The space of left-invariant metrics on a Lie group up to isometry and scaling

We study the spaces of left-invariant Riemannian metrics on a Lie group up to isometry, and up to isometry and scaling. In this paper, we see that such spaces can be identified with the orbit spaces of certain isometric actions on noncompact symmetric spaces. We also study some Lie groups whose spaces of left-invariant metrics up to isometry and scaling are small.     

A convexity theorem for noncommutative gradient flows

In this survey we shall prove a convexity theorem for gradient actions of reductive Lie groups on Riemannian symmetric spaces. After studying general properties of gradient maps, this proof is established by (1) an explicit calculation on the hyperbolic plane followed by a transfer of the results to general reductive Lie groups, (2) a reduction to a problem on abelian spaces using Kostant's Convexity Theorem, (3) an application of Fenchel's Convexity Theorem. In the final section the theorem is applied to gradient actions on other homogeneous spaces and we show, that Hilgert's Convexity Theorem for moment maps can be derived from the results.     

On the structure of geodesic orbit Riemannian spaces

The paper is devoted to the study of geodesic orbit Riemannian spaces that could be characterized by the property that any geodesic is an orbit of a 1-parameter group of isometries. In particular, we discuss some important totally geodesic submanifolds that inherit the property to be geodesic orbit. For a given geodesic orbit Riemannian space, we describe the structure of the nilradical and the radical of the Lie algebra of the isometry group. In the final part, we discuss some new tools to study geodesic orbit Riemannian spaces, related to compact Lie group representations with non-trivial principal isotropy algebras. We discuss also some new examples of geodesic orbit Riemannian spaces, new methods to obtain such examples, and some unsolved questions.     

Riemannian supergeometry

Motivated by Zirnbauer in J Math Phys 37(10):4986–5018 (1996), we develop a theory of Riemannian supermanifolds up to a definition of Riemannian symmetric superspaces. Various fundamental concepts needed for the study of these spaces both from the Riemannian and the Lie theoretical viewpoint are introduced, e.g., geodesics, isometry groups and invariant metrics on Lie supergroups and homogeneous superspaces. Research supported by the DFG, SFB TR/12 “Symmetries and Universality in Mesoscopic Systems”.     

Parabolic subgroups of semisimple Lie groups and Einstein solvmanifolds

In this paper, we study the solvmanifolds constructed from any parabolic subalgebras of any semisimple Lie algebras. These solvmanifolds are naturally homogeneous submanifolds of symmetric spaces of noncompact type. We show that the Ricci curvatures of our solvmanifolds coincide with the restrictions of the Ricci curvatures of the ambient symmetric spaces. Consequently, all of our solvmanifolds are Einstein, which provide a large number of new examples of noncompact homogeneous Einstein manifolds. We also show that our solvmanifolds are minimal, but not totally geodesic submanifolds of symmetric spaces.     

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 ${\mathbb N}$ -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.     

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.     

The Relation Between Automorphism Group and Isometry Group of Randers Lie Groups

In this paper we consider simply connected Lie groups equipped with left invariant Randers metrics which arise from left invariant Riemannian metrics and left invariant vector fields. Then we study the intersection between automorphism and isometry groups of these spaces. Finally it has shown that for any left invariant vector field, in a special case, the Lie group admits a left invariant Randers metric such that this intersection is a maximal compact subgroup of the group of automorphisms with respect to which the considered vector field is invariant.     

The Riemannian Manifolds with Boundary and Large Symmetry

Seventy years ago, Myers and Steenrod showed that the isometry group of a Riemannian manifold without boundary has a structure of Lie group. In 2007, Bagaev and Zhukova proved the same result for a Riemannian orbifold. In this paper, the authors first show that the isometry group of a Riemannian manifold M with boundary has dimension at most 1/2 dim M（dim M - 1）. Then such Riemannian manifolds with boundary that their isometry groups attain the preceding maximal dimension are completely classified.     

Symplectic Structures and Cohomologies on Some Solvmanifolds

We consider the question of existence of symplectic and Kahler structures on compact homogeneous spaces of solvable triangular Lie groups. The aim of the article is to clarify the situation with examples in this area. We prove that it is impossible to complete the construction of examples in the well-known article by Benson and Gordon on the structure of compact solvmanifolds with Kahler structure. We do this by proving the absence of lattices (and thereby a compact form) in the Lie groups of the above-mentioned article. We construct a new (similar) example for which, unlike the above examples, a compact form exists. We consider one class of solvable Lie groups, namely the class of almost abelian groups, and obtain for this class a characterization of those Lie groups for which the cohomologies of their compact solvmanifolds are isomorphic to the cohomologies of the corresponding Lie algebras. Until recently, such isomorphism has been known only for one specific class of Lie groups, namely the class of triangular groups. We give examples of new (almost abelian) Lie groups with such isomorphism.     

Isometry Groups of Unimodular Simply Connected 3-Dimensional Lie Groups

We characterize the left-invariant Riemannian metrics on each of the six unimodular simply connected 3-dimensional Lie groups which give rise to 3-, 4-, or 6-dimensional isometry groups. It turns out that this classification is independent of curvature properties.     

Fundamental groups of compact manifolds and symmetric geometry of noncompact type

We introduce the notion of geometrical engagement for actions of semisimple Lie groups and their lattices as a concept closely related to Zimmer's topological engagement condition. Our notion is a geometrical criterion in the sense that it makes use of Riemannian distances. However, it can be used together with the foliated harmonic map techniques introduced in [8] to establish foliated geometric superrigidity results for both actions and geometric objects. In particular, we improve the applications of the main theorem in [9] to consider nonpositively curved compact manifolds (not necessarily with strictly negative curvature). We also establish topological restrictions for Riemannian manifolds whose universal cover have a suitable symmetric de Rham factor (Theorem B), as well as geometric obstructions for nonpositively curved compact manifolds to have fundamental groups isomorphic to certain groups build out of cocompact lattices in higher rank simple Lie groups (Corollary 4.5). Received: October 22, 1997     

Weighted diffeomorphism groups of Riemannian manifolds

In this paper, we define locally convex vector spaces of weighted vector fields and use them as model spaces for Lie groups of weighted diffeomorphisms on Riemannian manifolds. We prove an easy condition on the weights that ensures that these groups contain the compactly supported diffeomorphisms. We finally show that for the special case where the manifold is the euclidean space, these Lie groups coincide with the ones constructed in the author’s earlier work (Walter, 2012).     

Isometric actions on pseudo-Riemannian nilmanifolds

This work deals with the structure of the isometry group of pseudo-Riemannian 2-step nilmanifolds. We study the action by isometries of several groups and we construct examples showing substantial differences with the Riemannian situation; for instance, the action of the nilradical of the isometry group does not need to be transitive. For a nilpotent Lie group endowed with a left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric, we study conditions for which the subgroup of isometries fixing the identity element equals the subgroup of isometric automorphisms. This set equality holds for pseudo- $H$ -type Lie groups.     

Geodesic flows on Riemannian g.o. spaces

We prove the integrability of geodesic flows on the Riemannian g.o. spaces of compact Lie groups, as well as on a related class of Riemannian homogeneous spaces having an additional principal bundle structure.     

The isometry groups of Riemannian orbifolds

We prove that the isometry group ?(\(\mathcal{N}\)) of an arbitrary Riemannian orbifold \(\mathcal{N}\), endowed with the compact-open topology, is a Lie group acting smoothly and properly on \(\mathcal{N}\). Moreover, ?(\(\mathcal{N}\)) admits a unique smooth structure that makes it into a Lie group. We show in particular that the isometry group of each compact Riemannian orbifold with a negative definite Ricci tensor is finite, thus generalizing the well-known Bochner’s theorem for Riemannian manifolds.