Sub-Riemannian curvature of Carnot groups with rank-two distributions (Q2410712)

The paper under review is concerned with the study of a notion of curvature in the sub-Riemannian setting first introduced by Agrachev, Barilari and Rizzi. Let \(M\) be a smooth manifold \(M\) with a sub-Riemannian structure \((\mathscr{D},g)\), let \(x_0\in M\) be a point, let \(\lambda_0\) be a covector and let \(\gamma\) be a fixed normal geodesic with \(\gamma(0) = x_0\) and \(\lambda_0\) its initial covector. Recall that \(\gamma\) is ample if there exists an integer \(m(t)\) such that the vectors \(\mathcal{L}^1_T(X)\) satisfy \[ \text{span}\{\mathcal{L}^i_T(X) : X \in \overline{\mathscr{D}} ,i\leq m(t)-1 \} = T_{\gamma(t)}M. \] The geodesic cost function \(c_t : M \to \mathbb{R}\) is defined by \[ c_t(x) = -\frac1{2t}d^2(x,g(t)), \qquad t>0. \] If \(\gamma\) is ample, then, applying Laurent series, the second differential of \(\partial_t c_t\) can be written in terms of two quadratic forms \[ d^2_{x_0}(\partial_t c_t) = t^{-2} \mathcal{I}_{\lambda_0} + \frac{1}{3}\mathcal{R}_{\lambda_0} + O(t) \] where the invariant \(\mathcal{R}_{\lambda_0}\) is known as the curvature operator. While these invariants have been explicitly computed for step-2 sub-Riemannian manifolds, the author here presents explicit formulas of the invariants \(\mathcal{I}_{\lambda_0}\) and \(\mathcal{R}_{\lambda_0}\) for two types of sub-Riemannian manifolds which are of step higher than two. A Carnot group with Goursat-type distribution is a Lie group \(\mathbb{J}^n\) whose Lie algebra is a nilpotent stratified Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g} = \mathfrak{g}_1\oplus\cdots\oplus\mathfrak{g}_{n-1}\) such that \(\mathfrak{g}_1=\text{span}\{X_1,X_2\}\) and \(\mathfrak{g}_i=\text{span}\{X_{i+1}\}\) for \(i=2,\dots,n-1\) where \(\{X_1,\dots,X_n\}\) are vector fields in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), \(n\geq 3\), such that \[ [X_1,X_2] = X_3,\quad \dots,\quad [X_1,X_{n-1}] = X_n. \] Many well-known manifolds (such as the Heisenberg group and the Engel group) belong in this family. Explicit expressions of \(\mathcal{I}_{\lambda_0}\) and \(\mathcal{R}_{\lambda_0}\) are given for such type of sub-Riemannian manifolds in Theorem 1.1. In Theorem 1.2, the author provides explicit formulas for the Cartan group over \(\mathbb{R}^5\). The Cartan group \(\mathfrak{C}\) is a Lie group on \(\mathbb R^5\) where the generators \(\{X_1,\dots,X_5\}\) of its Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{L}\) satisfy \[ [X_1,X_2] = X_3, \quad [X_1,X_3] = X_4, \quad [X_2,X_3] = X_5. \] Section 2 and 3 provide preliminaries from the work of Agrachev, Barilari and Rizzi. In Section 4, the author obtains explicit formulas for \(\mathcal{I}_{\lambda},\mathcal{R}_{\lambda}\) in Carnot groups with Goursat distributions while Section 6 contains analysis of ample and equiregular geodesics in Engel's group. Finally, in Section 6, the author proves explicit formulas for \(\mathcal{I}_{\lambda},\mathcal{R}_{\lambda}\) in the Cartan groups.