A Poisson structure on compact symmetric spaces (Q1766917)

In the paper under review some natural Poisson structures on compact symmetric spaces are introduced and the corresponding symplectic leaves are thoroughly investigated. The main results certainly deserve to be described in more detail, and to this end we need some notation. Thus let \({\mathfrak g}_0\) be a real semisimple Lie algebra with the complexification \({\mathfrak g}\), consider a Cartan decomposition \({\mathfrak g}_0={\mathfrak k}_0+{\mathfrak p}_0\), and denote \({\mathfrak u}={\mathfrak k}_0+\text{i}{\mathfrak p}_0\). Also let \(G\) be a connected simply connected Lie group with Lie algebra \({\mathfrak g}\), and denote by \(G_0\), \(K_0\) and \(U\) the connected subgroups of \(G\) with Lie algebras \({\mathfrak g}_0\), \({\mathfrak k}_0\) and \({\mathfrak u}\), respectively. In this setting, it was proven by \textit{J.-H.~Lu} and \textit{A.~Weinstein} [J. Differ. Geom. 31, No. 2, 501--526 (1990; Zbl 0673.58018)] that a natural structure of Poisson Lie group on the compact group \(U\) can be constructed as soon as we pick a Borel subalgebra \({\mathfrak b}\) of \({\mathfrak g}_0\) such that \({\mathfrak b}\supseteq{\mathfrak a}_0+{\mathfrak n}_0\) for some Iwasawa decomposition \({\mathfrak g}_0={\mathfrak k}_0+{\mathfrak a}_0+{\mathfrak n}_0\), and a suitable Cartan subalgebra \({\mathfrak h}\) of \({\mathfrak g}\) with \({\mathfrak h}\subseteq{\mathfrak b}\). Now, in the paper under review, one shows that there exists a Poisson structure \(\pi_0\) on the compact symmetric space \(U/K_0\) such that the natural projection \(U\to U/K_0\) is a Poisson map. A wealth of information on the symplectic leaves of \(\pi_0\) is then obtained. Thus, the leaves are precisely the projections of the \(G_0\)-orbits of \(U\). Next, the leaves are related to the \(G_0\)-orbits on the flag manifold \(Y\) of \({\mathfrak g}\), and formulas for the dimensions of leaves are provided. There exist open leaves if and only if \({\mathfrak g}_0\) has compact Cartan subalgebras, and in this case each open leaf is diffeomorphic to \(G_0/K_0\) and there are as many open leaves as there are open \(G_0\)-orbits of \(Y\). Finally, the \(U\)-invariant Poisson cohomology of \((U/K_0,\pi_0)\) is proven to be isomorphic to the de Rham cohomology of \(U/K_0\). We mention that the paper is written in a clear style and contains many illuminating examples.