Some Riemannian properties of SU_n endowed with a bi-invariant metric
The authors study some properties of the geodesic distance on the special unitary group \(\mathrm{SU}_n\) associated to a bi-invariant Riemannian metric. This metric is defined at a point \(A\in SU_n\) by \N\[\N\phi _A(X,Y)=-\mathrm{tr}\, (A^*XA^*Y),\N\]\Nfor two tangent vectors \(X,Y\) at \(A\). The geodesic distance \(d(P,Q)\) between two points \(P,Q\in \mathrm{SU}_n\), called Frobenius distance, is equal to the minimum of \(\|X\|_{\phi }=\sqrt{-\mathrm{tr}\, X^2}\) where \(X\in \mathfrak{su}_n\), the Lie algebra of \(\mathrm{SU}_n\), such that \(\exp X=P^*Q\). The authors study in detail the set \(\Theta (Q)\) of elements \(X\in \mathfrak{su}_n\) with \(\exp X=Q\) for which \(\|X\|_{\phi }\) is minimal. This set can be a single point or a compact manifold which is described explicitely in terms of the eigenvalues of \(Q\). Moreover, the authors determine the diameter of \(\mathrm{SU}_n\) for the Frobenius distance. In particular, they show that it is equal to \(\pi \sqrt{n}\) if \(n\) is even and to \(\pi \sqrt{n-\frac{1}{n}}\) if \(n\) is odd.\N\NIn a previous paper by the authors [Ann. Univ. Ferrara, Sez. VII, Sci. Mat. 71, No. 1, Paper No. 22, 25 p. (2025; Zbl 1556.53056)], the same questions were studied for a family of subgroups of the unitary group \(\mathrm{U}_n\), among them \(\mathrm{U}_n\), \(\mathrm{SO}_n\), \(\mathrm{Sp}(n)\), but not \(\mathrm{SU}_n\).
- Compact Lie Groups
- Generalized principal logarithms and Riemannian properties of a class of subgroups of \(\mathbf{U_n}\) endowed with the Frobenius bi-invariant metric
- Lie Groups and Geometric Aspects of Isometric Actions
- Real logarithms of semi-simple matrices
- Skew symmetric logarithms and geodesics on \(\mathrm{O}_n(\mathbb{R})\)
- The full group of isometries of some compact Lie groups endowed with a bi-invariant metric
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