Homogeneous Riemannian manifolds with non-trivial nullity

DOI10.1007/S00031-020-09611-2MaRDI QIDQ2120885zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Antonio J. Di Scala, Carlos Olmos, Francisco Vittone

Publication date 1 April 2022

Published in Transformation Groups (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.02642

zbMATH Keywords

curvature tensorhomogeneous Riemannian manifoldnullity subspacesolvable Lie group

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Global Riemannian geometry, including pinching (53C20) Differential geometry of homogeneous manifolds (53C30)

Abstract: We develop a general theory for irreducible homogeneous spaces $M=G/H$, in relation to the nullity $u$ of their curvature tensor. We construct natural invariant (different and increasing) distributions associated with the nullity, that give a deep insight of such spaces. In particular, there must exist an order-two transvection, not in the nullity, with null Jacobi operator. This fact was very important for finding out the first homogeneous examples with non-trivial nullity, i.e. where the nullity distribution is not parallel. Moreover, we construct irreducible examples of conullity $k=3$, the smallest possible, in any dimension. None of our examples admit a quotient of finite volume. We also proved that $H$ is trivial and $G$ is solvable if $k=3$. Another of our main results is that the leaves of the nullity are closed (we used a rather delicate argument). This implies that $M$ is a Euclidean affine bundle over the quotient by the leaves of $u$. Moreover, we prove that $u^{p}erp$ defines a metric connection on this bundle with transitive holonomy or, equivalently, $u^{p}erp$ is completely non-integrable (this is not in general true for an arbitrary autoparallel and flat invariant distribution). We also found some general obstruction for the existence of non-trivial nullity: e.g., if $G$ is reductive (in particular, if $M$ is compact), or if $G$ is two-step nilpotent.

Review text

Given a Riemannian manifold \(M\) with curvature tensor \(R\) and a point \(p\in M\), the nullity subspace \(\nu_p\) of \(M\) at \(p\) is defined as the subset of \(T_pM\) consisting of those vectors that annihilate \(R\), i.e., \(\nu_p =\{ v \in T_pM \,:\, R_{x,y}v = 0, \forall x,y\in T_pM\}\). The concept of nullity of the curvature tensor was introduced by \textit{S.-S. Chern} and \textit{N. H. Kuiper} in [Ann. Math. (2) 56, 422--430 (1952; Zbl 0052.17601)]. In the paper under review, the authors developed a general theory for irreducible homogeneous Riemannian spaces \(M=G/H\), in relation to the nullity distribution \(\nu\) of their curvature tensor (Theorem A). For this purpose, they have applied original and effective tools. In particular, they constructed natural invariant distributions associated with the nullity. A Killing field \(X\) on a homogeneous Riemannian manifold \(M\) is called a transvection at \(q\) if \((\nabla X)_q = 0\). Assume that \(M=G/H\) has non-trivial nullity distribution \(\nu\) and does not split off, locally, a Euclidean factor. It is proved in this case that there must exist an order-two transvection, not in the nullity subspace, with null Jacobi operator (Proposition 3.6 and Theorem 3.12). This observation was very important in the construction of first homogeneous examples with non-trivial nullity, i.e., where the nullity distribution is not parallel. These examples are special non-unimodular solvable Lie groups with suitable left-invariant Riemannian metrics of conullity \(k=3\), in any dimension \(\geq 4\) (Theorem 9.6). It should be noted also that a simply connected homogeneous Riemannian manifold \(M=G/H\) with reductive \(G\) and without a Euclidean de Rham factor has a trivial nullity (Corollary 3.16). The same is true for any \(2\)-step nilpotent Lie group \(G\) with a left-invariant metric which does not split off a local flat factor (Corollary 3.17). Another important result of the paper is that the leaves (i.e., the integral manifolds) of the nullity distribution are closed (Theorem 7.5). This implies that \(M\) is a Euclidean affine bundle over the quotient by the leaves of \(\nu\). Moreover, the authors prove that \(\nu^{\perp}\) defines a metric connection on this bundle with transitive holonomy or, equivalently, \(\nu^{\perp}\) is completely non-integrable (Theorem 7.7).

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Cited in

(9)

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• Homogeneous almost normal Riemannian manifolds
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 4144961 (Why is no real title available?)
• On the nullity distribution of a submanifold of a space form
• The \(\kappa\)-nullity of Riemannian manifolds and their splitting tensors
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• Totally geodesic submanifolds of the homogeneous nearly Kähler 6-manifolds and their \(\mathrm{G}_2\)-cones

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