On the subRiemannian cut locus in a model of free two-step Carnot group (Q526941)

The paper under review is concerned with the problem of understanding the cut locus of a given point \(p\) in a sub-Riemannian manifold, i.e., the set of all points \(p'\) for which there are multiple length minimizing paths connecting \(p\) with \(p'\). In the current setting, the authors treat the case of free Carnot groups of step two with three generators \[ \mathbb{F}_3 = \mathbb{V} \times \wedge^2 \mathbb{V} \] (\(\mathbb{V}\) is a \(3\)-dimensional vector space equipped with an inner product) with the Lie group law \[ (x,t) \cdot (\xi,\tau) = \left ( x +\xi, t+ \tau + \frac{1}{2}x\wedge\xi\right ). \] For a left-invariant sub-Riemannian distance \(d\) on the Lie group \((\mathbb{F}_3,\cdot)\), the authors find in Theorem 1.1 the cut locus of the origin which is enough for the problem given the left invariance of \(d\). Although this result was first found by \textit{O. Myasnichenko} [J. Dyn. Control Syst. 8, No. 4, 573--597 (2002; Zbl 1047.93014)], the techniques of the present paper are different and offer more information on the sub-Riemannian distance. For instance, Theorem 1.3 calculates the cut locus time of a length minimizing curve \(\gamma\) in terms of its data, while Theorem 1.4 calculates the distance between the origin and a cut locus point of the origin. Finally in Theorem 1.5, the authors prove that, in a sense, cut points are located on \(2\)-dimensional corner-like singularities. The estimates of Theorem 1.5 provide a positive answer to a question of \textit{A. Figalli} and \textit{L. Rifford} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 20, No. 1, 124--159 (2010; Zbl 1201.49048)] in the special case of step-two Carnot groups with three generators. The results cover a wide variety of sub-Riemannian manifolds such as the \(1\)-dimensional Heisenberg group \(\mathbb{H}\).