Polar orthogonal representations of real reductive algebraic groups (Q958069)

The notion of a polar representation of a group generalizes the well-known fact that the tangent space at a point of a Riemannian symmetric space admits a subspace which intersects all orbits of the isotropy group orthogonally. The class of polar representations of compact groups was introduced and studied by \textit{J. Dadok} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 288, 125--137 (1985; Zbl 0565.22010)], and polar representations of complex reductive groups were defined by \textit{J. Dadok} and \textit{V. Kac} [J. Algebra 92, 504--524 (1985; Zbl 0611.22009)]. A complex (resp. real) representation admitting a complex-valued (resp. real-valued) invariant non-degenerate symmetric bilinear form is called orthogonal. It is known that a complex orthogonal representation of a complex reductive group admits a real form which is invariant under a maximal compact subgroup. Given a polar orthogonal representation of a complex reductive group the induced representation of a maximal compact subgroup is a polar representation in the sense of Dadok. In particular, by the result of Dadok this representation has the same orbits as the isotropy representation of a Riemannian symmetric space. The purpose of the present paper is to study the orbits and to develop a structure theory of polar orthogonal representations of noncompact real forms of a complex reductive group. In fact, the authors call a representation of a real reductive algebraic group polar if its complexification is polar. The main theorem of the paper states that a polar orthogonal representation of a connected real reductive algebraic group has the same closed orbits as the isotropy representation of a pseudo-Riemannian symmetric space. The proof of the theorem uses explicit lists of polar representations of compact Lie groups obtained by \textit{J. Eschenberg} and \textit{E. Heintze} [Math. Z. 232, No.~3, 391--398 (1999; Zbl 0943.22014)] in the irreducible case and \textit{I. Bergmann} [Manuscr. Math. 104, No.~3, 309--324 (2001; Zbl 0980.22014)] in the reducible case. In addition to the main theorem, the paper contains two other interesting results about real polar orthogonal representations. Specifically, the authors relate closed orbits of real polar orthogonal representations to the notion of pseudo-Riemannian isoperimetric submanifolds of a pseudo-Euclidean space, and develop a structure theory for real polar orthogonal representations that generalizes the structure theory of adjoint representations of real reductive Lie algebras.