Mostow's decomposition theorem for L^-groups and applications to affine coadjoint orbits and stable manifolds

DOI10.1016/J.GEOMPHYS.2023.104881MaRDI QIDQ6115698zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Publication date 10 August 2023

Published in Journal of Geometry and Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math-ph/0605039

co-adjoint orbits decompositions of Lie groups moment maps positive-definite Hilbert-Schmidt operators reductive symmetric spaces

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Homogeneous spaces and generalizations (14M17) General properties and structure of complex Lie groups (22E10)

Abstract: Mostow's Decomposition Theorem is a refinement of the polar decomposition. It states the following. Let G be a compact connected semi-simple Lie group with Lie algebra g. Given a subspace h of g such that [X, [X, Y]] belongs to h for all X and Y in h, the complexified group G^C with Lie algebra g + ig is homeomorphic to the product G .exp im. exp ih, where m is the orthogonal of h in g with respect to the Killing form. This Theorem is related to geometric properties of the non-positively curved space of positive-definite symmetric matrices and to a characterization of its geodesic subspaces. The original proof of this Theorem given by Mostow uses the compactness of G. We give a proof of this Theorem using the completeness of the Lie algebra g instead, which can therefore be applied to an L*-group of arbitrary dimension. Some applications of this Theorem to the geometry of stable manifolds and affine coadjoint orbits are given.

Review text

The Mostow (matrix) decomposition for the general linear group \(\mathrm {GL}(n,\mathbb{C})\) is \[ A=Ue^{iM}e^S, \] where \(U\) is unitary, \(M\) is real skew-symmetric and \(S\) is real symmetric [\textit{R. Bhatia}, Linear Algebra Appl. 439, No. 10, 3031--3037 (2013; Zbl 1283.15039); \textit{G. D. Mostow}, Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 14, 31--54 (1955; Zbl 0064.25901)]. This decomposition holds true in a broader context in the following sense. Let \(G\) be a compact connected semi-simple Lie group with Lie algebra \(\mathfrak g\). Given a subspace \(\mathfrak h\) of \(\mathfrak g\) such that \([X,[X, Y ]] \in \mathfrak h\) for all \(X, Y\) in \(\mathfrak h\), the complexified group \(G^{\mathbb{C}} \) is homeomorphic to the product \[G \cdot \exp i{\mathfrak m} \cdot \exp i{\mathfrak h},\] where \(\mathfrak m\) is the orthogonal complement of \(\mathfrak h\) in \(\mathfrak g\) with respect to the Killing form. The simply connected symmetric space \(\mathrm {SU}(n)/ \mathrm {SO}(n)\) yields the matrix decomposition: when \(G\) is the special unitary group \(\mathrm {SU}(n)\) with Lie algebra \( {\mathfrak {su}}(n)\), we have the orthogonal sum (with respect to the Killing form) \[ {\mathfrak {su}}(n) = {\mathfrak m}+ {\mathfrak h}, \] where \({\mathfrak m} = {\mathfrak {so}}(n)\) and \({\mathfrak h}\) is the subspace of \(\mathfrak g\) consisting of symmetric purely imaginary \(n\times n\) matrices of zero trace. The author provides a new proof of Mostow's decomposition using tools from Riemannian geometry and homogeneous space. A key step in her proof involves constructing a projection from the space of positive definite self-adjoint operators to a closed geodesic subspace. The author's arguments for establishing such projection are simpler and more direct than Mostow's approach. They can be extended to an \(L^*\)-group of arbitrary dimension. Furthermore, Interesting geometric applications to (affine) coadjoint orbits and stable manifolds are provided.

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