Connected components of open semigroups in semi-simple Lie groups (Q1882664)

Let \(S\) be an open subsemigroup of a noncompact semisimple Lie group \(G\) with finite center. A connected component \(\Upsilon\) of \(S\) is called recurrent if \(\Upsilon^k\subset\Upsilon\) for some \(k\geq 2\). In this paper, the authors study the connected components of \(S\) which are recurrent, in terms of their action on the flag manifolds for \(G\). The authors use control sets \(C\), which are distinguished closed invariant subsets of the flag manifolds, and consider the components of certain open subsets \(C^+\) (the attractor set, invariant by \(S\)) and \(C^-\) (the repeller set, invariant by \(S^{-1}\)) of \(C\). One of their main results describes the set of semigroup components (i.~e., components which are subsemigroups) by establishing a one-one correspondence with the set of pairs \((K_1,K_2)\), where \(K_1\) and \(K_2\) are components of the attractor and repeller sets, respectively, in the maximal flag manifold. In the process of establishing this result, they first show that every element of \(S\) has a unique fixed point in \(C^+\) (the attractor set in the flag manifold determined by the type of \(S\)), and then use this fact to prove that each component \(\Upsilon\) (not necessarily recurrent) of \(S\) leaves invariant a unique component of \(C^+\) (analogously for \(\Upsilon^{-1}\) and \(C^-\)). For recurrent components in general, they give a description in terms of the control sets in the covering \(G/P_0\) of the maximal flag manifold. As one consequence, they obtain that the union of the recurrent components is a subsemigroup. Another result relates the components to the concept of mid-reversibility of \(S\), i.e., the question whether \(SS^{-1}S=G\); the authors prove that \(S\) is mid-reversible if and only if \(S\) has exactly one invariant control set on \(G/P_0\). Moreover, if \(G\) is connected and the identity of \(G\) is in the closure of \(S\) then every component of \(S\) is recurrent, and \(S\) has a unique semigroup component. The paper finishes with some examples and counterexamples related to the obtained results; among them an example of a semigroup in \(SL(2,\mathbb R)\) which has a component that is not recurrent, one to prove that the assumption that \(S\) be open is necessary for the uniqueness of the fixed point, and a family of examples showing that, in the non-mid-reversible case, the number of factors \(S\), \(S^{-1}\) needed to generate \(G\) can be arbitrarily large.