Questions tagged [symmetric-spaces]

A symmetric space is a connected Riemannian manifold in which at every point there exists a global self-isometry whose differential at the given point is minus identity.

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Symmetric cones and symmetric spaces

I start by stating what I think I understood on symmetric cones (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetric_cone). Let $\mathcal{C}$ be a symmetric cone in a vector space $V$. There are Riemannian ...
Chevallier's user avatar
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Definition of locally symmetric space of reductive groups

This might seems like a bit of philosophical question and so maybe if I keep reading a bit more, I might get my answer. But, I ask nonetheless. In my attempt to study Shimura varieties, I came across ...
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The convention of Fourier transform on symmetric spaces

I'm from the physics side. When trying to understand the Plancherel formula of reductive symmetric space of Harish-Chandra class, I get confused on the convention of Fourier and related transforms. $\...
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Cut locus for simply connected manifolds

Let $M$ be a connected and simply connected compact Riemannian manifold (without boundaries). Fix a point $p\in M$. The diameter set $D_p$ of $p$ is the set of points that maximize the distance from $...
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Multiplicative invariants of non-reduced root systems

It is a well known fact (cf. [1] VI.3.4 Thm. 1) that if $\Phi$ is a (reduced) root system with weight lattice $P$ and $W$ is the Weyl group of this root system, then the algebra of invariant ...
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A question about Araki's 1962 paper on classification of irreducible symmetric spaces

I am looking at Sôhô Araki's 1962 paper for the classification of real semisimple lie algebras. Here's the link to the paper: On root systems and an infinitesimal classification of irreducible ...
Soumyadip Sarkar's user avatar
5 votes
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Maximum symmetry metric on Cayley plane $ F_4/{\operatorname{Spin}(9)}$

The maximum symmetry metric on real projective space $ \mathbb{RP}^n $ is the round metric. The maximum symmetry metric on complex projective space $ \mathbb{CP}^n $ is the Fubini–Study metric; see ...
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11 votes
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Is there a contractible hyperbolic 3-orbifold of finite volume?

Let $\mathbb{H}^3:=\operatorname{SO}(3,1)/\operatorname{O(3)}$. Is there a lattice $\Gamma$ in $\operatorname{SO}(3,1)$ such that \begin{equation} X:=\mathbb{H}^3/\Gamma \end{equation} is contractible?...
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A generalised spectral theorem for symmetric *spaces* generalising the one for symmetric matrices

The set of $n \times n$ symmetric matrices over $\mathbb R$ form a symmetric space. The relevant Lie group is $G = GL_n(\mathbb R)$ and the relevant involution is $\sigma(X)=X^{-T}$; it follows then ...
wlad's user avatar
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Maximum symmetry metric on irreducible compact symmetric space

Let $ M $ be a compact connected manifold. The degree of symmetry of $ M $, denoted $ N(M) $, is the maximum of the dimensions of the isometry groups of all possible Riemannian structures on $ M $. ...
Ian Gershon Teixeira's user avatar
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Can all hermitian symmetric spaces be realised as coadjoint orbits?

Here is what I know. Assume $M\cong G/K$ is an irreducible hermitian symmetric space. Denote the Lie-algebra of $K$ by $\mathfrak{t}$. Proposition 1.2. chapter 3 in Wienhard - Bounded cohomology and ...
JohannaB's user avatar
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Symmetric spaces are quandles. Is this important?

For concreteness, let's consider a connected reductive Lie group $G$, and an involution $\theta$ on it. Then the associated symmetric space $X=G/G^\theta$ has the structure of an involutive quandle: ...
Spencer Leslie's user avatar
3 votes
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Conjugacy classes of Cartan subspaces in parahermitian symmetric spaces

Are there any good tables of the numbers of conjugacy classes of Cartan subspaces in pseudo-Riemannian symmetric spaces? Or a good method to count them? In particular, I am interested in the ...
Callum's user avatar
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Are the automorphism groups of simple symmetric cones algebraic groups?

This question arises when I tried to understand Chapter 2 of the celebrated book "Smooth compactification of locally symmetric varieties" by Ash–Mumford–Rapoport–Tai. The setting is as ...
Mingchen Xia's user avatar
8 votes
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Explicit construction of a (the?) dual symmetric space

I am looking for a reference, proof or disproof of the fact that every Riemannian globally symmetric space of compact (non-compact) type has a "dual", which is of non-compact (compact) type. ...
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Semisimple Lie algebra and convexity

There is any relation between semisimple lie algebras and symmetric cones? I'm saying this because the classification of the euclidean Jordan algebras, dual by Koecher-Vinberg theorem to homogeneous ...
Nicolas Medina Sanchez's user avatar
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Locally symmetric spaces dependence on number field

A special case of locally symmetric spaces is the moduli space of abelian varieties of a given dimension $g$ (over a given base field $k$), lets call it $\mathcal{A}_g$ and is a $k$-scheme. For any ...
curious math guy's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
241 views

Complex quadric as a symmetric space

It is known that a smooth complex quadric is a symmetric space. For example, it is $$\operatorname{Spin}(n+2)/G$$ where $G$ is the maximal parabolic subgroup. I want a reference for more details and ...
Peng's user avatar
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Image of tori in locally symmetric spaces and homology

Suppose we have a reductive group $G$ over $\mathbb{Q}$, a compact subgroup of the adelic points $K_f\subset G(\mathbb{A}_{\mathbb{Q}})$, and the associated locally symmetric space $$Y_K := G(\mathbb{...
xir's user avatar
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Almost two-point homogeneous spaces

I define a NICE space to be a connected Riemannian manifold $M$ such that for any two distinct points $p,q\in M$, there exists an isometry $R_{p,q}$ exchanging these two points (that is such that $R_{...
Andrea Aveni's user avatar
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Breaking an $L^2(NA)$ function in simpler type functions

Let $G$ be a connected, noncompact semi-simple Lie group with finite center. Let $G= NAK$ be an Iwasawa decomposition and $G/K$ the associated Riemannian symmetric space which is assumed to be of rank ...
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Distribution of top left block from unitary symmetric matrices

If $U$ is a $N\times N$ random unitary matrix uniformly distributed with respect to Haar measure, a $M\times M$ block $A$ from it has distribution given by $$ \det(1-AA^\dagger)^{N-2M}.$$ If $O$ is a $...
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How to construct lattice points in bounded symmetric domain?

Consider the Hermitian bounded symmetric domain for $k \leq m$: $$ C_{k, m} = \{ Z \in \mathbb{C}^{m\times k} \,|\, Z^*Z < I_k \} $$ where $I_k$ is the $k\times k$ unit matrix. If I am not mistaken,...
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Are the symmetric spaces $\operatorname{SU}(n)/{\operatorname{SO}(n)}$ always nontrivial in the bordism rings for $n>2$?

In my recent research, I need to know if the symmetric spaces $\operatorname{SU}(n)/{\operatorname{SO}(n)}$ are always nontrivial in the unoriented and oriented bordism rings for $n>2$. (For the ...
Zhenhua Liu's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
178 views

Invariants for the isotropy representation of a Riemannian symmetric space

Statement: Let $M = G/K$ be a Riemannian symmetric space of compact type, and $V = T_o M$ be its isotropy representation (of $K$ acting on the tangent space of $M$). Then the Hilbert–Poincaré series $...
Gro-Tsen's user avatar
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General fiber and the symmetric product of an ample hypersurface

Let $Sym^m(X)$ be the $m$th symmetric product of a smooth projective variety $X$, $n=\dim(X)$, $Y_1$ an ample hypersurface of $X$, and $CH_0(X)_{hom}$ the Chow groups of $0$-cycles of degree $0$....
Roxana's user avatar
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Classification of "homogeneous" submanifolds of ℝⁿ

I define a subset $M$ of $\mathbb R^n$ to be a "homogeneous Euclidean manifold" if: it is a closed connected smooth submanifold of $\mathbb R^n$, for every $p, q$ in $M$, there is a ...
Andrea Aveni's user avatar
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Fundamental group of compact globally symmetric spaces

The fundamental group of a globally symmetric space $M$ of compact type is known (see Loos [1], Borel [2]). The result can be formulated as follows: it is isomorphic to the quotient $$(*) \quad \pi_1(...
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Rigidity of the compact irreducible symmetric space

Let $(M^n,g)$ be an irreducible symmetric space of compact type. In particular, $(M^n,g)$ is an Einstein manifold with a positive Einstein constant. Is there any classification for $(M^n,g)$ if $(M^n,...
Zhiqiang's user avatar
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Real algebraic structure on locally symmetric varieties

Let $\mathbf{G}$ be a semisimple $\mathbb{Q}$-algebraic group, $\mathbf{G}(\mathbb{R})^+$ the connected component (for the Euclidean topology) containing the identity, $\Gamma\subset \mathbf{G}(\...
Chris's user avatar
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Proof of equivalence between Lie triple systems and totally geodesic submanifolds

In a Riemannian symmetric space $Q$, it is well known that the existence of a totally geodesic submanifold at a point $p \in Q$ is equivalent to the existence of a Lie triple system at $p$, i.e., a ...
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Examples of non-affine, non-semisimple symmetric spaces

I am looking for examples of pseudo-Riemannian symmetric spaces that are not of the type encountered in the standard Riemannian classification, i.e. not flat or with semisimple symmetry group. As I ...
Stijn's user avatar
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1 answer
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Covolumes of unit groups of division algebras

Let $D$ be a central division (or maybe just simple) algebra over $\mathbb{Q}$. Let $\mathcal{O} \subset \mathcal{O}_m$ be an order inside a fixed maximal order and denote by $\mathcal{O}^1$ its group ...
Radu T's user avatar
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Volume of a geodesic ball in $\operatorname{SL}(n) / {\operatorname{SO}(n)}$?

$\DeclareMathOperator\SL{SL}\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}$Crossposted on MSE: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/4261809/volume-of-a-geodesic-ball-in-sln-son Question: What is the volume of a ...
ccriscitiello's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
227 views

Correct curvature tensor of symmetric space of positive definite matrices with trace metric?

Let $Pos(n)$ be the set of $n \times n$ real positive definite matrices with trace (aka affine-invariant) metric $$\langle u, v \rangle_p = tr(p^{-1} u p^{-1} v)$$ for all $p \in Pos(n)$ and $u, v \in ...
ccriscitiello's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
250 views

Jacobi fields on non-symmetric spaces

I am searching for examples of manifolds which are not symmetric spaces but where Jacobi fields can be computed in closed form. For now, I am aware of Gaussian distribution with the Wasserstein ...
Chevallier's user avatar
2 votes
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61 views

Showing an action of a higher rank lattice on hyperbolic space has a fixed point

In the introduction to this paper, the author mentions that any action of a lattice $\Gamma < G$ on a rank one symmetric space $X$ has a fixed point, where $G$ is a higher rank semisimple algebraic ...
Mauro's user avatar
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Is the affine Grassmannian manifold a symmetric homogeneous space?

I am interested in the manifold of affine subspaces of dimension $k$ of $\mathbb{R}^n$, which can be viewed as the homogeneous space $$ E(n)/(E(k)\times O(n-k)),$$ where $E$ refers to rigid motions ...
Chevallier's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
245 views

Closed manifolds of nonnegative curvature operator are symmetric spaces

In an online webinar, I heard (not directly) the statement that (closed) manifolds of nonnegative curvature operator $\mathcal{R}\geq 0$ are symmetric spaces. Is this a valid theorem? Any reference ...
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Holonomy of a triangle in an affine symmetric space

Let $G/H$ be an affine symmetric space with involution $\sigma$, and $\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{m}\oplus \mathfrak{h}$ the Cartan decomposition of its Lie algebra. We can identify $G/H$ and $\exp(\...
Chevallier's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
215 views

Functoriality for compactifications of locally symmetric spaces

Let $X$ be a symmetric space associated to an algebraic group $G$ defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ and $G(\mathbb{R})$ acts on $X$ from the left. Let $\Gamma \subset G(\mathbb{Q})$ be an arithmetic subgroup ...
random123's user avatar
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9 votes
0 answers
289 views

Maximal geodesic spheres in the "octooctonic projective plane"

Boris Rosenfeld claimed that the 128-dimensional compact Riemannian symmetric space on which $\mathrm{E}_8$ acts as isometries could be seen as the "octooctonionic projective plane", $(\...
John Baez's user avatar
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1 vote
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Actions of finite groups on compact symmetric spaces

I am interested in series of finite subgroups of the classical compact simple Lie groups which have big orbits on compact symmetric spaces and where the double coset space has some nice explicit ...
Vít Tuček's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
346 views

Isometry groups of symmetric spaces

Let $M=G/K$ be a symmetric space where $G=\mathrm{Isom}(M)$ and $K$ is the isotropy at some point $o\in M$. Moreover, let $\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{k}\oplus\mathfrak{p}$ be the Cartan decomposition of $\...
J. Salieri's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
298 views

Existence of commuting Chevalley involution

Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a simple finite-dimensional complex Lie algebra, and let $\theta$ be a complex linear involution on $\mathfrak{g}$. Let $\mathfrak{a}$ be a Cartan subspace, and choose a $\theta$...
freeRmodule's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
148 views

Automorphism group of Hermitian symmetric spaces

For a hermitian symmetric space $M$ one has its group of biholomorphic maps $\operatorname{Hol}(M)$ and its group of Riemannian isometries $\operatorname{Isom}(M)$. According to Prop. 1.6 of Milne - ...
ThiKu's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
188 views

A different notion of a decomposable symmetric tensor (besides Veronese)

$\DeclareMathOperator{\complex}{\mathbb{C}}$ Let $\bigvee^m(\complex^n)\subseteq (\complex^n)^{\otimes m}$ denote the space of symmetric tensors, i.e. the set of $x \in (\complex^n)^{\otimes m}$ that ...
Ben's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
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Relationship between Hecke algebra and center of universal enveloping algebra (and the Harish-Chandra isomorphism)

Let $G$ be a semisimple Lie group of noncompact type and let $K$ be a maximal compact subgroup. Let $\mathfrak{g} = \mathfrak{p} \oplus \mathfrak{k}$ be the Cartan decomposition coming from some ...
clhpeterson's user avatar
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$\tau$-admissible lift

I've been asked to take on a peer-review task which has to be completed in a short time, obviously details have to remain confidential, I need to work out what ``$\tau$-admissible lift" means if $...
Rupert's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
233 views

Bounded non-symmetric domains covering a compact manifold

This question is somewhat related to this other question of mine. I was wondering which are the known examples of bounded domains $\Omega$ in $\mathbb C^n$ admitting a compact free quotient. By a ...
diverietti's user avatar
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