The large scale geometry in nilpotent Lie groups

DOI10.4310/CAG.2001.V9.N5.A2MaRDI QIDQ1599919zbMATH OpenWikidataFDO

Authors Scott D. Pauls

Publication date 25 February 2003

Published in Communications in Analysis and Geometry (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9903089

zbMATH Keywords

Aleksandrov spacenilpotent Lie groupRiemannian space

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Nilpotent and solvable Lie groups (22E25) Global Riemannian geometry, including pinching (53C20) Global surface theory (convex surfaces à la A. D. Aleksandrov) (53C45)

Abstract: In this paper, we prove results concerning the large scale geometry of connected, simply connected nonabelian nilpotent Lie groups equipped with left invariant Riemannian metrics. Precisely, we prove that there do not exist quasi-isometric embeddings of such a nilpotent Lie group into either a CAT(0) metric space or an Alexandrov metric space with curvature bounded below. The main technical aspect of this work is the proof of a limited metric differentiability of Lipschitz maps between connected graded nilpotent Lie groups equipped with left invariant Carnot-Caratheodory metrics and complete metric spaces.

Review text

In 1964 \textit{J. A. Wolf} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 15, 271-274 (1964; Zbl 0134.17905)] proved that every point of a nilpotent Lie group \(G\) with a left invariant Riemannian metric \(g\) has three two-dimensional sections \(\sigma_1, \sigma_2\) and \(\sigma_3\) such that the sectional curvatures satisfy \(K_{\sigma_1}(g)= 0\), \(K_{\sigma_2} (g)<0\) and \(K_{\sigma_3}(g)>0\). Hence, \(G\) cannot be locally isometric to a non-negatively curved or to a non-positively curved Riemannian space. The author generalizes the foregoing result as follows. A mapping \(f\) between metric spaces \((M_1,\rho_1)\) and \((M_2, \rho_2)\) is called an \((L,C)\)-quasi-isometry if, for every \(x,y\in M\), the following inequality holds: \(L^{-1}\rho_1 (x,y)-C\leq \rho_2(f(x), f(y))\leq L \rho_1 (x,y) +C\); the metric space \((M_2,\rho_2)\) is assumed to be complete. The author's main result (Theorems A,B) states that there is no quasi-isometric embedding of a connected non-abelian nilpotent Lie group with a left invariant Riemannian metric into a complete simply connected Aleksandrov space of curvature \(\leq 0\) \(\text{(CBA}_0)\) or a complete Aleksandrov space of curvature \(\geq 0\) \(\text{(CBB}_0)\). It should be noted that while negatively curved and positively curved Aleksandrov spaces generalize Riemannian spaces, they can have singularities of quite general nature. The non-embeddability result follows from a theorem by \textit{P. Pansu} [Ann. Math. (2) 129, 1-60 (1989; Zbl 0678.53042)] and the author's intermediate Theorem C. If \(G\) is a connected simply connected graded non-abelian nilpotent Lie group with a left invariant Carnot-Carathéodory metric, then \(G\) does not admit a local bi-Lipschitz embedding into \(\text{CBA}_0\) or into \(\text{CBB}_0\). The proof of Theorem C uses a generalization of the familiar Rademacher theorem, curvature estimates of the tangent cones to \(\text{BBA}_K\) [\textit{I. G. Nikolaev}, Sib. Mat. Zh. 19, 1341-1348 (1978; Zbl 0405.53044), Manuscr. Math. 86, No. 2, 137-147 (1995; Zbl 0822.53043)] and its non-negative curvature counterpart [\textit{Yu. Burago}, \textit{M. Gromov} and \textit{G. Perel'man}, Usp. Mat. Nauk 47, No. 2 (284), 3-51 (1992; Zbl 0802.53018)].

Recommendations

• Non-embedding theorems of nilpotent Lie groups and sub-Riemannian manifolds
• Estimates on the Markov convexity of Carnot groups and quantitative nonembeddability
• Some examples of quasiisometries of nilpotent Lie groups
• Carnot-Carathéodory metrics and quasiisometries of symmetric spaces of rank 1
• Isometries of nilpotent metric groups

Cited in

(22)

• Metric differentiability of Lipschitz maps defined on Wiener spaces
• Hyperplanes of Squier's cube complexes
• Embedding relatively hyperbolic groups in products of trees.
• Heat flow and quantitative differentiation
• Non-embedding theorems of nilpotent Lie groups and sub-Riemannian manifolds
• Coarse differentiation and quantitative nonembeddability for Carnot groups
• On equivariant embeddings of generalized Baumslag-Solitar groups.
• Hierarchically hyperbolic spaces. I: Curve complexes for cubical groups
• Differentiability of Lipschitz maps from metric measure spaces to Banach spaces with the Radon-Nikodym property
• Infinitesimal structure of differentiability spaces, and metric differentiation
• Some examples of quasiisometries of nilpotent Lie groups
• On the Riemannian Geometry of the Nilpotent Groups H(p, r)
• Dimension of asymptotic cones of Lie groups
• Vertical versus horizontal Poincaré inequalities on the Heisenberg group
• The coarse classification of countable Abelian groups.
• On the Lipschitz dimension of Cheeger–Kleiner
• The coarea formula for real‐valued Lipschitz maps on stratified groups
• Metric differentiation, monotonicity and maps to \(L^{1}\)
• Variational problems concerning sub-Finsler metrics in Carnot groups
• Nilpotent Groups and Bi-Lipschitz Embeddings Into L1
• A note on morphisms to wreath products
• Differentiating maps into \(L^1\), and the geometry of BV functions

This page was built for publication: The large scale geometry in nilpotent Lie groups

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q1599919)