Visual limits of maximal flats in symmetric spaces and Euclidean buildings (Q2441335)

It is well-known that a Riemannian symmetric space of non-positive curvature or a Euclidean building admits a boundary at infinity which can be given the structure of a spherical building. In this situation the structure of the space of all flats of the symmetric space (respective the space of all apartments of the Euclidean building), denoted \(\mathrm{Flat}(X)\), is reflected in the structure of the space of all apartments of the spherical building at infinity, denoted \(\mathrm{Ap}(X)\). The author exhibits the behaviour of limits in \(\mathrm{Flat}(X)\) on the one hand and of limits in \(\mathrm{Ap}(X)\) on the other hand and shows (Theorem A) that the natural G-equivariant homomorphism between \(\mathrm{Flat}(X)\) and \(\mathrm{Ap}(X)\) extends to their closures. Thus he reduces the investigation of limits of flats in a symmetric space to the better tractable problem of investigating the limits of apartments of a spherical building. Then he studies visual limits of maximal flats for various special cases of small rank in detail.