We classify, up to orbit equivalence, all cohomogeneity one actions on the hyperbolic planes over the complex, quaternionic and Cayley numbers, and on the complex hyperbolic spaces of dimension greater than two. For the quaternionic hyperbolic spaces of dimension greater than two we reduce the classification problem to a problem in quaternionic linear algebra and obtain partial results. For real hyperbolic spaces, this classification problem was essentially solved by Elie Cartan.
We classify, up to orbit equivalence, the cohomogeneity one actions on the noncompact duals of the symmetric spaces G_2, SU_3 and the real oriented two-plane Grassmannians.
An isometric action of a Lie group on a Riemannian manifold is of cohomogeneity one if the corresponding orbit space is one-dimensional. In this article we develop a conceptual approach to the classification of cohomogeneity one actions on Riemannian symmetric spaces of noncompact type in terms of orbit equivalence. As a consequence, we find many new examples of cohomogeneity one actions on Riemannian symmetric spaces of noncompact type. We apply our conceptual approach to derive explicit classifications of cohomogeneity one actions on some symmetric spaces.
We study gradient Ricci solitons with maximal symmetry. First we show that there are no non-trivial homogeneous gradient Ricci solitons. Thus the most symmetry one can expect is an isometric cohomogeneity one group action. Many examples of cohomogeneity one gradient solitons have been constructed. However, we apply the main result in our paper "Rigidity of gradient Ricci solitons" to show that there are no noncompact cohomogeneity one shrinking gradient solitons with nonnegative curvature.
We prove that the Euler characteristic of an even-dimensional compact manifold with positive (nonnegative) sectional curvature is positive (nonnegative) provided that the manifold admits an isometric action of a compact Lie group $G$ with principal isotropy group $H$ and cohomogeneity $k$ such that $k - (\rank G - \rank H)\le 5$. Moreover, we prove that the Euler characteristic of a compact Riemannian manifold $M^{4l+4}$ or $M^{4l+2}$ with positive sectional curvature is positive if $M$ admits an effective isometric action of a torus $T^l$, i.e., if the symmetry rank of $M$ is $\ge l$.
We show that noncompact homogeneous spaces not diffeomorphic to Euclidean space of dimension 9 or 10 admit no homogeneous Einstein metrics of negative Ricci curvature, with only three potential exceptions. The main ingredient in the proof is to show, via a cohomogeneity-one approach, that noncompact homogeneous spaces admitting an ideal isomorphic to $ \mathfrak{sl}_2(\mathbb{R}) $ admit no homogeneous Einstein metrics of negative Ricci curvature.
We consider cohomogeneity one homogeneous disk bundles and adress the question when these admit a nonnegatively curved invariant metric with normal collar, i.e., such that near the boundary the metric is the product of an interval and a normal homogeneous space. If such a bundle is not (the quotient of) a trivial bundle, then we show that its rank has to be in $\{2,3,4,6,8\}$. Moreover, we give a complete classification of such bundles of rank 6 and 8, and a partial classification for rank 3.
In this paper we give a classification of cohomogeneity one manifolds admitting an invariant metric with quasipositive sectional curvature except for two $7$-dimensional families. The main result carries over almost verbatim from the classification results in positive curvature carried out by Verdiani and Grove, Wilking and Ziller. Three main tools used in the positively curved case that we generalized to quasipositively curved cohomogeneity one manifolds are Wilking's Chain Theorem, the classification of positively curved fixed point homogeneous manifolds by Grove and Searle and the Rank Lemm…
We conclude the classification of cohomogeneity one actions on symmetric spaces of rank one by classifying cohomogeneity one actions on quaternionic hyperbolic spaces up to orbit equivalence. As a by-product of our proof, we produce uncountably many examples of inhomogeneous isoparametric families of hypersurfaces with constant principal curvatures in quaternionic hyperbolic spaces.
We survey the known existence and non-existence results for $G_2$-instantons on non-compact cohomogeneity-1 $G_2$-manifolds and their consequences, including an explicit example of a family of $G_2$-instantons where bubbling, removable singularities and conservation of energy phenomena occur. We also describe several open problems for future research.
Let $M^n$, $n \in \{4,5,6\}$, be a compact, simply connected $n$-manifold which admits some Riemannian metric with non-negative curvature and an isometry group of maximal possible rank. Then any smooth, effective action on $M^n$ by a torus $T^{n-2}$ is equivariantly diffeomorphic to an isometric action on a normal biquotient. Furthermore, it follows that any effective, isometric circle action on a compact, simply connected, non-negatively curved four-dimensional manifold is equivariantly diffeomorphic to an effective, isometric action on a normal biquotient.
We show that if $G\times M \to M$ is a cohomogeneity one action of a compact connected Lie group $G$ on a compact connected manifold $M$ then $H^*_G(M)$ is a Cohen-Macaulay module over $H^*(BG)$. Moreover, this module is free if and only if the rank of at least one isotropy group is equal to the rank of $G$. We deduce as corollaries several results concerning the usual (de Rham) cohomology of $M$, such as the following obstruction to the existence of a cohomogeneity one action: if $M$ admits a cohomogeneity one action, then $χ(M)>0$ if and only if $H^{\rm odd}(M)=\{0\}$.
We study isometric actions on Riemannian symmetric spaces of noncompact type which are induced by reductive algebraic subgroups of the isometry group. We show that for such an action there exists a corresponding isometric action on a dual compact symmetric space, which reflects many properties of the original action. For example, the principal isotropy subgroups of both actions are locally isomorphic and the dual action is (hyper)polar if and only if the original action is (hyper)polar. This fact provides many new examples for polar actions on symmetric spaces of noncompact type and we use dua…
Let $M$ be a Hadamard manifold with curvature bounded above by a negative constant $-α$, satisfying the "strict convexity condition", and assume that $M$ admits a "helicoidal" one-parameter subgroup $G$ of isometries of $M$. Then, given a compact topological $G-$shaped hypersurface $Γ$ in the asymptotic boundary of $M,$ and $|H|<\sqrtα$, we prove the existence of a complete properly embedded hypersurface whose mean curvature is equal to $H$ and whose asymptotic boundary is $Γ$. We are able, this way, to extend a previous theorem of B.Guan and J.Spruck on the hyperbolic space to any rank 1 symm…
We propose a method to extend submanifolds, singular Riemannian foliations and isometric actions from a boundary component of a noncompact symmetric space to the whole space. This extension method preserves minimal submanifolds, isoparametric foliations and polar actions, among other properties. One of the several applications yields the first examples of inhomogeneous isoparametric hypersurfaces in noncompact symmetric spaces of rank at least two.
The Lichnerowicz conjecture asserts that all harmonic manifolds are either flat or locally symmetric spaces of rank 1. This conjecture has been proved by Z.I. Szabo for harmonic manifolds with compact universal cover. E. Damek and F. Ricci provided examples showing that in the noncompact case the conjecture is wrong. However, such manifolds do not admit a compact quotient. The classification of all noncompact harmonic spaces is still a very difficult open problem. In this paper we provide a survey on recent results on noncompact simply connected harmonic manifolds, and we also prove many new r…
We construct infinitely many new 1-parameter families of simply connected complete noncompact G_2-manifolds with controlled geometry at infinity. The generic member of each family has so-called asymptotically locally conical (ALC) geometry. However, the nature of the asymptotic geometry changes at two special parameter values: at one special value we obtain a unique member of each family with asymptotically conical (AC) geometry; on approach to the other special parameter value the family of metrics collapses to an AC Calabi-Yau 3-fold. Our infinitely many new diffeomorphism types of AC G_2-ma…
The Lichnerowicz conjecture asserts that all harmonic manifolds are either flat or locally symmetric spaces of rank~1. This conjecture has been proved by Z. Szabó \cite{Sz} for harmonic manifolds with compact universal cover. E. Damek and F. Ricci \cite{DR} provided examples showing that in the noncompact case the conjecture is wrong. However, such manifolds do not admit a compact quotient. In this paper we study, using a notion of rank, the asymptotic geometry and the geodesic flow on simply connected nonflat and noncompact harmonic manifolds denoted by $X$. In the first part of the paper we …
We show that polar actions of cohomogeneity two on simple compact Lie groups of higher rank, endowed with a biinvariant Riemannian metric, are hyperpolar. Combining this with a recent result of the second-named author, we are able to prove that polar actions induced by reductive algebraic subgroups in the isometry group of an irreducible Riemannian symmetric space of higher rank are hyperpolar. In particular, this result affirmatively settles the conjecture that polar actions on irreducible compact symmetric spaces of higher rank are hyperpolar.
In this note, an isoperimetric inequality for the harmonic mean of lower order Steklov eigenvalues is proved on bounded domains in noncompact rank-$1$ symmetric spaces. This work extends result of \cite{BR.01} and \cite{V.21} proved for bounded domains in Euclidean space and Hyperbolic space, respectively.
We show the existence of isometric (or Ford) fundamental regions for a large class of subgroups of the isometry group of any rank one Riemannian symmetric space of noncompact type. The proof does not use the classification of symmetric spaces. All hitherto known existence results of isometric fundamental regions and domains are essentially subsumed by our work.
We study submanifolds whose principal curvatures, counted with multiplicities, do not depend on the normal direction. Such submanifolds, which we briefly call CPC submanifolds, are always austere, hence minimal, and have constant principal curvatures. Well-known classes of examples include totally geodesic submanifolds, homogeneous austere hypersurfaces, and singular orbits of cohomogeneity one actions. The main purpose of this article is to present a systematic approach to the construction and classification of homogeneous submanifolds whose principal curvatures are independent of the normal …
Einstein hypersurfaces are ``very rare" in rank-one symmetric spaces. Damek-Ricci spaces may be viewed as the closest and the most natural generalisations of noncompact rank-one symmetric spaces. We prove that no Damek-Ricci space admits an Einstein hypersurface.
Let $(M,g)$ be a globally symmetric space of noncompact type, of arbitrary rank, and $Δ$ its Laplacian. We prove the existence of a meromorphic continuation of the resolvent $(Δ-\ev)^{-1}$ across the continuous spectrum to a Riemann surface multiply covering the plane. The methods are purely analytic and are adapted from quantum $N$-body scattering.
Let X=G/K be a symmetric space of noncompact type and let L be the Laplacian associated with a G-invariant metric on X. We show that the resolvent kernel of L admits a holomorphic extension to a Riemann surface depending on the rank of the symmetric space. This Riemann surface is a branched cover of the complex plane with a certain part of the real axis removed. It has a branching point at the bottom of the spectrum of L. It is further shown that this branching point is quadratic if the rank of X is odd, and is logarithmic otherwise. In case G has only one conjugacy class of Cartan subalgebras…
An axiomatic characterization of buildings of type $\CC_3$ due to Tits is used to prove that any cohomogeneity two polar action of type $\CC_3$ on a positively curved simply connected manifold is equivariantly diffeomorphic to a polar action on a rank one symmetric space. This includes two actions on the Cayley plane whose associated $\CC_3$ type geometry is not covered by a building.
We use Lie-theoretic methods to explicitly compute the full spectrum of the Laplace--Beltrami operator on homogeneous spheres which occur as geodesic distance spheres in (compact or noncompact) symmetric spaces of rank one, and provide a single unified formula for all cases. As an application, we find all resonant radii for distance spheres in the compact case, i.e., radii where there is bifurcation of embedded constant mean curvature spheres, and show that distance spheres are stable and locally rigid in the noncompact case.
The Besson-Courtois-Gallot theorem is proven for noncompact finite volume Riemannian manifolds. In particular, no bounded geometry assumptions are made. This proves the minimal entropy conjecture for nonuniform rank one lattices.
We consider the Einstein deformations of the reducible rank two symmetric spaces of noncompact type. If $M$ is the product of any two real, complex, quaternionic or octonionic hyperbolic spaces, we prove that the family of nearby Einstein metrics is parametrized by certain new geometric structures on the Furstenberg boundary of $M$.
Let M be an irreducible Riemannian symmetric space. The index i(M) of M is the minimal codimension of a totally geodesic submanifold of M. In previous work the authors proved that i(M) is bounded from below by the rank rk(M) of M. In this paper we classify all irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces M for which the equality holds, that is, rk(M) = i(M). In this context we also obtain an explicit classification of all non-semisimple maximal totally geodesic submanifolds in irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces of noncompact type and show that they are closely related to irreducible symmetric …
We classify noncompact homogeneous spaces which are Einstein and asymptotically harmonic. This completes the classification of Riemannian harmonic spaces in the homogeneous case: Any simply connected homogeneous harmonic space is flat, or rank-one symmetric, or a nonsymmetric Damek-Ricci space. Independently, Y. Nikolayevsky has obtained the latter classification under the additional assumption of nonpositive sectional curvatures.
There are two main types of rank 2 Bäcklund transformations relating a pair of hyperbolic Monge-Ampère systems, which we call Type $\mathscr{A}$ and Type $\mathscr{B}$. For Type $\mathscr{A}$, we completely determine a subclass whose local invariants satisfy a specific but simple algebraic constraint; such Bäcklund transformations are parametrized by a finite number of constants, whose cohomogeneity can be either 2, 3 or 4. In addition, we present an invariantly formulated condition that determines whether a generic Type $\mathscr{B}$ Bäcklund transformation is one that, under suitable choices…
A Riemannian manifold is called harmonic if its volume density function expressed in polar coordinates centered at any point is radial. Flat and rank-one symmetric spaces are harmonic. The converse (the Lichnerowicz Conjecture) is true for manifolds of nonnegative scalar curvature and for some other classes of manifolds, but is not true in general: there exists a family of homogeneous harmonic spaces, the Damek-Ricci spaces, containing noncompact rank-one symmetric spaces, as well as infinitely many nonsymmetric examples. We prove that a harmonic homogeneous manifold of nonpositive curvature i…
We show that if $M$ is an Einstein hypersurface in an irreducible Riemannian symmetric space $\overline{M}$ of rank greater than $1$ (the classification in the rank-one case was previously known), then either $\overline{M}$ is of noncompact type and $M$ is a codimension one Einstein solvmanifold, or $\overline{M}=\mathrm{SU}(3)/\mathrm{SO}(3)$ (respectively, $\overline{M}=\mathrm{SL}(3)/\mathrm{SO}(3)$) and $M$ is foliated by totally geodesic spheres (respectively, hyperbolic planes) of $\overline{M}$, with the space of leaves parametrised by a special Legendrian surface in $S^5$ (respectively…
Let $M$ be a closed hypersurface in a noncompact rank-1 symmetric space $(\bar{\mathbb{M}}, ds^2)$ with $-4 \leq K_{\bar{\mathbb{M}}} \leq -1,$ or in a complete, simply connected Riemannian manifold $\mathbb{M}$ such that $0 \leq K_{\mathbb{M}} \leq δ^2$ or $K_{\mathbb{M}} \leq k$ where $k = -δ^2$ or 0. In this paper we give sharp upperbounds for the first eigenvalue of laplacian of $M$.
Let $X$ be a globally symmetric space of noncompact type, and $Γ\subset\Isom(X)$ a Schottky group of axial isometries. Then $M:=X/Γ$ is a locally symmetric Riemannian manifold of infinite volume. The goal of this note is to give an asymptotic estimate for the number of primitive closed geodesics in $M$ modulo free homotopy with period less than $t$.
We introduce a new quasi-isometry invariant $\subcorank X$ of a metric space $X$ called {\it subexponential corank}. A metric space $X$ has subexponential corank $k$ if roughly speaking there exists a continuous map $g:X\to T$ such that for each $t\in T$ the set $g^{-1}(t)$ has subexponential growth rate in $X$ and the topological dimension $\dim T=k$ is minimal among all such maps. Our main result is the inequality $\hyprank X\le\subcorank X$ for a large class of metric spaces $X$ including all locally compact Hadamard spaces, where $\hyprank X$ is maximal topological dimension of $\di Y$ amo…
Let $Ł$ be the Laplace operator on $\R ^d$, $d\geq 3$ or the Laplace Beltrami operator on the harmonic $NA$ group (in particular on a rank one noncompact symmetric space). For the equation $ Łu - φ(\cdot,u)=0$ we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of entire bounded or large solutions under the hypothesis of radiality of $φ$ with respect to the first variable. A Harnack-type inequality for positive continuous solutions is also proved.
Certain solvable extensions of $H$-type groups provide noncompact counterexamples to the so-called Lichnerowicz conjecture, which asserted that ``harmonic'' Riemannian spaces must be rank 1 symmetric spaces.
A Moebius structure (on a set X) is a class of metrics having the same cross-ratios. A Moebius structure is ptolemaic if it is invariant under inversion operations. The boundary at infinity of a CAT(-1) space is in a natural way a Moebius space, which is ptolemaic. We give a free of classification proof of the following result that characterizes the rank one symmetric spaces of noncompact type purely in terms of their Moebius geometry: Let X be a compact Ptolemy space which contains a Ptolemy circle and allows many space inversions. Then X is Moebius equivalent to the boundary at infinity of a…
Let Y be a noncompact rank one locally symmetric space of finite volume. Then Y has a finite number e(Y) > 0 of topological ends. In this paper, we show that for any natural number n, the Y with e(Y) \leq n that are arithmetic fall into finitely many commensurability classes. In particular, there is a constant c_n such that n-cusped arithmetic orbifolds do not exist in dimension greater than c_n. We make this explicit for one-cusped arithmetic hyperbolic n-orbifolds and prove that none exist for n \geq 30.
$L^p$-cohomology of rank one symmetric spaces of noncompact type is shown to be Hausdorff for values of $p$ where this does not follow from curvature pinching. Using the multiplicative structure on $L^p$-cohomology, it is shown that no simply connected Riemannian manifold with strictly -1/4-pinched sectional curvature can be quasiisometric to complex hyperbolic plane. Unfortunately, the method does not extend to other rank one symmetric spaces.
The paper initiates a systematic study of Moebius structures and Ptolemy spaces. We conjecture that every compact Ptolemy space with circles and many space inversions is Moebius equivalent to the boundary at infinity of a rank one symmetric space of noncompact type. We prove this conjecture for the class of complex hyperbolic spaces as our main result.
We construct a tangential map from a locally symmetric space of noncompact type to its dual compact type twin. By comparing the induced map in cohomology to a map defined by Matsushima, we conclude that in the equal rank case the map has a nonzero degree.
If Gamma is a nonuniform, irreducible lattice in a semisimple Lie group whose real rank is greater than 1, we show Gamma contains a subgroup that is isomorphic to a nonuniform, irreducible lattice in either SL(3,R), SL(3,C), or a direct product SL(2,R)^m x SL(2,C)^n$, with m + n > 1. (In geometric terms, this can be interpreted as a statement about the existence of totally geodesic subspaces of finite-volume, noncompact, locally symmetric spaces of higher rank.) Another formulation of the result states that if G is any isotropic, almost simple algebraic group over Q (the rational numbers), suc…
