Conjugacy limits of the diagonal Cartan subgroup in \(\mathrm{SL}_3(\mathbb R)\) (Q2634851)

Let \(C\) be the Cartan subgroup of diagonal matrices with positive entries in \(G = \mathrm{SL}_3(\mathbb R)\). This represents one of five conjugacy classes of subgroups isomorphic to \(\mathbb R^2\) in \(G\). The author shows that each of them contains the limit of some sequence \(P_nCP_n^{-1}\) of conjugates of \(C\). Conversely, given such a sequence, she determines whether it converges or not, and which of the five types is represented by the limit. To this end she looks at the triangle \(T \subseteq \mathbb R P^2\) in the projective plane fixed by \(C\) (so \(P_nCP_n^{-1}\) fixes \(P_nT\)). The resulting sequence of image triangles is considered as a single triangle in the projective plane over the nonstandard reals. By looking at the side lengths, the angles and the altitudes of this triangle she derives criteria to answer the above question. Reviewer's remark: The clarity of exposition could have been improved.