Smoothness conditions in cohomogeneity one manifolds (Q2120899)

Let \( G \) be a Lie group and \( H < K \) be compact subgroups of \( G \) with \( K / H \simeq \mathbb{S}^l\). The \( K \)-action on \( {\mathbb S}^l \) extends to \( V \simeq \mathbb{R} ^{l+1} \) and the homogeneous vector bundle \( M := G \times _K V \) is called a cohomogeneity one manifold. The \( G \)-orbit \(\mathrm{Orb} _G (p_o) \) of the origin \( p_o = 0 ^{l+1} \in V \) is isomorphic to \( G / K \), while \(\mathrm{Orb} _G (p) \simeq G / H \) for any \( p \in V \setminus \{ p_o \} \). The article studies the extendability of a smooth metric \( g \) on \( M \setminus\mathrm{Orb} _G ( p_o) \) to the entire \( M. \) Let \( c (t) \) be a geodesic, parameterized by arc length, which is normal to all orbits. Any \( \mathrm{Ad} _H \)-invariant complement \( \mathfrak{p} \) of \(\mathrm{Lie} H \) to \(\mathrm{Lie} K = \mathrm{Lie} H \oplus \mathfrak{p} \) splits in a direct sum \( \mathfrak{p} = \mathfrak{p} _0 \oplus \mathfrak{p} \oplus \ldots \oplus \mathfrak{p}_r \) of irreducible \( \mathrm{Ad} _H \)-representations \( \mathfrak{p}_1, \ldots , \mathfrak{p}_r, \) \( 1 \leq r \leq 2 \) and a trivial \(\mathrm{Ad} _H \)-module \( \mathfrak{p}_0 \) of dimension \( d := \dim _{\mathbb R} \mathfrak{p}_0 \). From any \( \mathfrak{p}_i \) with \( 1 \leq i \leq r, \) let us pick up a non-zero vector \( v_i \in \mathfrak{p}_i \) and choose a basis \( v_{r+1}, \ldots , v _{r+d} \) of \( \mathfrak{p}_0 \). The work under review shows that a smooth metric \( g \) on \( M \setminus\mathrm{Orb} _G (p_o) \) extends smoothly over the singular orbit \(\mathrm{Orb} _G ( p_o) \simeq G / K \) if and only if \( g \) restricts to a smooth inner product over any \( 2 \)-plane \( P_i :=\mathrm{Span} _{\mathfrak{R}} ( \dot{c} (0), v_i) \subset V, \) \( 1 \leq i \leq r+d\). For almost effective transitive actions on spheres, the integers \( r+d \in \{ 1,2,3,4 \} \) do not exceed 4. Let \( \mathfrak{M} \subset\mathrm{Lie} G \) be an \(\mathrm{Ad}_K \)-invariant complement of \(\mathrm{Lie} K \) to \(\mathrm{Lie} G =\mathrm{Lie} K \oplus \mathfrak{M}. \) Then for any \( t \in {\mathbb R}^{ >0} \) the tangent space to \( M \) at \( c (t) \) is isomorphic to \(\mathrm{Span} _{\mathbb R} ( \dot{c}(t)) \oplus \mathfrak{P} \oplus \mathfrak{M}. \) An arbitrary \( 2\)-plane \( P_i =\mathrm{Span} _{\mathbb R} ( \dot{c} (0), v_i) \subset V \) is associated with a closed \(1 \)-parameter subgroup \( L_i \ni \exp ( \theta v_i), \) \( \theta \in [0, 2 \pi] \) of \( K, \) isomorphic to \( (S^1, .). \) The intersection \( L_i \cap H \) is a finite group of order \( a_i = | L_i \cap H| \in {\mathbb N} \) and any \( \exp ( \theta v_i) \in L_i \) acts on \( P_i \) by a rotation \( R ( a_i \theta) \) at angle \( a_i \theta \) with respect to the orthonormal basis \( \dot{c}(0), \frac{v_i}{a_i} \in P_i. \) The \( L_i \)-action on \( \mathfrak{M} \) provides a decomposition \( \mathfrak{M} = l_{i,0} \oplus l _{i,1} \oplus \ldots \oplus l _{i,r} \) into a subspace \( l _{i,0} \subset \mathfrak{M} \) with \( L_i \vert _{l_{i,0}} =\mathrm{Id} _{l_{i,0}} \) and \( 2 \)-planes \( l _{i,j}, \) \( 1 \leq j \leq r, \) on which \( L_i \) acts by rotations \( R ( d_{i,j} \theta) \) at angles \( d_{i,j} \theta \) for some \( d_{i,j} \in {\mathbb N}. \) Similarly, the \( L_i \)-module \( V \simeq {\mathbb R} ^{l+1} \) decomposes into a direct sum \( V = P_i \oplus l' _{i,0} \oplus l' _{i,1} \oplus \ldots \oplus l' _{i,s} \) with \( L_i \vert _{l' _{i,0}} = \mathrm{Id} _{l' _{i,0}} \) and \( 2 \)-planes \( l' _{i,j}, \) \( 1 \leq j \leq s, \) on which \( L_i \) acts by rotations \( R ( d' _{i,j} \theta) \) for some \( d' _{i,j} \in {\mathbb N}. \) Let \( X^*, Y^* \) be the Killing vector fields, generated by \( X, Y \in T _{c(t)} M \simeq\mathrm{Span} _{\mathbb R} ( \dot{c} (t) ) \oplus \mathfrak{P} \oplus \mathfrak{M}. \) Towards sufficient conditions for the existence of a smooth extension of \( g \vert _{M \setminus\mathrm{Orb} _G ( p_o)} \) to \( M, \) the article expresses the functions \( g (X^*, Y^*) \) at \( c(t) \) in the form \( t ^{ \alpha} \phi _{X,Y} ( t^2) + t ^{\beta} \psi _{X,Y} ( t^2) \) by explicit \( \alpha, \beta \in {\mathbb Q} ^{ >0}, \) depending on \( a_i, d _{i,j}, d' _{i,j} \in {\mathbb N} \) and implicit smooth functions \( \phi _{X,Y}, \psi _{X,Y}: ( - \varepsilon, \varepsilon) \rightarrow {\mathbb R} \) for sufficiently small \( \varepsilon \in {\mathbb R} ^{ >0}. \) The metric \( g \) on \( \mathfrak{p} \subset V \) extends to such an \(\mathrm{Ad} _K \)-invariant inner product on \( \mathfrak{M}, \) with respect to which \( \mathfrak{p} \) is orthogonal to \( \mathfrak{M}. \) For an appropriate choice of an orientation on \( l_{i,j}, \) there exists an orthonormal basis \( X_{i,j}, Y_{i,j} \) of \( l_{i,j} \) with respect to this inner product, such that the Lie brackets \( [v_i, X_{i,j}] = d_{i,j} Y_{i,j}, \) \( [ v_i, Y_{i,j}] = - d_{i,j} Y_{i,j} \) determine uniquely \( d_{i,j} \in {\mathbb N}. \) Moreover, \( d_{i,j} \) can be obtained by the weights of the \( K \)-action on \( \mathfrak{M} \) with respect to a maximal abelian subalgebra, containing \( v_i. \) The natural numbers \( d' _{i,j} \in {\mathbb N} \) are determined by the embedding of \( H \) in \( K \) and the \( K \)-action, which restricts to an action of \( L_i. \) The authors prove that for an arbitrary metric \( g \vert _{M \setminus\mathrm{Orb} _G ( p_o)}, \) given by a smooth family \( \{ g_{ij} (t) \} _{t \in {\mathbb R} ^{ >0}} \) of positive definite matrices, there exist such integers \( a_{ij} ^k \in {\mathbb Z}, \) \( d _k \in {\mathbb Z} ^{ \geq 0} \) and such smooth functions \( \phi _k\) so that \( g \) extends smoothly to \( M \) if and only if \( \sum _{i,j} a_{ij} ^k g_{ij} (t) = t ^{d_k} \phi _k ( t^2) \) for all \( t \in {\mathbb R} ^{ >0} \) and all \( 1 \leq k \leq r. \)