The geometry of symmetric triad and orbit spaces of Hermann actions (Q632979)

Given two symmetric subgroups \(K_1\) and \(K_2\) of a compact Lie group \(G\), the \(K_2\)-action on the symmetric space \(G/K_1\) is called a Hermann action. The author studies properties of the orbits and the orbit spaces of such actions, in particular the question which orbits are totally geodesic, austere, or minimal submanifolds of the ambient symmetric space. For the greatest part, he restricts to the case of a Hermann action satisfying the additional assumption that the involutions defining \(K_1\) and \(K_2\) commute with each other; see the paper by \textit{L. Conlon} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 22, 255--257 (1969; Zbl 0179.05002)] for a solution to the question when \(K_2\) can be conjugated inside \(G\) to a subgroup such that the two involutions commute. To achieve his results, the author introduces the notion of symmetric triad (with multiplicities) on a finite-dimensional Euclidean space, which is a generalization of the notion of root system, and classifies them. To his geometric situation, a symmetric triad with multiplicities is associated such that the orbit space of the Hermann action is identified with the orbit space of an associated group action on the Euclidean space underlying the symmetric triad. The author introduces the notions of totally geodesic, austere, and minimal points in the symmetric triad, and shows that, under the above identification of orbit spaces, these properties are reflected by the analogously dubbed properties of the respective orbit. The problem of finding the totally geodesic and austere orbits is solved by finding for each symmetric triad in his classification the totally geodesic and austere points.