Transitive and quasitransitive actions of affine groups preserving a generalized Lorentz-structure (Q919329)

The main result of the first part of the paper is: Theorem. Let V be a finite dimensional real vector space and \(G\subseteq GL(V)\) be a closed subgroup with finitely many connected components which is reductive and satisfies \(rank_{{\mathbb{R}}}G\leq 1\). Then any subgroup \(\Gamma\) of the affine group Aff(V) which acts discontinuously with compact quotient on the affine space A(V) and such that \(\lambda\) (\(\Gamma\))\(\subset G\) for the canonical homomorphism \(\lambda\) : Aff(V)\(\to GL(V)\) (here \(\lambda\) (g) is the linear part of \(g\in Aff(V))\) is virtually polycyclic. This solves a modification of a conjecture of \textit{J. Milnor} [Adv. Math. 25, 178-187 (1977; Zbl 0364.55001)]. In Soviet. Math. Dokl. 28, 435-439 (1983; Zbl 0578.57012), the second author gave a counterexample to the stronger original conjecture (without the co-compact condition). For the cases of dim V\(=1,2,3\) or \(G=O(n-1,1)\), this result has been proved by \textit{D. Fried} and \textit{W. Goldman} [Adv. Math. 47, 1-49 (1983; Zbl 0571.57030)] and by \textit{W. Goldman} and \textit{Y. Kamishima} [J. Differ. Geom. 19, 233-240 (1984; Zbl 0546.53039)], respectively. The present proof is similar to that of the last paper. The second part of the paper classifies groups \(\Gamma\) in the above theorem which satisfy \(\lambda (\Gamma)\subseteq O(n-1,1)\) up to commensurability. The main tool in this classification is a theorem about simply transitive actions on affine spaces proved by Fried and Goldman (see the above reference). This classification contains the results of \textit{L. Auslander} and \textit{L. Markus} for \(n=3\) [Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 30 (1959; Zbl 0085.163)] and results of \textit{D. Fried} for \(n=4\) [J. Differ. Geom. 26, 385-396 (1987; Zbl 0643.53047)] as special cases.