Riemannian submersions and lattices in 2-step nilpotent Lie groups

Let \(N\) be a simply connected 2-step nilpotent Lie group and let \(\mathbb N\) be its Lie algebra. The author says that \(\mathbb N\) is a \textit{standard metric} 2-step nilpotent Lie algebra when \(\mathbb N = \mathbb R^n \oplus W\), where \(W\) is a subspace of \(so(n, \mathbb R)\) with the inner product \(\langle X,Y\rangle >^{\ast} = -\text{tr}(XY)\). The author proves that every 2-step nilpotent Lie algebra is isomorphic to a standard metric one. Let \(\mathbb N = \mathbb R^n \oplus W\) be a standard metric 2-step nilpotent Lie algebra, \(\mathfrak g\) the Lie subalgebra of \(so(n, \mathbb R)\) generated by \(W\), \(\mathbb N^* = \mathbb R^n \oplus \mathfrak g\), \(N^*\) the simply connected 2-step nilpotent Lie group with Lie algebra \(\mathbb N^*\). The induced projection \(\rho: N^* \to N\) is studied; it is shown that it is a Riemannian submersion with flat, simply connected, totally geodesic fibers. If \(N\) admits a lattice \(\Gamma\), then \(N^*\) admits a lattice \(\Gamma^*\) such that \(\rho(\Gamma^*) = \Gamma\) and the induced map \(\rho': \Gamma^*\backslash N^* \to \Gamma\backslash N\) is a Riemannian submersion whose fibers are flat, simply connected, totally geodesic tori that are all isometric. However, lattices in \(N\) do not always exist. The main results in the paper are about the existence of lattices in \(N\) in several different situations: (a) When \(W\) admits a \(\mathbb Q\)-form inside \(\mathfrak G_{\mathbb Q}\). Here \(\mathfrak G\) is the Lie algebra of a compact connected subgroup of \(SO(n, \mathbb R)\), and \(\mathfrak G_{\mathbb Q}\) is a ``split \(\mathbb Q\)-form of \(\mathfrak G\). (b) When \(\mathbb N\) is of Heisenberg type in the sense of [\textit{A. Kaplan}, Geom. Dedicata 11, 127-136 (1981; Zbl 0495.53046); Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 15, 35-42 (1983; Zbl 0521.53048)]. Another proof of (b) was given in [\textit{G. Crandall} and \textit{J. J. Dodziuk}, J. Lie Theory 12, No. 1, 69-79 (2002; Zbl 1035.17018)]. (c) When \(W\subset so(n, \mathbb R)\) is a Lie triple system with compact center. This contains (a) and (b).

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