Riemannian geometry Riemannian geometry is the branch of differential geometry that studies Riemannian manifolds, smooth manifolds with a ''Riemannian metric'', i.e. with an inner product on the tangent space at each point that varies smoothly from point to poin ...

, an isoparametric manifold is a type of (immersed)

submanifold In mathematics, a submanifold of a manifold ''M'' is a subset ''S'' which itself has the structure of a manifold, and for which the inclusion map satisfies certain properties. There are different types of submanifolds depending on exactly which p ...

Euclidean space Euclidean space is the fundamental space of geometry, intended to represent physical space. Originally, that is, in Euclid's Elements, Euclid's ''Elements'', it was the three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, but in modern mathematics ther ...

whose

normal bundle In differential geometry, a field of mathematics, a normal bundle is a particular kind of vector bundle, complementary to the tangent bundle, and coming from an embedding (or immersion). Definition Riemannian manifold Let (M,g) be a Riemannian m ...

is flat and whose

principal curvatures In differential geometry, the two principal curvatures at a given point of a surface are the maximum and minimum values of the curvature as expressed by the eigenvalues of the shape operator at that point. They measure how the surface bends by d ...

are constant along any

parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IBM ...

normal vector field. The set of isoparametric manifolds is stable under the

mean curvature flow In the field of differential geometry in mathematics, mean curvature flow is an example of a geometric flow of hypersurfaces in a Riemannian manifold (for example, smooth surfaces in 3-dimensional Euclidean space). Intuitively, a family of surf ...

Examples

A straight line in the plane is an obvious example of isoparametric manifold. Any affine subspace of the Euclidean n-dimensional space is also an example since the principal curvatures of any shape operator are zero. Another simplest example of an isoparametric manifold is a sphere in Euclidean space. Another example is as follows. Suppose that ''G'' is a

Lie group In mathematics, a Lie group (pronounced ) is a group that is also a differentiable manifold. A manifold is a space that locally resembles Euclidean space, whereas groups define the abstract concept of a binary operation along with the additio ...

and ''G''/''H'' is a

symmetric space In mathematics, a symmetric space is a Riemannian manifold (or more generally, a pseudo-Riemannian manifold) whose group of symmetries contains an inversion symmetry about every point. This can be studied with the tools of Riemannian geometry, l ...

with canonical decomposition :

\mathbf = \mathbf\oplus\mathbf

of the

Lie algebra In mathematics, a Lie algebra (pronounced ) is a vector space \mathfrak g together with an Binary operation, operation called the Lie bracket, an Alternating multilinear map, alternating bilinear map \mathfrak g \times \mathfrak g \rightarrow ...

g of ''G'' into a

direct sum The direct sum is an operation between structures in abstract algebra, a branch of mathematics. It is defined differently, but analogously, for different kinds of structures. To see how the direct sum is used in abstract algebra, consider a more ...

(orthogonal with respect to the

Killing form In mathematics, the Killing form, named after Wilhelm Killing, is a symmetric bilinear form that plays a basic role in the theories of Lie groups and Lie algebras. Cartan's criteria (criterion of solvability and criterion of semisimplicity) show ...

) of the Lie algebra h or ''H'' with a complementary subspace p. Then a principal

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...

of the

adjoint representation In mathematics, the adjoint representation (or adjoint action) of a Lie group ''G'' is a way of representing the elements of the group as linear transformations of the group's Lie algebra, considered as a vector space. For example, if ''G'' is GL(n ...

of ''H'' on p is an isoparametric manifold in p. Non principal orbits are examples of the so-called submanifolds with principal constant curvatures. Actually, by Thorbergsson's theorem any complete, full and irreducible isoparametric submanifold of codimension > 2 is an orbit of a s-representation, i.e. an H-orbit as above where the symmetric space ''G''/''H'' has no flat factor. The theory of isoparametric submanifolds is deeply related to the theory of

holonomy group In differential geometry, the holonomy of a connection on a smooth manifold is a general geometrical consequence of the curvature of the connection measuring the extent to which parallel transport around closed loops fails to preserve the geomet ...

s. Actually, any isoparametric submanifold is foliated by the holonomy tubes of a submanifold with constant principal curvatures i.e. a focal submanifold. The paper "Submanifolds with constant principal curvatures and normal holonomy groups" is a very good introduction to such theory. For more detailed explanations about holonomy tubes and focalizations see the book ''Submanifolds and Holonomy''.J. Berndt, S. Console and C. Olmos (2003) ''Submanifolds and Holonomy'',

Chapman & Hall Chapman & Hall is an imprint owned by CRC Press, originally founded as a British publishing house in London in the first half of the 19th century by Edward Chapman and William Hall. Chapman & Hall were publishers for Charles Dickens (from 1840 ...

References

* * * * {{cite journal, author=Thorbergsson, G, title=Isoparametric submanifolds and their buildings, journal= Ann. Math., year=1991, volume=133, pages=429–446, doi=10.2307/2944343, jstor=2944343

Examples

References

See also