie groups with many totally geodesic $2$-dimensional flats. The result follows from a general reduction principle for manifolds with uniformly escaping geodesics.
The goals of this article are twofold : 1) to compute the conjugate locus of a geodesic that lies in the center of a simply connected, 2-step nilpotent Lie group with a left invariant metric 2) compare the isometry types of two such nilpotent Lie groups whose conjugate loci for central geodesics are "the same" in a suitable sense. The first goal is achieved. The second is elusive, but we obtain a partial result.
The geodesic orbit property has been studied intensively for Riemannian manifolds. Geodesic orbit spaces are homogeneous and allow simplifications of many structural questions using the Lie algebra of the isometry group. Weakly symmetric Riemannian manifolds are geodesic orbit spaces. Here we define "naturally reductive" for pseudo-Riemannian manifolds and note that they are geodesic orbit spaces. A few years ago two of the authors proved that weakly symmetric pseudo-Riemannian manifolds are geodesic orbit spaces. In particular these results apply to pseudo-Riemannian Lorentz manifolds. There …
We continue the study of the distribution of closed geodesics on nilmanifolds constructed from a simply connected 2-step nilpotent Lie group with a left invariant metric and a lattice. We consider a Lie group with an associated 2-step nilpotent Lie algebra constructed from an irreducible representation of a compact semisimple Lie algebra on a real finite dimensional vector space. We determine sufficient conditions on the semisimple Lie algebra for the nilmanifold to have the density of closed geodesics property for a lattice arising from a Chevalley rational structure.
The goal of this paper is the study of algebraic relations on the Lie algebra of first integrals of the geodesic flow on nilpotent Lie groups equipped with a left-invariant metric. It is proved that the isometry algebra of the $k$-step nilpotent Lie group, $k=2,3$, gives rise to a isomorphic family of first integrals for the geodesic flow. Also invariant first integrals are analyzed and new involution conditions are shown. Finally it is proved that in low dimensions complete families of first integrals can be constructed with Killing vector fields and symmetric Killing 2-tensor fields. This ho…
We study the geodesic orbit property for nilpotent Lie groups $N$ when endowed with a pseudo-Riemannian left-invariant metric. We consider this property with respect to different groups acting by isometries. When $N$ acts on itself by left-translations we show that it is a geodesic orbit space if and only if the metric is bi-invariant. Assuming $N$ is 2-step nilpotent and with non-degenerate center we give algebraic conditions on the Lie algebra $\mathfrak n$ of $N$ in order to verify that every geodesic is the orbit of a one-parameter subgroup of $N\rtimes\operatorname{Auto}(N)$. In addition …
PseudoH-type is a natural generalization of H-type to geometries with indefinite metric tensors. We give a complete determination of the conjugate locus including multiplicities. We also obtain a partial characterization in terms of the abundance of totally geodesic, 3-dimensional submanifolds.
Dani and Mainkar introduced a method for constructing a 2-step nilpotent Lie algebra $\mathfrak{n}_G$ from a simple directed graph $G$ in 2005. There is a natural inner product on $\mathfrak{n}_G$ arising from the construction. We study geometric properties of the associated simply connected 2-step nilpotent Lie group $N$ with Lie algebra $\mathfrak{n}_G$. We classify singularity properties of the Lie algebra $\mathfrak{n}_G$ in terms of the graph $G$. A comprehensive description is given of graphs $G$ which give rise to Heisenberg-like Lie algebras. Conditions are given on the graph $G$ and o…
The Cartan group is the free nilpotent Lie group of rank 2 and step 3. We consider the left-invariant sub-Riemannian problem on the Cartan group defined by an inner product in the first layer of its Lie algebra. This problem gives a nilpotent approximation of an arbitrary sub-Riemannian problem with the growth vector $(2,3,5)$. In previous works we described a group of symmetries of the sub-Riemannian problem on the Cartan group, and the corresponding Maxwell time -- the first time when symmetric geodesics intersect one another. It is known that geodesics are not globally optimal after the Max…
We prove the smoothness of abnormal minimizers of subriemannian manifolds of step 3 with a nilpotent basis. We prove that rank 2 Carnot groups of step 4 admit no strictly abnormal minimizers. For any subriemannian manifolds of step less than 7, we show all abnormal minimizers have no corner type singularities, which partly generalize the main result of Leonardi-Monti.
Addressing a question of Gromov, we give a rate in Pansu's theorem about the convergence in Gromov-Hausdorff metric of a finitely generated nilpotent group equipped with a left-invariant word metric scaled by a factor 1/n towards its asymptotic cone. We show that due to the possible presence of abnormal geodesics in the asymptotic cone, this rate cannot be better than n^{1/2} for general non-abelian nilpotent groups. As a corollary we also get an error term of the form vol(B(n))=cn^d + O(n^{d-2/(3r)}) for the volume of Cayley balls of a nilpotent group with nilpotency class r. We also state a …
The group of real 4 by 4 upper triangular matrices with 1s on the diagonal has a left-invariant subRiemannian (or Carnot-Caratheodory) structure whose underlying distribution corresponds to the superdiagonal. We prove that the associated subRiemannian geodesic flow is not completely integrable. This provides the first example of a Carnot group (graded nilpotent Lie group with an invariant subRiemannian structure supported on the generating subspace) with a non-integrable geodesic flow. We apply this result to prove that the centralizer for the corresponding quadratic ``quantum'' Hamiltonian in…
Let T be the nilpotent group of 4 x 4 real upper triangular matrices. In this note we show that the Euler equations of certain left-invariant riemannian metrics on T have a horseshoe. We also show, with the aid of a numerical computation of a Melnikov-type integral, that the Euler equations of the sub-riemannian Carnot metric on T has a horseshoe. This sharpens an earlier result of Montgomery, Shapiro and Stolin who had shown that the equations are algebraically non-integrable.
An algebraic curvature tensor A is said to be Jacobi-Tsankov if J(x)J(y)=J(y)J(x) for all x,y. This implies J(x)J(x)=0 for all x; necessarily A=0 in the Riemannian setting. Furthermore, this implies J(x)J(y)=0 for all x,y if the dimension is at most 13. We exhibit a 14-dimensional algebraic curvature tensor in signature (8,6) which is Jacobi--Tsankov but which has J(x)J(y) non 0 for some x,y. We determine the group of symmetries of this tensor and show that it is geometrically realizable by a wide variety of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds which are geodesically complete and have vanishing scalar …
We introduce a family of extremal polynomials associated with the prolongation of a stratified nilpotent Lie algebra. These polynomials are related to a new algebraic characterization of abnormal subriemannian geodesics in stratified nilpotent Lie groups. They satisfy a set of remarkable structure relations that are used to integrate the adjoint equations.
In the present paper we give a proof of the fact that the sub-Riemannian cut locus of a wide class of nilpotent groups of step two, called $H$-type groups, starting from the origin corresponds to the center of the group. We obtain this result by completely describing the sub-Riemannian geodesics in the group, and using these to obtain three disjoint sets of points in the group determined by the number of geodesics joining them to the origin.
We introduce a special class of nilpotent Lie groups of step 2, that generalizes the so called $H$(eisenberg)-type groups, defined by A. Kaplan in 1980. We change the presence of inner product to an arbitrary scalar product and relate the construction to the composition of quadratic forms. We present the geodesic equation for sub-semi-Riemannian metric on nilpotent Lie groups of step 2 and solve them for the case of general $H$-type groups. We also present some results on sectional curvature and the Ricci tensor of general $H$-type groups.
We consider the free nilpotent Lie algebra $L$ with 2 generators, of step 4, and the corresponding connected simply connected Lie group $G$. We study the left-invariant sub-Riemannian structure on $G$ defined by the generators of $L$ as an orthonormal frame. We compute two vector field models of $L$ by polynomial vector fields in $R^8$, and find an infinitesimal symmetry of the sub-Riemannian structure. Further, we compute explicitly the product rule in $G$, the right-invariant frame on $G$, linear on fibers Hamiltonians corresponding to the left-invariant and right-invariant frames on $G$, Ca…
In this paper we find a criterion for the Gauss map of an immersed smooth submanifold in some Lie group with left invariant metric to be harmonic. Using the obtained expression we prove some necessary and sufficient conditions for the harmonicity of this map in the case of totally geodesic submanifolds in Lie groups admitting biinvariant metrics. We show that, depending on the structure of the tangent space of a submanifold, the Gauss map can be harmonic in all biinvariant metrics or non-harmonic in some metric. For 2-step nilpotent groups we prove that the Gauss map of a geodesic is harmonic …
We investigate the number of geodesics between two points $p$ and $q$ on a contact sub-Riemannian manifold M. We show that the count of geodesics on $M$ is controlled by the count on its nilpotent approximation at $p$ (a contact Carnot group). For contact Carnot groups we make the count explicit in exponential coordinates $(x,z) \in \mathbb{R}^{2n} \times \mathbb{R}$ centered at $p$. In this case we prove that for the generic $q$ the number of geodesics $ν(q)$ between $p$ and $q=(x,z)$ satisfies: \[ C_1\frac{|z|}{\|x\|^2} + R_1 \leq ν(q) \leq C_2\frac{|z|}{\|x\|^2} + R_2\] for some constants $…
By adapting a technique of Molchanov, we obtain the heat kernel asymptotics at the sub-Riemannian cut locus, when the cut points are reached by an $r$-dimensional parametric family of optimal geodesics. We apply these results to the bi-Heisenberg group, that is, a nilpotent left-invariant sub-Rieman\-nian structure on $\mathbb{R}^{5}$ depending on two real parameters $α_{1}$ and $α_{2}$. We develop some results about its geodesics and heat kernel associated to its sub-Laplacian and we illuminate some interesting geometric and analytic features appearing when one compares the isotropic ($α_{1}=…
