Orbits of triples in the Shilov boundary of a bounded symmetric domain (Q862283)

Let \(D\) be a bounded symmetric domain, and \(S\) its Shilov boundary. Let \(G\) be the identity component of the group of holomorphic automorphisms of \(D\). Then \(D\) is homogeneous under the action of \(G\) and a fixed point subgroup is a maximal compact subgroup \(K\). Thus we have \(D\simeq G/ K\). In addition, if \(D\) is irreducible (or indecomposable), then \(S\) is diffeomorphic to \(G/P\) for a certain maximal parabolic subgroup (in general \(S\) is a product of partial flag manifold). In this paper under review, the authors study the \(G\)-orbit structure of the triple product of the Shilov boundary \(S^3 = S \times S \times S\), when \(D\) is of tube type. The main theorem (Theorem 5.2) claims the classification of the \(G\)-orbits in \(S^3\) by integer invariants, and as a result, it proves the finiteness of the orbits. Contrary to this, when \(D\) is not of tube type, there are infinitely many (in fact, continuously many) orbits. As the authors pointed out, it is known that \((G_{\mathbb{C}}/P_{\mathbb{C}})^3\) has finitely many orbits when \(P_{\mathbb{C}}\) is a maximal parabolic with abelian unipotent radical \textit{R. Richardson, G. Röhrle} and \textit{R. Steinberg} [Invent. Math. 110, 649--671 (1992; Zbl 0786.20029)]; (see also \textit{P. Littelmann}, J. Algebra 166, 142--157 (1994; Zbl 0823.20040), \textit{P. Magyar, J. Weyman}, and \textit{A. Zelevinsky} [Adv. Math. 141, No. 1, 97-118 (1999; Zbl 0951.14034), J. Algebra 230, No. 1, 245--265 (2000; Zbl 0996.14023) ). Thus the finiteness for the triple product \(S^3\simeq(G/P)^3\) can be deduced from the above result using Galois cohomology, since \(D\simeq G/K\) is of tube type if and only if \(P\) has an abelian unipotent radical. So the advantage of the results here is the classification. The invariants of \(G\)-orbits are given by the rank of the boundary components which are generated by the triplets \((x_1, x_2, x_3 )\in S^3\) and the pairs \((x_i, x_j) \; (i, j = 1, 2, 3)\); and the Maslov index. This index is a generalization of the classical invariants for Lagrangian subspaces. When \(D=\text{Sp}_{2n}(\mathbb{R})/U(n)\) is the classical Siegel upper space of Hermitian symmetric matrices with positive imaginary part, \(S=\text{Sp}_{2n}(\mathbb{R})/\text{GL}_n(\mathbb{R})\ltimes \text{Sym}_n(\mathbb{R})\) is the Lagrangian Grassmannian. So \(S^3\) is corresponding to the set of triplets of Lagrangian subspaces. When a triplet is in general position (i.e., it generates an orbit of maximal possible dimension), the orbit is classified by the classical Maslov index (see \S A.3 of [\textit{M. Kashiwara} and \textit{P. Schapira}, Sheaves on Manifolds. Grundlehren der Mathematischen Wissenschaften, 292. Berlin etc.: Springer-Verlag (1990; Zbl 0709.18001)]). For proofs, they use the theory of Jordan triple systems and Euclidean Jordan algebras. One of the main idea of the proof is Theorem 3.1, which states that any triple in \(S^3\) is conjugate to a triple of torus elements of a fixed Jordan frame if \(D\) is of tube type. Also Theorem 1.7 classifies \(G\)-orbits of the transversal pairs in \(\overline{D}\), which is interesting in its own right.