Geodesic orbit metrics on compact simple Lie groups arising from flag manifolds (Q1657928)

Let \(\mathfrak{G}\) be a Lie group and \(\mathfrak{H}\) a closed subgrop of \(\mathfrak{G}\). A left \(\mathfrak{G}\)-invariant metric \(g\) on the homogeneous space \(\mathfrak{G} / \mathfrak{H}\) is a geodesic orbit metric if all the geodesics of \(g\) are depleted by the orbits of the \(1\)-parameter subgroups of \(\mathfrak{G}\). The left \(\mathfrak{G}\)-invariant metrics \(g\) on \(\mathfrak{G} / \mathfrak{H}\) are known to be in a bijective correspondence with the \(\text{Ad} (\mathfrak{H})\)-invariant inner products \((\text{ }, \text{ }) _g\) on the tangent space \(\mathfrak{M}\) to \(\mathfrak{G} / \mathfrak{H}\) at the origin. A left \(\mathfrak{G}\)-invariant metric \(g\) on \(\mathfrak{G} / \mathfrak{H}\) is naturally reductive if \(( [Z,X]_{\mathfrak{M}}, Y) _g + (X, [ Z, Y] _{\mathfrak{M}})_g =0\) for all \(X, Y, Z \in \mathfrak{M}\). The negative \(- B\) of the Killing form \(B\) of \(\text{Lie} ( \mathfrak{G})\) is associated with a naturally reductive metric on \(\mathfrak{G} / \mathfrak{H}\), which is called standard. Let \(G\) be a compact simple Lie group, \(S \subset G\) be a torus and \(C(S)\) be the centralizer of \(S\) in \(G\). The homogeneous spaces of the form \(G / C(S)\) are called flag manifolds. The isometry group of \(G\) is of the form \(G \times K\) for some closed subgroup \(K\) of \(G\). A \(G \times K\)-invariant metric \(g\) on \(G = (G \times K) / K\) arises from a geodesic orbit metric on a flag manifold if \(K = C(S)\) is the centralizer of a torus \(S \subset G\) and the restriction \((\text{ }, \text{ }) _g | _{\mathfrak{M}}\) of the \(\text{Ad}(C(S))\)-invariant scalar product \((\text{ }, \text{ }) _g : \text{Lie} (G) \times \text{Lie} (G) \rightarrow {\mathbb R}\) on the Killing orthogonal complement \(\mathfrak{M}\) of \(\text{Lie} (C(S))\) to \(\text{Lie} (G)\) is associated with a left \(G\)-invariant geodesic orbit metric on \(G / C(S)\). The article under review shows that if a \(G \times C(S)\)-invariant metric \(g\) on a compact simple Lie group \(G\) arises from a geodesic orbit metric on the flag manifold \(G / C(S)\) then \(g\) is naturally reductive. The only \(G / C(S)\), which admit non-standard geodesic orbit metrics are \( \mathrm{SO} (2n+1) / \mathrm{U}(n)\) with \(n \geq 2\) and \( \mathrm{Sp} (n) / \mathrm{U}(1) \mathrm{Sp} (n-1)\) with \(n \geq 3\). The authors decompose the Lie algebra of the isotropy group \(C(S) = \mathrm{U}(n)\), respectively, \(C(S) = \mathrm{U}(1) \mathrm{Sp} (n-1)\) into a direct sum of its center \(u(1)\) and a simple Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{k}_o\). They use also that \(\mathfrak{M} = \text{Lie} (C(S)) ^{\perp} = \mathfrak{M}_1 \oplus \mathfrak{M}_2\) is a direct sum of two mutually inequivalent irreducible \(\text{Ad} C(S)\)-submodules \(\mathfrak{M}_1\), \(\mathfrak{M}_2\), in order to express the restrictions of \(( \text{ }, \text{ }) _g\) on \(u(1)\), \(\mathfrak{k}_o\), \(\mathfrak{M}_1\), \(\mathfrak{M}_2\) by the Killing form \(B\) of \(\text{Lie} (G)\) and to derive the natural reductiveness of \(g\).