Calculus of Variations and Geometric Measure Theory

V. Magnani - D. Tiberio

The Michor-Mumford conjecture in Hilbertian H-type groups

created by magnani on 26 Apr 2024

[BibTeX]

Submitted Paper

Inserted: 26 apr 2024
Last Updated: 26 apr 2024

Year: 2024

ArXiv: 2404.04583 PDF

Abstract:

We introduce infinite dimensional Hilbertian H-type groups equipped with weak, graded, left invariant Riemannian metrics. For these Lie groups, we show that the vanishing of the geodesic distance and the local unboundedness of the sectional curvature coexist. The result validates a deep phenomenon conjectured in an influential 2005 paper by Michor and Mumford, namely, the vanishing of the geodesic distance is linked to the local unboundedness of the sectional curvature. We prove that degenerate geodesic distances appear for a large class of weak, left invariant Riemannian metrics. Their vanishing is rather surprisingly related to the infinite dimensional sub-Riemannian structure of Hilbertian H-type groups. The same class of weak Riemannian metrics yields the nonexistence of the Levi-Civita covariant derivative.

Keywords: Geodesic distance, Hilbert manifold, weak Riemannian metric, infinite dimensional Heisenberg group, sectional curvature


Download: