Totally geodesic submanifolds of the complex quadric (Q2474217)

The paper under review contains the description of the relations between the root space decomposition of a Riemannian symmetric space of compact type and root space decompositions of its totally geodesic submanifolds (symmetric subspaces). This description is based on the results contained in author's dissertation (supervisor Prof. Dr. H. Reckziegel). The above mentioned relations provide an approach to the classification of totally geodesic submanifolds in Riemannian symmetric spaces; this is exemplified by the classification of the totally geodesic submanifolds in the complex quadric \(Q^m= \text{SO}(m+ 2)/(\text{SO}(2)\times\text{SO}(m))\) obtained in the second part of the paper. The classification shows that the earlier classification of totally geodesic submanifolds of \(Q^m\) by \textit{B.-Y. Chen} and \textit{T. Nagano} [Duke Math. J. 44, 745--755 (1977; Zbl 0368.53038)] is incomplete. More specifically, two types of totally geodesic submanifolds of \(Q^m\) are missing from the above-mentioned paper of Chen-Nagano. The first type is constituted by manifolds isometric to \(\mathbb{C} P^1\times\mathbb{R} P^1\); their existence follows from the fact that \(Q^2\) is (via the Segre embedding) holomorphically isometric to \(\mathbb{C} P^1\times\mathbb{C} P^1\). The second type consists of 2-spheres of radius \({1\over 2}\sqrt{10}\) which are neither complex nor totally real in \(Q^m\).