The index of symmetry of compact naturally reductive spaces (Q2509910)

The authors deal with the ``index of symmetry'' of a Riemannian manifold. They take the distribution of symmetry \(\mathfrak s_p\) consisting of parallel Killing vector fields. The index of symmetry is the infimum of the dimensions of \(\mathfrak s_q\) over all \(q\in M\). Then, \(L(q)=\exp(\mathfrak s_q)\) is a totally geodesic submanifold. Moreover, it is a globally symmetric space. Thus, one has the foliation of symmetry (whose elements are the integral manifolds of the distribution of symmetry). The authors prove here that the index of symmetry on \(M=G/H\) coincides with the \(G\)-invariant distribution defined by the fixed vectors of \(H\) for cases where \(M\) is compact normal homogeneous or compact naturally reductive. They also give examples of compact homogeneous spaces with non trivial index of symmetry and such that the leaf of symmetry is not of group type.