Moduli of triangles in the Heisenberg group (Q691091)

Let \(\mathbb H\) be the three-dimensional Heisenberg group, equipped with the Carnot-Carathéodory geometry. A triangle in \(\mathbb H\) is called admissible if the length-minimizing geodesic between any two of its points is unique. Since the isometry group of \(\mathbb H\) is 4-dimensional, the moduli space of the set of admissible ordered triangles is 5-dimensional. The authors show that this moduli space is homeomorphic to \(({\mathbb R}^ 3 \setminus l_ 1 \cup l_ 2 \cup l_ 3) \times {\mathbb R}^ 2\), where \(l_ 1, l_ 2,l_ 3\) are distinct rays emanating from the origin. The moduli space of unordered triangles is homeomorphic to \({\mathbb R}^ 5\) and hence contractible. The authors also describe a boundary for the moduli space of ordered triangles and derive some trigonometric formulas for the Carnot-Carathéodory geometry.