Notion of \(\mathbb{H}\)-orientability for surfaces in the Heisenberg group \(\mathbb{H}^n\) (Q1995660)

The \(n\)th sub-Riemannian Heisenberg group \(\mathbb{H}^n\) is \(\mathbb{R}^{2n+1}\) with a particular non-abelian Lie group structure. This structure induces left-invariant vector fields \((X_i)_{i=1}^n\), \((Y_i)_{i=1}^n\), and \(T\) which satisfy the fundamental property that \([X_i,Y_i]=T\) for each \(i\). We call the span of \((X_i)_{i=1}^n\) and \((Y_i)_{i=1}^n\) the horizontal layer \(\mathfrak{h}_1\) of \(\mathbb{H}^n\). Say \(\langle \cdot , \cdot \rangle_H\) is the inner product on \(\mathfrak{h}_1\) for which the \(X_i\) and \(Y_i\) are all orthonormal. For a \(C^1\) surface \(S \subset \mathbb{R}^{2n+1}\) with codimension 1, we say that \(x \in S\) is a regular point of \(S\) if the surface locally coincides with the level set of a function with non-vanishing horizontal gradient. If every point in \(S\) is regular, we say that \(S\) is \(\mathbb{H}\)-regular. The paper under review establishes a definition of orientability for such surfaces. Such a surface is called \(\mathbb{H}\)-orientable if there is a continuous, non-vanishing 1-vector field \(n_\mathbb{H}\) which lies tangent to \(\mathfrak{h}_1\) and for which \(\langle n_\mathbb{H} , w|_{\mathfrak{h}_1} \rangle_{H} = 0\) for every \(w \in TS\). Before introducing this definition, the paper under review defines a \(C^1\) surface contained in the usual Möbius strip in \(\mathbb{R}^{2n+1}\) which is \(\mathbb{H}\)-regular and is still not Euclidean orientable. The author then discusses the notion of Euclidean orientability and, from this discussion, naturally develops the definition of Heisenberg orientability stated above. The author then proves the invariance of this notion of orientability under the usual Heisenberg group operations. Finally, the paper provides a result which shows that the subset of the Möbius strip discussed above is not \(\mathbb{H}\)-orientable. In other words, there exist \(\mathbb{H}\)-regular surfaces which are not \(\mathbb{H}\)-orientable.