Isometric actions on spheres with an orbifold quotient (Q303589): Difference between revisions

The authors classify all representations of compact connected Lie groups \(G\) on Euclidean spaces whose induced action on the unit sphere \(\mathbb{S}^n\) has an orbit space \(\mathbb{S}^n/G\) isometric to a Riemannian orbifold. The main result of the paper is the following theorem and its corollaries: Let a compact Lie group \(G\) act effectively and isometrically on the unit sphere \(\mathbb{S}^n\). Let \(\rho : G^0 \longrightarrow\mathrm{SO}(n + 1)\) be the corresponding representation of the identity component. The quotient \(\mathbb{S}^n/G\) is a Riemannian orbifold if and only if one of the following cases occurs for \(\rho\): {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[1.] The representation \(\rho\) is polar; \item[2.] \(G^0\) acts almost freely on \(\mathbb{S}^n\); thus \(G^0 = U(1)\) or \(G^0 =\mathrm{SU}(2)\), and \(\rho\) is a sum of irreducible even-dimensional representations; \item[3.] \(\rho\) has cohomogeneity \(3\); \item[4.] \(\rho\) is one of the representations listed in Table 1. \end{itemize}} Corollary 1: Let \(\rho\) be an orthogonal representation of a compact Lie group \(G\) on a Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\). Assume that the quotient \(X = \mathbb{S}^n/G\) is a Riemannian orbifold. Then the universal orbi-covering \(\widetilde{X}\) of \(X\) is either a weighted complex or quaternionic projective space, or \(\widetilde{X}\) has constant curvature \(1\) or \(4\). Corollary 2. Let \(X = \mathbb{S}^n/G\) be a Riemannian orbifold. If \(G\) has rank at least \(2\) and the representation is not polar, then the dimension \(k\) of \(X\) satisfies \(2 \leq k \leq 5\).