Holonomy groups of compact flat solvmanifolds (Q2205666)

A solvmanifold is a compact homogeneous space \(G/\Gamma\) of a simply connected solvable Lie group \(G\) by a discrete subgroup \(\Gamma\). In this article the author studies the holonomy groups of solvmanifolds admitting a flat Riemannian metric induced by a flat left-invariant metric on the corresponding Lie group. \textit{J. W. Milnor} [Adv. Math. 21, 293--329 (1976; Zbl 0341.53030)] obtained a characterization of Lie groups which admit a flat left-invariant metric and he proved that they are all solvable of a very restricted form, showing that its Lie algebra decomposes orthogonally as an abelian subalgebra and an abelian ideal, where the action of the subalgebra on the ideal is by skew-adjoint endomorphisms. By [\textit{L. Auslander} and \textit{M. Auslander}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 9, 933--941 (1959; Zbl 0099.39003)] the holonomy group of a flat solvmanifold is abelian. In this paper the author gives an elementary proof of this property and moreover he shows that the holonomy group of a flat almost abelian solvmanifold is cyclic. Due to a result of [\textit{L. Auslander} and \textit{M. Kuranishi}, Ann. Math. (2) 65, 411--415 (1957; Zbl 0079.38304)], every finite group is the holonomy group of a compact flat manifold, so it is interesting to know, given a finite group \(H\), the minimal dimension of a compact flat manifold with holonomy group \(H\). Concerning this the author shows that the minimal dimension of a flat solvmanifold with holonomy group \(\mathbb Z_n\) coincides with the minimal dimension of a compact flat manifold with holonomy group \(\mathbb Z_n\), for \(n \geq 3\). Finally, he describes the possible holonomy groups of flat solvmanifolds in dimensions 3, 4, 5 and 6. Up to dimension 5 all flat solvmanifolds are quotients of almost abelian Lie groups, therefore their holonomy groups are cyclic. In dimension 6 he constructs examples with non-cyclic abelian holonomy groups as particular cases of a general construction.