Inhomogeneous almost symmetric submanifolds
We completely describe inhomogeneous properly embedded almost symmetric submanifolds of Euclidean space as certain unions of parallel symmetric submanifolds of the ambient Euclidean space.
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Publications and source records attributed to Carlos Olmos.
We completely describe inhomogeneous properly embedded almost symmetric submanifolds of Euclidean space as certain unions of parallel symmetric submanifolds of the ambient Euclidean space.
We introduce the class of almost symmetric submanifolds of Euclidean space, a close relative of symmetric submanifolds and (contact) sub-Riemannian symmetric spaces. More specifically, we prove that every full irreducible almost symmetric submanifold of Euclidean space is either: a most singular orbit of an s-representation; or an almost singular orbit, which can be realized as a holonomy tube over a symmetric submanifold; or a codimension 3 submanifold. We also include tables of all examples with Lie-theoretic data. We prove that any inhomogeneous almost symmetric submanifold has cohomogeneity one and describe possible structures, including multiply-warped products. We interpret almost symmetric submanifolds as embeddings of sub-Riemannian symmetric spaces, highlighting the interplay between extrinsic and intrinsic symmetry. We propose the co-index of extrinsic symmetry as new invariant and a potential tool to study and hierarchize highly symmetric submanifolds.
In 1980, Onishchik introduced the index of a Riemannian symmetric space as the minimal codimension of a (proper) totally geodesic submanifold. He calculated the index for symmetric spaces of rank less than or equal to 2, but for higher rank it was unclear how to tackle the problem. In earlier papers we developed several approaches to this problem, which allowed us to calculate the index for many symmetric spaces. Our systematic approach led to a conjecture for how to calculate the index. The purpose of this paper is to verify the conjecture.
The index of a Riemannian symmetric space is the minimal codimension of a proper totally geodesic submanifold (Onishchik, 1980). There is a conjecture by the first two authors for how to calculate the index. In this paper we give an affirmative answer to this conjecture for the exceptional Riemannian symmetric spaces and for the classical symmetric spaces Sp(r,R)/U(r). Our methodology is new and based on the idea of using slice representations for studying totally geodesic submanifolds.
Let $M$ be a most singular orbit of the isotropy representation of a simple symmetric space. Let $(ν_i, Φ_i)$ be an irreducible factor of the normal holonomy representation $(ν_pM, Φ(p))$. We prove that there exists a basis of a section $Σ_i\subset ν_i$ of $Φ_i$ such that the corresponding shape operators have rational eigenvalues (this is not in general true for other isotropy orbits). Conversely, this property, if referred to some non-transitive irreducible normal holonomy factor, characterizes the isotropy orbits. We also prove that the definition of a submanifold with constant principal curvatures can be given by using only the traceless shape operator, instead of the shape operator, restricted to a non-transitive (non necessarily irreducible) normal holonomy factor. This article generalizes previous results of the authors that characterized Veronese submanifolds in terms of normal holonomy.
Let M be an irreducible Riemannian symmetric space. The index i(M) of M is the minimal codimension of a (non-trivial) totally geodesic submanifold of M. The purpose of this note is to determine the index i(M) for all irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces M of type (II) and (IV).
Corollary 2.3 in our paper "A geometric proof of the Karpelevich-Mostow theorem", Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 41 (2009), no. 4, 634-638, is false. Here we give a counterexample and show how to avoid the use of this corollary to give a simpler proof of Karpelevich-Mostow theorem. We also include a short discussion of the original proof by Karpelevich.
Let M be an irreducible Riemannian symmetric space. The index i(M) of M is the minimal codimension of a totally geodesic submanifold of M. In previous work the authors proved that i(M) is bounded from below by the rank rk(M) of M. In this paper we classify all irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces M for which the equality holds, that is, rk(M) = i(M). In this context we also obtain an explicit classification of all non-semisimple maximal totally geodesic submanifolds in irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces of noncompact type and show that they are closely related to irreducible symmetric R-spaces. We also determine the index of some symmetric spaces and classify the irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces of noncompact type with i(M) = 4,5 or 6.
Let M be an irreducible Riemannian symmetric space. The index of M is the minimal codimension of a (non-trivial) totally geodesic submanifold of M. We prove that the index is bounded from below by the rank of the symmetric space. We also classify the irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces whose index is less or equal than 3.
We develop a general structure theory for compact homogeneous Riemannian manifolds in relation to the co-index of symmetry. We will then use these results to classify irreducible, simply connected, compact homogeneous Riemannian manifolds whose co-index of symmetry is less or equal than three. We will also construct many examples which arise from the theory of polars and centrioles in Riemannian symmetric spaces of compact type.
It was conjectured, twenty years ago, the following result that would generalize the so-called rank rigidity theorem for homogeneous Euclidean submanifolds: let M^n, n>=2, be a full and irreducible homogeneous submanifold of the sphere $S^{N-1}\subset R^N$ and such that the normal holonomy group is not transitive (on the unit sphere of the normal space to the sphere). Then M^n must be an orbit of an irreducible s-representation (i.e. the isotropy representation of a semisimple Riemannian symmetric space). If n=2, then the normal holonomy is always transitive, unless M is a homogeneous isoparametric hypersurface of the sphere (and so the conjecture is true in this case). We prove the conjecture when n=3. In this case M^3 must be either isoparametric or a Veronese submanifold. The proof combines geometric arguments with (delicate) topological arguments that uses information from two different fibrations with the same total space (the holonomy tube and the caustic fibrations). We also prove the conjecture for n>= 3 when the normal holonomy acts irreducibly and the codimension is the maximal possible n(n+1)/2. This gives a characterization of Veronese submanifolds in terms of normal holonomy. We also extend this last result by replacing the homogeneity assumption by the assumption of minimality (in the sphere). Another result of the paper, used for the case n=3, is that the number of irreducible factors of the local normal holonomy group, for any Euclidean submanifold M^n, is less or equal than [n/2] (which is the rank of the orthogonal group SO(n)). This bound is sharp and improves the known bound n(n-1)/2.
We introduce a geometric invariant that we call the index of symmetry, which measures how far is a Riemannian manifold from being a symmetric space. We compute, in a geometric way, the index of symmetry of compact naturally reductive spaces. In this case, the so-called leaf of symmetry turns out to be of the group type. We also study several examples where the leaf of symmetry is not of the group type. Interesting examples arise from the unit tangent bundle of the sphere of curvature 2, and two metrics in an Aloff-Wallach 7-manifold and the Wallach 24-manifold.
We extend the result in J. Reine Angew. Math. 664, 29-53, to the non-compact case. Namely, we prove that the canonical connection on a simply connected and irreducible naturally reductive space is unique, provided the space is not a sphere, a compact Lie group with a bi-invariant metric or its symmetric dual. In particular, the canonical connection is unique for the hyperbolic space when the dimension is different from three. We also prove that the canonical connection on the sphere is unique for the symmetric presentation. Finally, we compute the full isometry group (connected component) of a compact and locally irreducible naturally reductive space.
We give a conceptual proof of the fact that if M is a complete submanifold of a space form, then the maximal integral manifolds of the nullity distribution of its second fundamental form through points of minimal index of nullity are complete.
We prove a Simons-type holonomy theorem for totally skew 1-forms with values in a Lie algebra of linear isometries. The only transitive case, for this theorem, is the full orthogonal group. We only use geometric methods and we do not use any classification (not even that of transitive isometric actions on the sphere or the list of rank one symmetric spaces). This result was independently proved, by using an algebraic approach, by Paul-Andy Nagy. We apply this theorem to prove that the canonical connection of a compact naturally reductive space is unique, provided the space does not split off, locally, a sphere or a compact Lie group with a bi-invariant metric. From this it follows easily how to obtain the full isometry group of a naturally reductive space. This generalizes known classification results of Onishchick, for normal homogeneous spaces with simple group of isometries, and Shankar, for homogeneous spaces of positive curvature. This also answers a question posed by J. Wolf and Wang-Ziller. Namely, to explain why the presentation group of an isotropy irreducible space, strongly or not, cannot be enlarged (unless for spheres, or for compact simple Lie groups with a bi-invariant metric).
We prove a Berger type theorem for the normal holonomy group (i.e., the holonomy group of the normal connection) of a full complete complex submanifold of the complex projective space. Namely, if the normal holonomy does not act transitively, then the submanifold is the complex orbit, in the complex projective space, of the isotropy representation of an irreducible Hermitian symmetric space of rank greater or equal to 3. Moreover, we show that for complete irreducible complex submanifolds of the complex Euclidean space the normal holonomy is generic, i.e., it acts transitively on the unit sphere of the normal space. The methods in the proofs rely heavily on the singular data of appropriate holonomy tubes (after lifting the submanifold to the complex Euclidean space, in the projective case) and basic facts of complex submanifolds.
A direct, bundle-theoretic method for defining and extending local isometries out of curvature data is developed. As a by-product, conceptual direct proofs of a classical result of Singer and a recent result of the authors are derived.
In this paper we give a geometric proof of the Karpelevich's theorem that asserts that a semisimple Lie subgroup of isometries, of a symmetric space of non compact type, has a totally geodesic orbit. In fact, this is equivalent to a well-known result of Mostow about existence of compatible Cartan decompositions.