Tight homomorphisms and Hermitian symmetric spaces (Q1047126)

For locally compact second countable topological groups \(L\) and \(G\), a homomorphism \(\rho: L\to G\) induces the pullback \(\rho^*\) in continuous cohomology and \(\rho^*_b\) in continuous bounded cohomology. \(\rho^*\) has a feature that it is equipped with a semi-norm \(\|\cdot\|\) for which \(\rho^*_b\) is norm decreasing, that is, \(\| \rho^*_b(\alpha)\|\leq \|\alpha\|\) for all \(\alpha\in H^*_{cb}(G,\mathbb{R})\). \(\rho\) is said to be \(\alpha\)-tight if \(\|\rho^*_b(\alpha)\|= \|\alpha\|\). Let \(G\) be a Lie group of Hermitian type. Then \(\rho\) is tight if s\(\|\rho^*_b(x^b_G)\|= \| x^b_G\|\) for \(x^b_G\in H^*_{ab}(G,\mathbb{R})\), and it holds that {\parindent=7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)]the Zariski closure \({\mathbf H}= \overline{\rho(L)}^Z\) is reductible, \item[(2)]the centrizer \(Z_G(H)\) of \(H= \overline{\rho(L)}^Z(\mathbb{R})^c\) is compact, \item[(3)]the symmetric space \(y\) corresponding to \(H\) is Hermitian and \(y\) admits a unique \(H\)-invariant complex structure such that the inclusion \(H\to G\) is tight and positive. \end{itemize}} The study of tight homomorphisms relies on that of the parallel notion of tightness for totally geodesic maps, namely, let \(\chi_1\), \(\chi_2\) be Hermitian symmetric spaces of noncompact type. A totally geodesic map \(f: \chi_1\to \chi_2\) is said to be tight if \[ \sup_{\Delta\in\chi_1} \int_\Delta f^*\omega_{G_2}= \sup_{\Delta\in\chi_2} \int_\Delta \omega_{G_2}, \] where \(\omega_{G_1}\) is the \(G_2\)-invariant Kähler form an \(\chi_2\), and the supremum is taken over all smooth triangles \(\Delta\) with geodesic sides in \(\chi_1\) and \(\chi_2\). Then one has the following theorem: let \(G_1\) and \(G_2\) be Lie groups of Hermitian type and \(\chi_1\) and \(\chi_2\) the corresponding symmetric spaces. A homomorphism \(\rho: G_1\to G_2\) is tight if and only if \(f: \chi_1\to \chi_2\) is tight. Finally, it is shown that tight maps behave in a functorial way with respect to the Shilov boundary and this fact is used to prove a general structure theorem for tight homomorphisms. In addition, the classification of all tight imbeddings of the Poincaré disks is given.