Geodesic vectors and subalgebras in two-step nilpotent metric Lie algebras (Q487190)

If \(\mathfrak{g}\) is a Lie algebra and \(G\) is its corresponding connected and simply connected Lie group, then \((\mathfrak{g},\langle\;,\;\rangle)\) is called a metric Lie algebra if \(\langle\;,\;\rangle\) is an Euclidean inner product on \(\mathfrak{g}\). The inner product \(\langle\;,\;\rangle\) induces a left invariant Riemannian metric on the Lie group \(G\). A subalgebra of \(\mathfrak{g}\) is called flat, respectively totally geodesic, if its exponential image is flat, respectively a totally geodesic submanifold in the induced left invariant Riemannian manifold on the group \(G\). A non-zero vector \(X\in\mathfrak{g}\) is called geodesic if the generated subalgebra \(\{tX;\;t\in\mathbb R\}\) is totally geodesic. It is known that a subalgebra \(\mathfrak{h}\subset\mathfrak{g}\) in a metric Lie algebra \((\mathfrak{g},\langle\;,\;\rangle)\) is totally geodesic if and only if \(\langle[X, Y],Z\rangle+\langle[X,Z],Y\rangle=0\) for all \(Y\), \(Z\in\mathfrak{h}\) and for all \(X\) orthogonal to \(\mathfrak{h}\), and a non-zero vector \(Y\in\mathfrak{g}\) is geodesic if and only if \(\langle[X,Y],Y\rangle=0\) for all \(X\in\mathfrak{g}\). In this paper, the authors study geodesic vectors and flat totally geodesic subalgebras in two-step nilpotent metric Lie algebras. They prove that the linear structure of geodesic vectors and flat totally geodesic subalgebras of two-step nilpotent metric Lie algebras depends only on the isomorphism class of the Lie algebra. Finally, they determine the linear system of geodesic vectors and flat totally geodesic subalgebras in the two-step nilpotent metric Lie algebras of dimension \(\leq 6\).