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Let $ M $ be the Moebius band. In other words, the total space of the nontrivial line bundle over the circle. Can we equip $ M $ with a metric such the the isometry group acts transitively?

My intuition is that yes we can because $ M $ is the total space of a vector bundle over a compact Riemannian homogenous space (the circle).

However thanks to Ben McKay for the argument that $ M $ does not have a transitive isometry group. Also this fact is stated in "Isometries of 2-Dimensional Riemannian Manifolds into Themselves" by Sumner Byron Myers.

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    $\begingroup$ One can produce examples of "inequivariant" bundles on $\mathbb{P}_{\mathbb{C}}^n$ for $n\geq 2$ where the automorphisms of the base do not lift to the bundle. These would give "counter-examples" if you leave out the equivariance hypothesis. $\endgroup$
    – Kapil
    Commented Dec 8, 2021 at 5:56
  • $\begingroup$ For the Moebius strip, the zero section has nontrivial self intersection, so the isometry group has to move it to another section which intersects it. Hence every isometry has a fixed point. So the isometry group cannot have 2-dimensional identity component, so has to have dimension 3, so the metric is a constant curvature Riemannian metric. $\endgroup$
    – Ben McKay
    Commented Dec 8, 2021 at 7:44
  • $\begingroup$ The classification of homogeneous connected surfaces with connected Lie groups acting on them is in George Daniel Mostow, The Extensibility of Local Lie Groups of Transformations and Groups on Surfaces, Annals of Math., Vol. 52, No. 3 (Nov., 1950), pp. 606-636. $\endgroup$
    – Ben McKay
    Commented Dec 8, 2021 at 7:49
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    $\begingroup$ The length of the image of the zero section would have to remain the same, but the identity component would act locally transitively, so move some points of the zero section far away, so I think there is no Riemannian metric on the Moebius strip invariant under a transitive group action. $\endgroup$
    – Ben McKay
    Commented Dec 8, 2021 at 7:51
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    $\begingroup$ @IanAgol: W. Thurston used to call this the "Möbius band beyond infinity" (thinking of unoriented lines in one-one correspondence with points of $\mathbb RP^2 - \overline K$ where $K$ is the Klein disc model). $\endgroup$
    – Lee Mosher
    Commented Jan 22, 2022 at 20:13

1 Answer 1

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Suppose by contradiction it is. Write it as $G/K$ where $G$ is the identity component of the isometry group and $K$ is compact, and $G$ acts faithfully on $G/K$. Since $G$ is connected, maximal compact subgroups are connected. Since $G/K$ is not contractible, $K$ is not maximal compact and it follows that maximal compact subgroups have codimension $1$. Since in noncompact simple Lie groups, maximal compact subgroups have codimension $\ge 2$, it follows that $G$ has no noncompact simple factor.

Suppose by contradiction that $G$ is not solvable. Then it has a simple compact connected subgroup $S$. Let $K'$ be a maximal compact subgroup. Then $K'\cap S$ has codimension $\le 1$ in $S$. Since a simple compact group has no subgroup of codimension $1$, it follows that $S\subset K'$. In turn, since $K$ has codimension $1$ in $K'$, by the same argument we deduce that $S\subset K$. Hence $S$ is contained in the intersection of all conjugates of $K$, which is trivial. Contradiction.

So $G$ is a connected solvable Lie group. Let $M$ be a closed connected normal subgroup of codimension $1$. If $MK=G$ then $M$ has smaller dimension and acts transitively, so we can argue by induction. Hence, assuming that $G$ has minimal dimension, we have $MK\neq G$, so $K\subset M$. Since in an abelian connected Lie group the intersection of all codimension 1 closed connected subgroups is trivial, we deduce that $K\subset \overline{[G,G]}$. The latter is nilpotent, and hence $K$ is a central torus in $\overline{[G,G]}$. Since the action of $G$ on the maximal torus of $\overline{[G,G]}$ is trivial, we deduce that $K$ is central, hence trivial. So $G$ is a 2-dimensional Lie group, and in particular is orientable.

(We have proved that if a noncompact connected surface can be endowed with a homogeneous Riemannian metric, then it is diffeomorphic to a Lie group, and hence to the plane, the cylinder. Of course various approaches to this result exist and some have already been mentioned in the comments.)

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  • $\begingroup$ What about the sphere? $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 8, 2021 at 16:06
  • $\begingroup$ You're right, I assumed noncompact. I've corrected. In the compact case, one gets $K'/K$ with $K'$ compact, and either $K'$ is 2-dimensional and we get the torus, and otherwise the only possibility is indeed $K'$ locally isomorphic to $\mathrm{SU}(2)$, and we get the 2-sphere or $\mathbf{P}^2_\mathbf{R}$. $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Commented Dec 8, 2021 at 16:20
  • $\begingroup$ Do you have any thoughts about the general vector bundle case? Or do you think I should make that a separate question? $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 8, 2021 at 16:35
  • $\begingroup$ @IanGershonTeixeira not really. Possibly it would better be separated indeed. $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Commented Dec 8, 2021 at 17:20
  • $\begingroup$ Can this proof also be used to show that the only noncompact connected surfaces that can be a linear group orbit are the plane and the cylinder? It seems that you make essential use of the fact that the stabilizer must be compact since it is an action by isometries. But maybe you see an obvious reworking of the proof that I do not? $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 17:52

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