Invariant structures on Lie groups (Q2220252)

In this paper the author addresses the question of existence of left-invariant symplectic or contact structures on Lie groups. The first result is a new intrinsic proof of the fact that semisimple Lie groups do not admit any such structures, a fact earlier proved by \textit{B.-Y. Chu} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 197, 145--159 (1974; Zbl 0261.53039)]. Turning to the nilpotent case, he considers so called \textit {filiform} nilpotent Lie groups, i.e. those whose Lie algebra has the longest possible central series \[\mathfrak g_0=\mathfrak g\supseteq \mathfrak g_1=[\mathfrak g,\mathfrak g]\supseteq \ldots \supseteq \mathfrak g_{i+1}=[\mathfrak g,\mathfrak g_i]\ldots\] with \(\dim \mathfrak g_j=\dim \mathfrak g-j.\) Denote by \(M\) a complement of \(\mathfrak g_{2n}\) in \(\mathfrak g\), and by \(R_g\colon G\to G\) the right translation by \(g\in G\). For odd-dimensional filiform Lie groups he obtains the following result. \textbf{Proposition.} Let \(G\) be a filiform Lie group of dimension \(2n+1\), let \(\mathfrak g_{2n}\) be the Lie algebra of the center \(Z(G)\) of \(G\) and let \(w\) be the connection form of the connection \(\Gamma\) in the principal bundle \(G\to G/Z(G)\) determined by the decomposition \(\mathfrak g=\mathfrak g_{2n}\oplus M\). If \(\{g\in G:~(R_g)^*w=w\}=Z(G)\), then \(w\) determines a left-invariant contact form on \(G\). If \(G\) is an even-dimensional filiform Lie group, then \([\mathfrak g,\mathfrak g]\) carries a contact structure, with Reeb vector field \(X\). Let \(e_0\) be a vector such that \(\mathfrak g=[\mathfrak g,\mathfrak g]\oplus \mathbf{R}e_0 \); let \(\Phi\) be the endomorphism in \(\mathrm{End}([\mathfrak g,\mathfrak g])\) and let \(\theta\) be the left-invariant 1-form in \( [\mathfrak g,\mathfrak g]^*\) defining the Lie algebra structure of \(\mathfrak g\) by \([Y,e_0]=\Phi(Y)+\theta(Y)e_0\), for \(Y\in [\mathfrak g,\mathfrak g]\). It is proved that if \(\theta(X)\not=0\), then \(G\) admits a left-invariant symplectic structure. If \(\theta(X)=0\), then a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a left-invariant symplectic structure on \(G\) is obtained. Finally it is proved that no right-invariant symplectic form defined on a Lie group \(G\) can endow it with a faithfully Hamiltonian structure.