Geometric and Potential Theoretic Results on Lie Groups (Q4493531)

Let \(G\) be a simply connected amenable Lie group, and let \({\mathcal A}\) be the class of all closed normal connected subgroups of \(G\) that are of strict exponential distortion. Let \(A_0= \bigcup_{H\in{\mathcal A}}H\). The primary results of the paper are of a geometric nature, beginning with the proof that the subgroup \(A_0\) is itself a closed connected normal subgroup of \(G\) of strict exponential distortion. It is then shown that there exists a closed simply connected subgroup \(G_R\) of \(G\) such that (i) \(G_R\) is an \(R\)-group (i.e., the volume growth of \(G_R\) is polynomial), (ii) \(G= A_0\cdot R\), and (iii) \(A_0\subset (A_0\cap N)\cdot S\), where \(N\) is the nilradical of \(G\) and \(S\) is a compact Levi subgroup. The amenability of \(G\) in this theorem is proven to be a necessary hypothesis. These geometric results are utilized by the author to prove some potential theoretic estimates on a connected amenable real Lie group. These results are established for centered diffusions and centered random walks that are either compactly supported or Gaussian. Let \(z(t)\) denote the diffusion or random walk. It is shown that, for \(m\) and \(t\) both greater than or equal to \(1\), that \[ P_e\Biggl[\sup_{0< s< t}|z(s)|\geq m\Biggr]\leq C\exp\Biggl(-{m^2\over ct}\Biggr) \] and \[ P_e\Biggl[\sup_{0< s< t}|z(s)|\leq m\Biggr]\leq C'\exp\Biggl(- {t\over c'm^2}\Biggr) \] for suitable constants \(c\), \(c'\), \(C\), and \(C'\). As some immediate corollaries, the author uses these Gaussian estimates to obtain upper and lower bounds on the heat diffusion kernel of a symmetric diffusion in the case that \(G\) is unimodular. Extensions and generalizations of these result are discussed.