Symmetric spaces of higher rank do not admit differentiable compactifications (Q976781)

The group \(G\) of isometries of a symmetric space \(M\) of non positive curvature acts continuously on its Hadamard (or geodesic) compactification \(\overline{M}\). If \(M\) is of rank one, the action of \(G\) on \(\overline{M}\) is differentiable. In this paper it is proven that this does not hold for higher rank. This negative result is first proved for the product \(F\times {\mathbb R}^{k-1}\) of a rank one space \(F\) by a Euclidean space. For the general case, one finds in \(M\) an embedded product \(F\times {\mathbb R}^{k-1}\).