Raghunathan's topological conjecture and distributions of unipotent flows (Q810158)

Let G be a connected real Lie group and let \(\Gamma\) be a lattice in G. The group G acts on \(\Gamma\setminus G\) by right translations. Let U be a subgroup of G and \(x\in \Gamma \setminus G\). The closure \(\overline{xU}\) of the orbit xU in \(\Gamma\setminus G\) is called \underbar{homogeneous} if there is a closed subgroup H of G such that \(U\subset H\), \(yHy^{- 1}\cap \Gamma\) is a lattice in \(yHy^{-1}\) where \(x=\Gamma y\in \Gamma \setminus G\) and \(\overline{xU}=xH\). A subgroup U of G is called \underbar{topologically rigid} if for any lattice \(\Gamma\) in G and any \(x\in \Gamma \setminus G\) the closure of the orbit xU in \(\Gamma\setminus G\) is homogeneous. A subgroup U of G is called Ad-unipotent if Ad u is a unipotent linear map for every \(u\in U\). The author proves Raghunathan's topological conjecture: Every Ad-unipotent subgroup of a connected Lie group is topologically rigid. She obtains as a corollary that every Lie subgroup U of G generated by one-parameter Ad-unipotent subgroups is topologically rigid and that \(\overline{xU}=\overline{xV}\) for some one- parameter subgroup V of U. Another corollary states that for Ad-unipotent U the action of U on \(\overline{xU}\) is ergodic. For one-parameter and one-generator Ad-unipotent subgroups U she proves furthermore distribution rigidity, i.e. for bounded continuous functions on \(\Gamma\setminus G\) certain averages over U and over H as above coincide. The proof of this result, the main theorem, and the other results is based on the main theorem of the author's paper: On Raghunathan's measure conjecture [to appear in Ann. Math., II. Ser.].