Closed geodesics in compact nilmanifolds

We study the density of closed geodesics property on 2-step nilmanifolds Γ\N, where N is a simply connected 2-step nilpotent Lie group with a left invariant Riemannian metric and Lie algebra ?, and Γ is a lattice in N. We show the density of closedgeodesics property holds for quotients of singular, simply connected, 2-step nilpotent Lie groups N which are constructed using irreducible representations of the compact Lie group SU(2). Received: 8 November 2000 / Revised version: 9 April 2001     

On the Chern‐Ricci flow and its solitons for Lie groups

This paper is concerned with Chern‐Ricci flow evolution of left‐invariant hermitian structures on Lie groups. We study the behavior of a solution, as t is approaching the first time singularity, by rescaling in order to prevent collapsing and obtain convergence in the pointed (or Cheeger‐Gromov) sense to a Chern‐Ricci soliton. We give some results on the Chern‐Ricci form and the Lie group structure of the pointed limit in terms of the starting hermitian metric and, as an application, we obtain a complete picture for the class of solvable Lie groups having a codimension one normal abelian subgroup. We have also found a Chern‐Ricci soliton hermitian metric on most of the complex surfaces which are solvmanifolds, including an unexpected shrinking soliton example.     

Curvatures of homogeneous Randers spaces

We study curvatures of homogeneous Randers spaces. After deducing the coordinate-free formulas of the flag curvature and Ricci scalar of homogeneous Randers spaces, we give several applications. We first present a direct proof of the fact that a homogeneous Randers space is Ricci quadratic if and only if it is a Berwald space. We then prove that any left invariant Randers metric on a non-commutative nilpotent Lie group must have three flags whose flag curvature is positive, negative and zero, respectively. This generalizes a result of J.A. Wolf on Riemannian metrics. We prove a conjecture of J. Milnor on the characterization of central elements of a real Lie algebra, in a more generalized sense. Finally, we study homogeneous Finsler spaces of positive flag curvature and particularly prove that the only compact connected simply connected Lie group admitting a left invariant Finsler metric with positive flag curvature is SU(2)$\text{SU}\left(2\right)$.     

The Ricci flow in a class of solvmanifolds

In this paper, we study the Ricci flow of solvmanifolds whose Lie algebra has an abelian ideal of codimension one, by using the bracket flow. We prove that solutions to the Ricci flow are immortal, the ω-limit of bracket flow solutions is a single point, and that for any sequence of times there exists a subsequence in which the Ricci flow converges, in the pointed topology, to a manifold which is locally isometric to a flat manifold. We give a functional which is non-increasing along a normalized bracket flow that will allow us to prove that given a sequence of times, one can extract a subsequence converging to an algebraic soliton, and to determine which of these limits are flat. Finally, we use these results to prove that if a Lie group in this class admits a Riemannian metric of negative sectional curvature, then the curvature of any Ricci flow solution will become negative in finite time.     

A curve of nilpotent Lie algebras which are not Einstein nilradicals

The only known examples of non-compact Einstein homogeneous spaces are standard solvmanifolds (special solvable Lie groups endowed with a left invariant metric), and according to a long standing conjecture, they might be all. The classification of Einstein solvmanifolds is equivalent to the one of Einstein nilradicals, i.e. nilpotent Lie algebras which are nilradicals of the Lie algebras of Einstein solvmanifolds. Up to now, very few examples of \mathbb N{\mathbb N}-graded nilpotent Lie algebras that cannot be Einstein nilradicals have been found. In particular, in each dimension, there are only finitely many known. We exhibit in the present paper two curves of pairwise non-isomorphic nine-dimensional two-step nilpotent Lie algebras which are not Einstein nilradicals.     

Cohomogeneity one Riemannian manifolds of non-positive curvature

We study a G-manifold M which admits a G-invariant Riemannian metric g of non-positive curvature. We describe all such Riemannian G-manifolds (M,g) of non-positive curvature with a semisimple Lie group G which acts on M regularly and classify cohomogeneity one G-manifolds M of a semisimple Lie group G which admit an invariant metric of non-positive curvature. Some results on non-existence of invariant metric of negative curvature on cohomogeneity one G-manifolds of a semisimple Lie group G are given.     

Conformally parallel G 2 structures on a class of solvmanifolds

Starting from a 6-dimensional nilpotent Lie group N endowed with an invariant SU(3) structure, we construct a homogeneous conformally parallel G₂-metric on an associated solvmanifold. We classify all half-flat SU(3) structures that endow the rank-one solvable extension of N with a conformally parallel G₂ structure. By suitably deforming the SU(3) structures obtained, we are able to describe the corresponding non-homogeneous Ricci-flat metrics with holonomy contained in G₂. In the process we also find a new metric with exceptional holonomy. Received: 20 September     

Homogeneous nilmanifolds attached to representations of compact Lie groups

For each compact Lie algebra ? and each real representation V of ? we consider a two-step nilpotent Lie group N(?,V), endowed with a natural left-invariant riemannian metric. The homogeneous nilmanifolds so obtained are precisely those which are naturally reductive. We study some geometric aspects of these manifolds, finding many parallels with H-type groups. We also obtain, within the class of manifolds N(?,V), the first examples of non-weakly symmetric, naturally reductive spaces and new examples of non-commutative naturally reductive spaces. Received: 16 September 1998 / Revised version: 24 February 1999     

Almost Kähler 4-dimensional Lie groups with J-invariant Ricci tensor

The J-invariance of the Ricci tensor is a natural weakening of the Einstein condition in almost Hermitian geometry. The aim of this paper is to determine left-invariant strictly almost Kähler structures (g,J,Ω) on real 4-dimensional Lie groups such that the Ricci tensor is J-invariant. We prove that all these Lie groups are isometric (up to homothety) to the (unique) 4-dimensional proper 3-symmetric space.     

A class of Riemannian manifolds that pinch when evolved by Ricci flow

The purpose of this paper is to construct a set of Riemannian metrics on a manifold X with the property that will develop a pinching singularity in finite time when evolved by Ricci flow. More specifically, let , where N ⁿ is an arbitrary closed manifold of dimension n≥ 2 which admits an Einstein metric of positive curvature. We construct a (non-empty) set of warped product metrics on the non-compact manifold X such that if , then a smooth solution , t∈[0,T) to the Ricci flow equation exists for some maximal constant T, 0<T<∞, with initial value , and

A Canonical Compatible Metric for Geometric Structures on Nilmanifolds

Let (N, γ) be a nilpotent Lie group endowed with an invariant geometric structure (cf. symplectic, complex, hypercomplex or any of their ‘almost’ versions). We define a left invariant Riemannian metric on N compatible with γ to be minimal, if it minimizes the norm of the invariant part of the Ricci tensor among all compatible metrics with the same scalar curvature. We prove that minimal metrics (if any) are unique up to isometry and scaling, they develop soliton solutions for the ‘invariant Ricci’ flow and are characterized as the critical points of a natural variational problem. The uniqueness allows us to distinguish two geometric structures with Riemannian data, giving rise to a great deal of invariants.Our approach proposes to vary Lie brackets rather than inner products; our tool is the moment map for the action of a reductive Lie group on the algebraic variety of all Lie algebras, which we show to coincide in this setting with the Ricci operator. This gives us the possibility to use strong results from geometric invariant theory.Communicated by: Nigel Hitchin (Oxford) Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000): Primary: 53D05, 53D55; Secondary: 22E25, 53D20, 14L24, 53C30.     

The initial value problem for cohomogeneity one Einstein metrics

The PDE Ric(g) = λ · g for a Riemannian Einstein metric g on a smooth manifold M becomes an ODE if we require g to be invariant under a Lie group G acting properly on M with principal orbits of codimension one. A singular orbit of the G-action gives a singularity of this ODE. Generically, an equation with such type of singularity has no smooth solution at the singularity. However, in our case, the very geometric nature of the equation makes it solvable. More precisely, we obtain a smooth G-invariant Einstein metric (with any Einstein constant λ) in a tubular neighbourhood around a singular orbit Q ⊂ M for any prescribed G-invariant metric g_Q and second fundamental form L_Q on Q, provided that the following technical condition is satisfied (which is very often the case): the representations of the principal isotropy group on the tangent and the normal space of the singular orbit Q have no common sub-representations. This Einstein metric is not uniquely determined by the initial data g_Q and L_Q; in fact, one may prescribe initial derivatives of higher degree, and examples show that this degree can be arbitrarily high. The proof involves a blend of ODE techniques and representation theory of the principal and singular isotropy groups.     

Ricci flat metrics with bidimensional null orbits and non-integrable orthogonal distribution

We study Ricci flat 4-metrics of any signature under the assumption that they allow a Lie algebra of Killing fields with 2-dimensional orbits along which the metric degenerates and whose orthogonal distribution is not integrable. It turns out that locally there is a unique (up to a sign) metric which satisfies the conditions. This metric is of signature (++−−) and, moreover, homogeneous possessing a 6-dimensional symmetry algebra.     

Classification of homogeneous almost cosymplectic three-manifolds

The purpose of this paper is to classify all simply connected homogeneous almost cosymplectic three-manifolds. We show that each such three-manifold is either a Lie group G equipped with a left invariant almost cosymplectic structure or a Riemannian product of type R×N, where N is a Kähler surface of constant curvature. Moreover, we find that the Reeb vector field of any homogeneous almost cosymplectic three-manifold, except one case, defines a harmonic map.     

Natural almost contact structures and their 3D homogeneous models

We consider a natural condition determining a large class of almost contact metric structures. We study their geometry, emphasizing that this class shares several properties with contact metric manifolds. We then give a complete classification of left‐invariant examples on three‐dimensional Lie groups, and show that any simply connected homogeneous Riemannian three‐manifold admits a natural almost contact structure having g as a compatible metric. Moreover, we investigate left‐invariant CR structures corresponding to natural almost contact metric structures.     

Homogeneous Ricci solitons on four-dimensional Lie groups with a left-invariant Riemannian metric

Homogeneous Ricci solitons on four-dimensional Lie groups with a left-invariant Riemannian metric are studied. The absence of nontrivial homogeneous invariant Ricci solitons is proved. The algebraic soliton equations are solved in terms of the structure constants of the metric Lie algebra.     

Computing Perelman?s ν-functional

This is a short note in which we show how to calculate the value of Perelman?s ν-functional for a variety of metrics. In particular we complete the calculation of values for the known 4-dimensional Einstein and shrinking Ricci soliton metrics.     

Length minimizing geodesics and the length spectrum of Riemannian two-step nilmanifolds

In the first part of this article, we prove an explicit lower bound on the distance to the cut point of an arbitrary geodesic in a simply connected two-step nilpotent Lie group G with a lieft invariant metric. As a result, we obtaine a lower bound on the injectivity radius of a simply connected two-step nilpotent Lie group with a left invariant metric. We use this lower bound to determine the form of certain length minimizing geodesics from the identity to elements in the center of G. We also give an example of a two-step nilpotent Lie group G such that along most geodesics in this group, the cut point and the first conjugate point do not coincide. In the second part of this article, we examine the relation between the Laplace spectrum and the length spectrum on nilmanifolds by showing that a method developed by Gordon and Wilson for constructing families of isospectral two-step nilmanifolds necessarily yields manifolds with the same length spectrum. As a consequence, all known methods for constructing families of isospectral two-step nilmanifolds necessarily yield manifolds with the same length spectrum. In memory of Robert Brooks     

Noncompact homogeneous Einstein manifolds attached to graded Lie algebras

In this paper, we study the nilradicals of parabolic subalgebras of semisimple Lie algebras and the natural one-dimensional solvable extensions of them. We investigate the structures, curvatures and Einstein conditions of the associated nilmanifolds and solvmanifolds. We show that our solvmanifold is Einstein if the nilradical is two-step. New examples of Einstein solvmanifolds with three-step and four-step nilradicals are also given. This work was partially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) 14740049 and 17740039, The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.