Geometry of balls in nilpotent Lie groups (Q1331680): Difference between revisions

Let \(G\) be a simply connected real nilpotent Lie group of dimension \(n\), \(G = {\gamma}_ 1(G) \supset \dots \supset {\gamma}_{i + 1} (G) = I\) be the lower central series of \(G\). Let \(\mathfrak g\) be the Lie algebra of \(G\) and \((e_ 1, \dots, e_ n)\) be a ``triangular'' basis, i.e., \([e_ i,e_ j] = \sum_ k \alpha_{ijk} e_ k\) with \(\alpha_{ijk} = 0\) when \(k \leq \max (i,j)\). The author of the present paper constructs \(n\) vector fields \(X_ 1,\dots, X_ n\) over \(\mathbb{R}^ n\) which realize \(\mathfrak g\). Taking these vector fields to be an orthonormal basis of \(\mathfrak g\), they induce an invariant Riemannian metric on \(G\). These vector fields are ``polynomial'' in the sense that the coefficient of \(\partial/\partial x_ k\) is always a polynomial in the variables \((x_ 1,\dots,x_ n)\). Then consider the differential forms \(\omega_ 1, \dots, \omega_ n\), which are the dual basis of \(X_ 1, \dots, X_ n\). These differential forms are also polynomials in the same sense, and one can define the weight \(w_ k\) of \(\omega_ k\), which equals exactly the unique index \(i\) for which \(e_ k \in {\gamma}_ i ({\mathfrak g}) \setminus {\gamma}_{i + 1}(\mathfrak g)\). Then the author proves the following result: There exists a constant \(a > 1\) (which depends on the group \(G\) but not on \(r\)) such that the ball of radius \(r>1\) around the origin, with respect to the above Riemannian metric on \(G\), is contained in the box \(\{| x_ i | \leq (ar)^{w_ i},\;1\leq i \leq n\}\), and contains the box \(\{| x_ i | \leq (r/a)^{w_ i},\;1 \leq i \leq n\}\).