On Riemannian coverings of manifolds admitting locally splitting actions (Q1345040)

Let \(M\) be a Riemannian manifold and \(G\) a closed subgroup of its isometry group. The action of \(G\) on \(M\) is called locally splitting if (a) all orbits are principal orbits, i.e. the orbit space \(M/G\) is a manifold, (b) the horizontal distribution of \(\tau : M \to M/G\) is integrable, (c) the orbits (fibres of \(\tau\)) are totally geodesic (which is equivalent to the assumption (KC) in the paper). Fix a point \(x \in M\) and let \(N\) be the horizontal integral leaf (section) through \(x\); apparently, \(N\) is a covering of \(M/G\). There is a natural homomorphism \(\phi\) of the fundamental group \(\pi_ 1 (M,x)\) into the normalizer of the isotropy subgroup \(N_ G (G_ x)\), in fact into the quotient group \(N_ G (G_ x)/G_ x\), obtained by projecting a loop starting at \(x\) to \(M/G\) and lifting it back to \(N\). It is well known that \[ M = N \times_{\text{im }\phi} Gx.\tag{*} \] Part of the fundamental group comes from the fibre, i.e. it is the image of the homomorphism \(\gamma_ * : \pi_ 1 (G,e) \to \pi_ 1 (M,x)\) induced by the map \(\gamma : G \to M\), \(g \mapsto gx\). This ``vertical'' part gives no horizontal contribution which implies \(\text{im } \gamma_ * \subset \text{ker } \phi\). In the present paper, the lift of the \(G\)-action (\(\widehat G\)) to certain normal coverings of \(M\) is investigated. More precisely, normal subgroups \(H \subset \pi_ 1 (M,x)\) of three different types are considered: (a) \(H \subset \text{im }\gamma_ *\), (b) \(\text{im } \gamma_ * \subset H \subset \text{ker }\phi\), (c) \(\text{ker } \phi \subset H\). Passing to the covering \(\widehat {M}\) of \(M\) with fundamental group \(H\), in cases (a) and (b) we get a global splitting \(\widehat {M} = \widehat {N} \times \widehat {G} \widehat {x}\) while in case (c) a statement similar to \((*)\) holds with \(\pi_ 1 (M,x)\) replaced by \(H\). Moreover, in case (a), the section \(\widehat N\) is simply connected, i.e. the universal cover of \(M/G\). A second statement asserts that if \(G\) is Abelian, the orbits are flat and the homomorphism \(\gamma_ *\) induced by the inclusion of the orbit in \(M\) is a monomorphism. In particular, the case where \(M\) is a compact manifold without conjugate points is considered. Then any Killing field is parallel and \(G\) Abelian, so the above theorems apply.