In Carnot groups of step 3, all subriemannian geodesics are proved to be normal. The proof is based on a reduction argument and the Goh condition for minimality of singular curves. The Goh condition is deduced from a reformulation and a calculus of the end-point mapping which boils down to the graded structures of Carnot groups.
The space of $k$-jets of $n$ real function of one real variable $x$ admits the structure of a Carnot group, which then has an associated Hamiltonian geodesic flow. As in any Hamiltonian flow, a natural question is the existence of periodic solutions. Does the space of $k$-jets have periodic geodesics? This study will demonstrate the integrability of subRiemannian geodesic flow, characterize and classify the subRiemannian geodesics in the space of $k$-jets, and show that they are never periodic.
In the metric spaces, we give some equivalent condition of intrinsically Lipschitz maps introduce by Franchi, Serapioni and Serra Cassano in subRiemannian Carnot groups. Unlike what happens in the Carnot groups, in our context intrinsic dilation do not exist but we can prove the same results using the Lipschitz property of the projection maps.
This paper is part of an undergraduate research project. We discuss the Heisenberg group H1, the three-dimensional space R3 equipped with one of two equivalent metrics, the Koranyi- and Carnot- Caratheodory metric. We show that the notion of length of curves for both metrics coincide, and that shortest curves, so-called geodesics, exist.
This paper provides some partial regularity results for geodesics (i.e., isometric images of intervals) in arbitrary sub-Riemannian and sub-Finsler manifolds. Our strategy is to study infinitesimal and asymptotic properties of geodesics in Carnot groups equipped with arbitrary sub-Finsler metrics. We show that tangents of Carnot geodesics are geodesics in some groups of lower nilpotency step. Namely, every blowup curve of every geodesic in every Carnot group is still a geodesic in the group modulo its last layer. Then as a consequence we get that in every sub-Riemannian manifold any $s$ times …
We consider weakly and strongly asymptotically mean value harmonic (amv-harmonic) functions on subriemannian and RCD settings. We demonstrate that, in non-collapsed RCD-spaces with vanishing metric measure boundary, Cheeger harmonic functions are weakly amv-harmonic and that, in Carnot groups, weak amv-harmonicity equivalently characterizes harmonicity in the sense of the sub-Laplacian. In homogeneous Carnot groups of step $2$, we prove a Blaschke-Privaloff-Zaremba type theorem. Similar results are discussed in the settings of Riemannian manifolds and for Alexandrov surfaces.
We prove that H-type Carnot groups of rank $k$ and dimension $n$ satisfy the $\mathrm{MCP}(K,N)$ if and only if $K\leq 0$ and $N \geq k+3(n-k)$. The latter integer coincides with the geodesic dimension of the Carnot group. The same result holds true for the larger class of generalized H-type Carnot groups introduced in this paper, and for which we compute explicitly the optimal synthesis. This constitutes the largest class of Carnot groups for which the curvature exponent coincides with the geodesic dimension. We stress that generalized H-type Carnot groups have step 2, include all corank 1 gr…
The notion of curvature discussed in this paper is a far going generalization of the Riemannian sectional curvature. It was first introduced by Agrachev, Barilari and Rizzi in arXiv:1306.5318, and it is defined for a wide class of optimal control problems: a unified framework including geometric structures such as Riemannian, sub-Riemannian, Finsler, and sub-Finsler structures. In this work we study the generalized sectional curvature of Carnot groups with rank-two distributions. In particular, we consider the Cartan group and Carnot groups with horizontal distribution of Goursat-type. In thes…
This paper is a continuation of the previous work of the first author. We characterize a class of step-two groups introduced in \cite{Li19}, saying GM-groups, via some basic sub-Riemannian geometric properties, including the squared Carnot-Carathéodory distance, the cut locus, the classical cut locus, the optimal synthesis, etc. Also, the shortest abnormal set can be exhibited easily in such situation. Some examples of such groups are step-two groups of corank $2$, of Kolmogorov type, or those associated to quadratic CR manifolds. As a byproduct, the main goal in \cite{BBG12} is achieved from …
We prove that any corank 1 Carnot group of dimension $k+1$ equipped with a left-invariant measure satisfies the $\mathrm{MCP}(K,N)$ if and only if $K \leq 0$ and $N \geq k+3$. This generalizes the well known result by Juillet for the Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}_{k+1}$ to a larger class of structures, which admit non-trivial abnormal minimizing curves. The number $k+3$ coincides with the geodesic dimension of the Carnot group, which we define here for a general metric space. We discuss some of its properties, and its relation with the curvature exponent (the least $N$ such that the $\mathrm{MC…
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…
Combining Varadhan's formula, Loewner's theorem with the method of stationary phase, we study the exact formula of the Carnot-Carathéodory distance on $2$-step groups. The method is also adapted to determine all normal geodesics from the identity element to any given point (up to a set of measure zero). As an application, we characterize the squared sub-Riemannian distance as well as the cut locus on generalized Heisenberg-type groups and on star graphs respectively. Furthermore, the long-standing open problem of Gaveau-Brockett is completely solved in the case of $N_{3, 2}$, the free Carnot g…
This paper deals with the theory of rectifiability in arbitrary Carnot groups, and in particular with the study of the notion of $\mathscr{P}$-rectifiable measure. First, we show that in arbitrary Carnot groups the natural \textit{infinitesimal} definition of rectifiabile measure, i.e., the definition given in terms of the existence of \textit{flat} tangent measures, is equivalent to the global definition given in terms of coverings with intrinsically differentiable graphs, i.e., graphs with \textit{flat} Hausdorff tangents. In general we do not have the latter equivalence if we ask the coveri…
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 $…
In this note, we study the cut locus of the free, step two Carnot groups $\mathbb{G}_k$ with $k$ generators, equipped with their left-invariant Carnot-Carathéodory metric. In particular, we disprove the conjectures on the shape of the cut loci proposed in [Myasnichenko - 2002] and [Montanari, Morbidelli - 2016], by exhibiting sets of cut points $C_k \subset \mathbb{G}_k$ which, for $k \geq 4$, are strictly larger than conjectured ones. While the latter were, respectively, smooth semi-algebraic sets of codimension $Θ(k^2)$ and semi-algebraic sets of codimension $Θ(k)$, the sets $C_k$ are semi-a…
This paper is connected with the problem of describing path metric spaces that are homeomorphic to manifolds and biLipschitz homogeneous, i.e., whose biLipschitz homeomorphism group acts transitively. Our main result is the following. Let $X = G/H$ be a homogeneous manifold of a Lie group $G$ and let $d$ be a geodesic distance on $X$ inducing the same topology. Suppose there exists a subgroup $G_S$ of $G$ that acts transitively on $X$, such that each element $g \in G_S$ induces a locally biLipschitz homeomorphism of the metric space $(X,d)$. Then the metric is locally biLipschitz equivalent to…
We obtain the best known quantitative estimates for the $L^p$-Poincaré and log-Sobolev inequalities on domains in various sub-Riemannian manifolds, including ideal Carnot groups and in particular ideal generalized H-type Carnot groups and the Heisenberg groups, corank $1$ Carnot groups, the Grushin plane, and various H-type foliations, Sasakian and $3$-Sasakian manifolds. Moreover, this constitutes the first time that a quantitative estimate independent of the dimension is established on these spaces. For instance, the Li-Yau / Zhong-Yang spectral-gap estimate holds on all Heisenberg groups of…
The note is dedicated to provide a satisfying and complete answer to the long-standing Gaveau--Brockett open problem. More precisely, we determine the exact formula of the Carnot--Carathéodory distance on arbitrary step-two groups. The basic idea of the proof is combining Varadhan's formulas with the explicit expression for the associated heat kernel $p_h$ and the method of stationary phase. However, we have to introduce a number of original new methods, especially the usage of the concept of "Operator convexity". Next, new integral expressions for $p_h$ by means of properties of Bessel functi…
