Failure of stability of a maximal operator bound for perturbed Nevo-Thangavelu means

Abstract

Let $G$ be a two-step nilpotent Lie group, identified via the exponential map with the Lie-algebra $\mathfrak g=\mathfrak g_1\oplus\mathfrak g_2$, where $[\mathfrak g,\mathfrak g]\subset \mathfrak g_2$. We consider maximal functions associated to spheres in a $d$-dimensional linear subspace $H$, dilated by the automorphic dilations. $L^p$ boundedness results for the case where $H=\mathfrak g_1$ are well understood. Here we consider the case of a tilted hyperplane $H\neq \mathfrak g_1$ which is not invariant under the automorphic dilations. In the case of M\'etivier groups it is known that the $L^p$-boundedness results are stable under a small linear tilt. We show that this is generally not the case for other two-step groups, and provide new necessary conditions for $L^p$ boundedness. We prove these results in a more general setting with tilted versions of submanifolds of $\mathfrak g_1$.