Vertical versus horizontal Poincaré inequalities on the Heisenberg group (Q476505)

Heisenberg groups, both continuous \(\mathbb{H}(\mathbb{R})\) and discrete \(\mathbb{H}\), are important examples for metric geometry. For example, being endowed with their natural metrics they do not admit bilipschitz embeddings into a Euclidean space and, more generally, into a Hilbert space space, thus showing the necessity of snowflaking in \textit{P. Assouad}'s theorem [Bull. Soc. Math. Fr. 111, 429--448 (1983; Zbl 0597.54015)]. \textit{J. R. Lee} and \textit{A. Naor} [``\(L^p\) metrics on the Heisenberg group and the Goemans-Linial conjecture'', in: Proceedings of the 47th Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS '06), IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, 99--108 (2006; \url{doi:10.1109/FOCS.2006.47})] observed that there is a bilipschitz equivalent metric of negative type on \(\mathbb{H}(\mathbb{R})\). This made finite subsets of the Heisenberg group \(\mathbb{H}\) natural candidates for new counterexamples to the Goemans-Linial conjecture. \textit{J. Cheeger} and \textit{B. Kleiner} [Ann. Math. (2) 171, No. 2, 1347--1385 (2010; Zbl 1194.22009)] proved that they are indeed counterexamples. The main goal of the paper is to find asymptotically optimal estimates for embeddings of balls of \(\mathbb{H}\) into superreflexive spaces. The estimates are based on the following results. \textit{G. Pisier} [Isr. J. Math. 20, 326--350 (1975; Zbl 0344.46030)] proved that for each superreflexive space there exists an equivalent uniformly convex norm with the modulus of uniform convexity satisfying \(\delta(\varepsilon)\geq D\varepsilon^q\) for some \(D>0\) and \(q\in[2,\infty)\). The group \(\mathbb{H}\) can be described as a group generated by two elements \(a\) and \(b\), for which the commutator of \(a\) and \(b\) commutes both with \(a\) and with \(b\). The group \(\mathbb{H}\) is endowed with the word metric corresponding to generators \(a\) and \(b\). Denote by \(c\) the commutator of \(a\) and \(b\), and by \(B_r\) the centered at the unit element closed ball of radius \(r\) of \(\mathbb{H}\) with respect to the word metric. The main inequality of the paper: for every \(n\in\mathbb{N}\) and every Banach space \(X\) with the modulus of uniform convexity satisfying \(\delta(\varepsilon)\geq D\varepsilon^q\), \[ \sum_{k=1}^{n^2}\sum_{x\in B_n}\frac{ \|f(xc^k)-f(x)\|_X^q}{k^{1+q/2}}\leq K\sum_{x\in B_{21n}} \Big(\|f(xa)-f(x)\|^q_X+\|f(xb)-f(x)\|^q_X\Big). \] (The constant 21 appearing in the range of the summation on the right-hand side is an artifact of the authors' proof and is not claimed to be sharp.) This inequality is called ``vertical versus horizontal'' because in the geometric study of Heisenberg groups the directions corresponding to \(a\) and \(b\) are called horizontal, and the direction corresponding to \(c\) is called vertical. This implies that the distortion of embedding of \(B_n\) into \(X\) is at least a constant multiple of \((\log n)^{1/q}\). This estimate is asymptotically optimal. The argument of the paper is quite different from the arguments of the previously known results on similar estimates. It relies on generalized Littlewood-Paley \(g\)-function estimates due to \textit{T. Martínez} et al. [Adv. Math. 203, No. 2, 430--475 (2006; Zbl 1111.46008)].