Projective representations of real semisimple Lie groups and the gradient map (Q7016148)

Let \(G\) be a real non-compact semisimple connected Lie group, and let \(V\) be a finite dimensional real vector space. The article considers a faithful representation \(\rho : G \longrightarrow \mathrm{SL}(V)\). It identifies \(G\) with \(\rho(G)\), and by complexifying \(V\), this leads to \(G \subset \mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{R}) \subset \mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{C}) = \mathrm{SL}(V^{\mathbb{C}})\). Let \(\mathfrak{g} = \mathfrak{k} + \mathfrak{p}\) be a Cartan decomposition of \(\mathfrak{g} = \mathrm{Lie}(G)\), so that \(G = K \exp(\mathfrak{p})\). Assume that \(V\) has a scalar product such that \(K\) acts orthogonally, and \(\mathfrak{p}\) acts as self-adjoint maps. Let \(\mathfrak{u} = \mathfrak{k} + i \mathfrak{p}\), and it is the Lie algebra of a connected compact semisimple Lie group \(U \subset \mathrm{SU}(n) \subset \mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{C})\). Consider the \(U\)-action on the projective space \(\mathbb{P}(\mathbb{C}^n)\), equipped with the standard Kähler form. Since \(U\) is semisimple, this action has a unique moment map. The moment map, together with projection onto \(\mathfrak{p}\), leads to the map \(\mu_{\mathfrak{p}} : \mathbb{P}(\mathbb{R}^n) \longrightarrow \mathfrak{p}\), known as the \(G\)-gradient. The \(U\)-action extends to a \(U^{\mathbb{C}}\)-action on \(\mathbb{P}(\mathbb{C}^n)\), and it has a unique compact Kähler orbit \(\mathcal{O}'\). The \(G\)-action on \(\mathcal{O}'\) has a unique compact orbit \(\mathcal{O}\). The article shows that \({\mathcal{O}} = \mathbb{P}(\mathbb{R}^n) \cap {\mathcal{O}'}\), and \(\mathcal{O}\) is a Lagrangian submanifold of \(\mathcal{O}'\) given by the fixed point set of an anti-holomorphic involutive isometry on \(\mathcal{O}'\) induced by a complex conjugation of \(\mathbb{P}(\mathbb{C}^n)\). The article studies the restriction of \(\mu_{\mathfrak{p}}\) to \(\mathcal{O}\), and also describes the irreducible representations of parabolic subgroups of \(G\) in terms of properties of \(\mu_{\mathfrak{p}}(\mathbb{P}(\mathbb{R}^n))\).