Extremal curves in nilpotent Lie groups

DOI10.1007/S00039-013-0226-7MaRDI QIDQ359553zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Enrico Le Donne, Gian Paolo Leonardi, Roberto Monti, Davide Vittone

Publication date 12 August 2013

Published in Geometric and Functional Analysis. GAFA (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1207.3985

zbMATH Keywords

algebraic varietyCarnot groupsextremal curvesfree nilpotent groupsregularity of geodesicssub-Riemannian geometry

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Sub-Riemannian geometry (53C17)

Abstract: We classify extremal curves in free nilpotent Lie groups. The classification is obtained via an explicit integration of the adjoint equation in Pontryagin Maximum Principle. It turns out that abnormal extremals are precisely the horizontal curves contained in algebraic varieties of a specific type. We also extend the results to the nonfree case.

Review text

The existence of \textit{abnormal geodesics} (length minimizing curves which do not arise as projections of bicharacteristic solutions of Hamilton's equations) is a characteristic feature of sub-Riemannian geometry which distinguishes it from its Riemannian counterpart. The existence of strictly abnormal geodesics in sub-Riemannian geometry was first confirmed by Montgomery. The book [\textit{R. Montgomery}, A tour of subriemannian geometries, their geodesics and applications. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (2002; Zbl 1044.53022)] contains an informative summary of the history and development of the subject. In this paper, the authors characterize the abnormal geodesics in arbitrary free nilpotent Lie groups (free Carnot groups). The characterization identifies such curves as precisely the horizontal curves contained in certain specific algebraic subvarieties defined by canonical polynomial mappings obtained from the structure constants of the associated graded nilpotent Lie algebra. The characterization is thus purely algebraic, indicating that techniques of real algebraic geometry may be of use in further investigation of the structure and regularity of sub-Riemannian geodesics. As applications of their general theorem, the authors (i) provide a short new proof of a recent result of Tan and Yang on the \(C^\infty\) regularity of geodesics in step-three Carnot groups, (ii) give an alternate proof of the smoothness of generic length-minimizing curves in rank-two Carnot groups (this is a special case of more general results of Liu and Sussmann), and (iii) rederive the well-known example of Golé and Karidi of a strictly abnormal geodesic in the free Carnot group of rank two and step at least four.

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Cites work

• A Basis for Free Lie Rings and Higher Commutators in Free Groups
• A note on Carnot geodesics in nilpotent Lie groups
• A tour of subriemannian geometries, their geodesics and applications
• Abnormal Minimizers
• Abnormal sub-Riemannian geodesics: Morse index and rigidity
• Control theory from the geometric viewpoint.
• End-point equations and regularity of sub-Riemannian geodesics
• Genericity results for singular curves
• Models for free nilpotent Lie algebras
• Regularity results for sub-Riemannian geodesics
• Rigid paths of generic 2-distributions on 3-manifolds
• Rigidity of integral curves of rank 2 distributions
• Shortest paths for sub-Riemannian metrics on rank-two distributions
• Subriemannian geodesics of Carnot groups of step 3

Cited in

(29)

• Existence of tangent lines to Carnot-Carathéodory geodesics
• Extremal polynomials in stratified groups
• A note on Carnot geodesics in nilpotent Lie groups
• ODE trajectories as abnormal curves in Carnot groups
• Variational formulas for curves of fixed degree
• Strong Sard conjecture and regularity of singular minimizing geodesics for analytic sub-Riemannian structures in dimension 3
• A dynamical approach to the Sard problem in Carnot groups
• Higher dimensional holonomy map for rules submanifolds in graded manifolds
• Non-minimality of spirals in sub-Riemannian manifolds
• On the regularity of abnormal minimizers for rank 2 sub-Riemannian structures
• Non-minimality of corners in subriemannian geometry
• Third order open mapping theorems and applications to the end-point map
• Sard property for the endpoint map on some Carnot groups
• Extremals in some classes of Carnot groups
• Some properties of abnormal extremals on Lie groups
• A family of nonminimizing abnormal curves
• Subriemannian geodesics of Carnot groups of step 3
• The Sard problem in step 2 and in filiform Carnot groups,
• The regularity problem for geodesics of the control distance
• The regularity problem for sub-Riemannian geodesics
• Corners in non-equiregular sub-Riemannian manifolds
• The existence of strictly abnormal extremals in Carnot groups
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 7593809 (Why is no real title available?)
• Derivatives of Sub-Riemannian Geodesics are L_p-Hölder Continuous
• Higher order Goh conditions for singular extremals of corank 1
• Microflexiblity and local integrability of horizontal curves
• Main recent scientific results obtained by the academic staff of the Chair of General Problems of Control
• New properties of length-extremals in free step-2 rank-4 Carnot groups
• On the lack of semiconcavity of the subRiemannian distance in a class of Carnot groups

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