Isometric action of SL(2,R) on homogeneous spaces

TL;DR

This paper explores the invariant geodesic curves in parabolic geometry under SL(2,R) action, revealing a unified approach through elliptic and hyperbolic geometries and discovering novel properties of distance functions.

Contribution

It introduces a new unified method for analyzing geodesics in parabolic geometry by relating it to elliptic and hyperbolic cases, overcoming degeneracy issues.

Findings

Identification of invariant geodesic curves in parabolic geometry.

Discovery of unexpected properties of the invariant distance functions.

Development of a unified approach connecting elliptic, hyperbolic, and parabolic geometries.

Abstract

We investigate the SL(2,R) invariant geodesic curves with the as- sociated invariant distance function in parabolic geometry. Parabolic geom- etry naturally occurs in the study of SL(2,R) and is placed in between the elliptic and the hyperbolic (also known as the Lobachevsky half-plane and 2- dimensional Minkowski half-plane space-time) geometries. Initially we attempt to use standard methods of finding geodesics but they lead to degeneracy in this setup. Instead, by studying closely the two related elliptic and hyperbolic geometries we discover a unified approach to a more exotic and less obvious parabolic case. With aid of common invariants we describe the possible dis- tance functions that turn out to have some unexpected, interesting properties.