Reconstructing quasimorphisms from associated partial orders and a question of Polterovich (Q439895)

A partial order \(\leq\) on a group \(G\) is said to be invariant if, for all \(g,h,k\in G\), the relation \(g\leq h\) implies both \(kg\leq kh\) and \(gk\leq hk\). Given such an order, put \(G^+:=\{g\in G\mid e\leq g\}\). In the case that \(G\) is a topological group, the invariant partial order is said to be continuous if \(G^+\) is closed in \(G\), and every neighborhood of \(e\) in \(G^+\) generates a dense subsemigroup of \(G^+\). On the other hand, a continuous homogeneous quasimorphism on \(G\) is defined to be a continuous map \(f: G\rightarrow \mathbb R\) such that \(f(g^n)=n f(g)\) for all \(g\in G\) and \(n\in \mathbb Z\), and that the function \((g,h)\mapsto f(gh)-f(g)-f(h)\) on \(G\times G\) is bounded. The paper under review studies the relations between continuous invariant partial orders and continuous homogeneous quasimorphisms. The authors focus on the case when \(G\) is a simply connected, connected simple Lie group. It was known that, if \(G\) is not of Hermitian type, then every continuous invariant partial order on \(G\) is trivial, and every continuous homogeneous quasimorphism on \(G\) is zero. So the authors further assume that \(G\) is of Hermitian type. In this case, the set of continuous invariant partial orders on \(G\) was classified in [\textit{G. I. Ol'shanskij}, Funct. Anal. Appl. 16, 311--313 (1983); translation from Funkts. Anal. Prilozh. 16, No. 4, 80--81 (1982; Zbl 0576.32040)], and the set of continuous homogeneous quasimorphisms on \(G\) form a one-dimensional real vector space [\textit{M. Burger} et al., Ann. Math. (2) 172, No. 1, 517--566 (2010; Zbl 1208.32014)]. The main result of the paper under review shows that every nontrivial continuous invariant partial order on \(G\) explicitly determines the space of continuous homogeneous quasimorphisms. More precisely, for all such orders \(\leq\), and all such nonzero quasimorphisms \(f\), one has that \(\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}\frac{\min\{p\in \mathbb Z\mid h^n\leq g^p\}}{n}=\pm \frac{f(g)}{f(h)}\) for all \(h\in G\) and for certain \(g\in G^+\).