Rigid and finite type geometric structures (Q1771169)

In his previous paper [Geom. Dedicata 100, 123--155 (2003; Zbl 1049.53028)], the authors studied rigid geometric structures obtained by \(H\)-reduction of the first order frame bundle of manifolds when the Lie algebra of \(H\) is of finite type. These structures are important examples of rigid geometric structures in the sense of \textit{M.~Gromov} [Trav. Cours 33, 65--139 (1988; Zbl 0652.53023)]. The main goal of the paper under review is an investigation of rigid geometric structures obtained by \(H\)-reduction of the frame bundle of arbitrary order. The authors introduce a concept of finite type structure for reductions of arbitrary frame bundles, which is reduced to the well-known notion in the case of the first order. The main result of the paper (theorem 3.10) establishes the equivalence between rigid and finite type for reductions of frame bundles of arbitrary order. In the last part of the paper one special variant of Gromov's centralizer theorem is proved (theorem 6.1) and some applications of this result to actions of simple Lie groups are considered.