Metric geometry in homogeneous spaces of the unitary group of a \(C^*\)-algebra. II: Geodesics joining fixed endpoints (Q814371)

The paper under review is a study of the geometry of generalized flag spaces, i.e., homogeneous spaces associated to a pair of \(C^*\)-algebras. More precisely, let \({\mathcal P}\) be a Banach manifold and \({\mathcal A}\) a \(C^*\)-algebra such that the unitary group \(U({\mathcal A})\) acts transitively on \({\mathcal P}\). Next, the isotropy group of each point \(\rho\in{\mathcal P}\) is required to be the unitary group of some \(C^*\)-subalgebra \({\mathcal B} \subset{\mathcal A}\). Such \({\mathcal P}\) is referred to as a generalized flag and is endowed with the natural Finsler metric \(\|X\|= \inf_{b\in{\mathcal B}^{\text{ant}}}|Z+b|\) for any \(X\in T_\rho({\mathcal P})\approx {\mathcal A}^{\text{ant}}/{\mathcal B}^{\text{ant}}\) where \(Z\) is a representative of \(X\) and \({\mathcal A}^{\text{ant}}\) and \({\mathcal B}^{\text{ant}}\) are, respectively, the anti-symmetric parts of the algebras \({\mathcal A}\) and \({\mathcal B}\) (also \(|\cdot|\) is the norm in \({\mathcal A})\). The results consist in both a local and a global version of the classical Hopf-Rinow theorem (in finite dimensional Riemannian geometry) on a compact generalized flag \({\mathcal P}\approx U({\mathcal A})/U({\mathcal B})\). Part I, cf. Adv. Math. 184, No. 2, 342--366 (2004; Zbl 1060.53076).