Annali di Matematica pura ed applicata

(IV), Vol. CLXXIII (1997), pp. 351-358

Correction and Addenda to: On the Surjectivity

of the Exponential Map for Certain Lie Groups (*).

MARTIN MOSKOWITZ

The main result, Theorem (2.1), of my article [10], states that any non-compact,
centerless, rank 1 simple group, or product thereof, is exponential. The proof of this
statement in [10] was incomplete and valid only for groups, SOo(n, 1), of hyperbolic
motions (even in this case a little more needs to be said). But, as we shall see below,
leaving aside the exceptional rank 1 group, Ad F(4,-2o), which, according to the very
recent article [6], by D. DJOKOVIC and N. TnANG, is not exponential, the result is cor-
rect in general. In addition, there were certain other statements, of less importance,
which were invalid. It is the purpose of this note to clear up the entire situation and
point out some additional results which have only recently come to my atten-
tion.
Theorem (3.3) of the article is incorrect. A counterexample is the following: Let G
be the semidirect product of SL(2, C) acting in the natural way on C 2 . Then G is a
Euclidean and therefore Zariski connected algebraic group with trivial center.
However it is not exponential, since if it were, its quotient G/C 2 = SL(2, C) would
also be exponential. This is false. The element

g=
(_ix)
0 1
of SL(2, C), where x e 0, doesn't lie on any 1-parameter subgroup of SL(2, C). A
direct calculation shows that Z(G) is trivial.
As was verified in [10] (p. 130), Corollary (3.4) is valid when G = PSL(n, C),
n 1> 2, and therefore, by the argument of Theorem (3.2), also for finite products of
these. In particular, it holds for S0(3, C) = PSL(2, C), AdSO(4, C) = PSL(2, C) x
x PSL(2, C), AdSO(6, C) = PSL(4, C) and finally AdSP(1, C) = PSL(2, C). How-
ever it fails in general; very recently in [14], M. WUNSTER has shown that PSP(2, C)
is not exponential. In fact, in [15] it is shown that among the complex simple groups

(*) Entrata in Redazione il 13 marzo 1996.

Indirizzo dell'A.: CUNY Graduate Center, 33 West, 42 Street, New York, NY 10036,
USA.
352 M/L~TIN MOSKOWITZ: Correction and addenda to: etc.

only PSL(n, C), where n >I 2, is exponential. The subject of exponential complex al-
gebraic groups is further studied in [11].
Since a complex algebraic group, G, is exponential if a Borel subgroup, B, has this
property (the conjugate of B fill out all of G, see [3]), we now turn to a Borel subgroup
of the group G above

B= 1/Z :x,y,z,Z~C,Z~0 .
0

Thus B is a semi-direct product of C • acting on the complex Heisenberg group, N.

Taking Z = e ie , we have a semi-direct product L of the compact group, S 0 ( 2 , R), with
N. Now L is not exponential either. If it were, then so would H / C 2 = S and although
S is the semi-direct product of S0(2) with C, it is not exponential. This is because,
taking 0 = z, the element g of S, above, doesn't even lie on a l-parameter subgroup of
SL(2, C) and therefore certainly not one of S. Since a direct calculation shows
Zso(2, r<)(N) is trivial, we see that Theorem (2.2) of the paper is not true in general,
even when the simply connected normal subgroup is two step nilpotent. Therefore,
Theorem (2.1) is also in doubt. We now consider hyperbolic isometries and the group
of Euclidean motions. An important special case of Theorem (2.2) is

THEOREM 1 . - The identity component, SO(n) x , R n = H, of the Euclidean motion

group is exponential.

P R O O F . - Take faithful matrix representation of H and its Lie algebra ~ of order

n + 1 as follows

I
while

9 }
If we denote the elements of ~ by (X, w), then by a direct calculation

exp (X, w) = ex X -~ (w)

where, by (expX - I ) / X we understand the functional calculus, i.e. this matrix valued
function of a matrix argument, has a removable singularity at 0 with value I.
Let (a, v ) e l l . Since SO(n) is compact connected Lie group we can choose
X e End(V), so that expX = a. Then exp(X, w) = (a, v) for some w if and only if
((expX - I ) / X ) ( w ) = v. Since v is arbitrary this amounts to knowing that the linear
 MARTIN ~VJ[OSKOWITZ:Correction and addenda to: etc. 353

transformation ( e x p X - I ) / X is onto, i.e. all its eigenvalues are ~ 0. But by functional

calculus the eigenvalues of this operator are either 1, or are of the form (e ~ - 1)/)~,
where )[ is a non zero eigenvalue of Xo Clearly such an eigenvalues is 0 iff )~ = 2zim for
some integer m. Hence this operator is invertible if and if X has no eigenvalues of the
form 2zim for some m ~ 0 e Z, Now by an orthonormal change of basis (which affects
nothing since exp is constant an conjugacy classes), a and X are respectively given
by

a = diag(R(tl), ..., R(tj), 1, ... 1),

and

X = diag (S(tl) , ..., S(tj), o, ... o),

where R(tk) and S(tk) are the planar rotation and infinitesimal rotation determined
by tk :

cos tk
R(tk)=[_sintk
sin tk
costk '
) (0
S( tk ) = - tk

We m a y assume none of the tk is an integral multiple of 2z. For if there were such a tk
it would just produce additional ones in the block diagonalization of a, above and we
exponentiate onto I by O. Hence we may assume that each tk ~ 0 and satisfies - z ~<
~< tk ~< z. But then, X has no eigenvalues of the form 2zim, where m ~ 0 e Z. 9

Substituting Theorem 1 for Theorem (2.2) of the paper together with the analysis
of the action of a centerless rank 1 group, G, acting on the symmetric space G/K pro-
vided there and the fact that, for the centerless group, SOo (n, 1), and a parabolic ele-
ment with fLxed point p we have Kp = SO(n, 1) and the N part of the Iwasawa decom-
position is R ~ -1, shows that Theorem (2.1) holds for the hyperbolic motion groups.
Namely, for n / > 2, the centerless, connected, simple group, SOo(n, 1), is exponen-
tial.
We now investigate the exponentiality of certain semidirect products where the
group is not solvable, but where the (solvable) methods of the recent article [12] can
be made to apply. Namely, we consider a compact connected group, L, of automor-
phisms of a simply connected nilpotent group, N, of Heisenberg type, with Lie alge-
bra, n, and H = L • N, the natural semi-direct product. In what follows it will be
convenient to identify Aut(N)0 with Aut(n)0.

PROPOSITION 2. - S u p p o s e a maximal torus of T of L is the set of diagonal matrices

in L whose coefficients vary independently. Then H = L • N is exponential.
354 MARTIN MOSKOWITZ: Correction and addenda to: etc.

PROOF. - Let x = (x~, ...~ x~) e n and t = (t~, ..., t~) e T, we have

T(x) = {x e n: t.x = (tlxl, ..., tnXn = x, t e T}.

If xi = 0, then there is no condition on ti and T(x)~ = T 1 . Whereas if xi ~ 0, then
tixi = xi if and only ti = 1 so T(x)i = (1). In any case, for each i, T(x)i is connected. As
T(x) is a direct product of its components and these are all connected so is T(x). Since
this is true for every x e n, it follows from Theorem 3 of[12] that T . N is exponential.
Now N is L-invariant, and the conjugates of T fill out L so

U l(T.N)1-1= [J I ( T ) I - I ' N = L ' N .

leL 1EL

Thus the conjugates of T. N fill out H. Since exp is constant on conjugacy classes of H,
the latter is also exponential. 9

Suppose, for example, n is the Heisenberg Lie algebra, itself (of dimension 2n +
+ 1), viewed as C ~ 9 iR and N is the Heisenberg group. Here the bracketing relations
are [v, w] = ~ m ( v , w), where v and w e C n , <, ) is the standard g e r m i t i a n form on C n
and all other brackets are zero. Then the natural action of U(n) on C ~, leaving the
center, iR, pointwise fLxed is evidently by Lie algebra automorphisms. To identify a
maximal compact subgroup, L, of Aut(n)0, we proceed as follows: By a calculation
(see [9]) one sees that the identity component of the group of measure preserving au-
tomorphism is SP(n, R). Since L must be contained in this group, L is a maximal com-
pact subgroup of SP(n, R). Thus, by well known results (see, for example, [7]), L =
= SP(n, R) N SO(2n, R). Its Lie algebra is therefore easily s e e n to be

I={(A B B):A~= - A , B t = B } , w h e r e A a n d B are matrices in Mn(R)

and so dim I = n 2 . Since L is connected and U(n) is a compact connected subgroup of

Aut(n)0 of the same dimension, L and U(n) must be connjugate so U(n) is a maximal
compact subgroup of Aut(n)o. Now a maximal torus of T of U(n) is the set of diagonal
matrices in U(n). Since the action of U(n) on n is linear on C ~ and leaves 5(n) fixed,
it follows that a maximal torus is T ~ of U(n) consists of the diagonal matrices in U(n)
together with a 1 in the ~(n) component. By Proposition 2 we see that U(n) • is
exponential.
Now let n be the Lie algebra of dimension 4n + 3, defined as follows, n =
= H n ~ ~ I ~ ( H ) , where H is the quaternions and ~ m ( H ) is the 3-dimensional subspace
of pure quaternions. Here we take for bracketing relations [v, w] = ~ m ( v , w}, where
v and w e H ~, ( , ) is the standard H-Hermitian form on H ~, all other brackets are
zero and ~ m is the projection from H onto ~m(H). This construction gives us a 2-step
nilpotent Lie algebra with 3-dimensional center. L e t N be the corresponding simply
connected group. Calculations of the automorphism group of n in the dissertation of
B. BARBANO[2], show that the natural action of SP(n) on H ~ together with a 3-dimen-
 MARTIN MOSKOWITZ: Correction and addenda to: etc. 355

sional surjective representation, ~), acting on the center, ~ m ( H ) is a maximal compact

subgroup of Aut(n)o. We shall restrict our attention to SP(n). A maximal torus of T
of SP(n) is the set of block diagonal matrices (D, D - ) , where D ~ U(n) and - is com-
plex conjugation. As above, at each H n component either we get a circle, if that com-
ponent is zero, or a point, if it's non-zero (complex conjugation leaving this situation
unchanged). It follows that T(x) is connected for all x 9 n. Hence, by Proposition 2,
SP(n) x , N is exponential. Summarizing these two results we have the following,
which proves Theorem (2.2) of [10] for certain key motion groups. We should also re-
mark that this type of argument also works for the Euclidean motion group,
SO(n) x~ R n.

THEOREM 3. - Let L be a maximal compact subgroup of Aut(N)o, where N is

Heisenberg group, or let L be the subgroup SP(n), if N is the simply connected group
of Heisenberg type, based on the quaternions given above. Then L x, N is exponen-
tial.

We mention some variants of the reasoning used in Theorem 3.

1) If we take for n the complex Heisenberg group of complex dimension 2n + 1
and Aut(n)o the identity component of the complex automorphisms, then a maximal
compact subgroup of Aut0~)0, is SP(n). As above, a maximal torus of T of SP(n) is the
set of block diagonal matI~ces (D, D - ) , where D ~ T n and - is complex conjugation.
Let x = (X, Y, z) E n. As above, at each X component either we get a circle or a point
and complex conjugation has the same effect on Y. Since each element of SP(n) fixes
~(n), T(x) is connected and therefore SP(n) x , N is also exponential.
2) If one attempts to apply the reasoning above to the exceptional rank 1 group,
then one must look at the analogous 15 dimensional Heisenberg type Lie algebra, n,
based on the Cayley numbers, with 7 dimensional center, ~. In this case K = Spin(9),
Kp = Spin(7), and the action on ~ is by the full rotation group, SO(7) = Ad(Spin(7)).
Since a maximal torus, T ~, os Spin(7) doubly covers a maximal torus of S0(7) one
sees, for suitable x 9 n, that T ~ (x) can be finite and non-triviaL This means Kp x, N is
not exponential. (Indeed, it could not be, for if it were, AdF(4,-2o) would also be
exponential).
We can now complete the proof of Theorem (2.1) of[10]. Here Theorem 3
will replace Theorem (2.2) of[10]. Thus the vector group in Theorem 1 will be
replaced by certain simply connected, 2-step nilpotent groups, N of Heisenberg
type. For G = PSU(n + 1, 1) this will be the Heisenberg group itself while for
G = Ad(SP(n + 1, 1)), its quaternionic analogue, all as described above.

THEOREM 4. - Aside from the exceptional group, all non-compact, centerless,

rank 1 simple groups, G, are exponential.

PROOF. - Let K be a maximal compact subgroup of G. The geometric analysis

356 MARTIN MOSKOWITZ: Correction and addenda to: etc.

in [10], which holds for all centerless rank 1 groups, just as for SOo (n, 1), shows that
each elliptic and hyperbolic isometry of the symmetric space, G/K, lies on a 1-par-
ameter subgroup of G. Moreover, we have also shown in [10] that in the case of a
parabolic fixed point, p, on the boundary of G/K, the action of Kp = M on Up = N by
conjugation is a compact connected subgroup of Aut(N). We complete the proof by
showing that, in all these cases, the semidirect product subgroup, Kp • N, of our sim-
ple Lie group is exponential.
Using ([13], p. 134) we check that if G = A d S U ( n + 1, 1), N is the Heisenberg
group of dimension 2n + 1, K = U(n + 1) and Kp = U(n), a maximal compact sub-
group of Aut(N)0. If G = A d S P ( n + 1, 1), then N is the Heisenberg type group of di-
mension 4n + 3 based on the quaternions, K = SP(n + 1) and Kp = SP(n). By Theo-
rem 3, in each case, Kp • N is exponential. (As mentioned after Theorem 1, when G =
= SO(n + 1, 1), N = R n , K = SO(n + 1) and Kp = SO(n), a maximal compact subgroup
of Aut(N)o and as saw in Theorem 1 SO(n) • R ~ is exponential). []

It might now be worthwhile to mention some extensions of the exponentiality re-

sults for A d S U ( n , 1) and A d S P ( n , 1) in Theorem (2.1). Let n = p + q be positive inte-
gers and ( , }p, q be a Hermitian form of type p, q on C n . The group, U(p, q), consists of
all C-linear maps on C n which preserve this form. U(p, q) is a connected, reductive,
real linear Lie group, whose Lie algebra, l~(p, q), consists of those matrices in M~(C)
which are skew Hermitian with respect to ( , }p, q. Although there are some vagaries
in the argument, using complex analysis it is shown in [16] that the group, U(p, q), is
exponential. Using the fact that SP(p, q) = U(p, q ) | where H is the algebra of
quaternions and similarly for the Lie algebras, one also gets exponentiality for this
group, because the power series defining exp converges on M,~ (H), the n • n matrices
with quaternionic entries, with respect to the quaternionic norm. The two foregoing
results (as well as the proof of exponentiality of other classical groups, including
U(p, q)) were also done by D. DJOKOVm in [5]. This was done by making use of the
fact that exp is constant on conjugacy classes and the computations of these classes,
both in the classical group and its corresponding Lie algebra, carried out by N. BOUR-
GOYNE and R. CUSHh~N in [4].
We now take q = 1 and make some general remarks. In [i] M. W. BALDONI SILVA
and D. BARBASH have shown that a rank 1 simple group G has Kazhdan's property T
(see [8]) if and only if it is not of the type SOo(p, i), or SU(p, I). In [9] results of R.
MOSAI4 and the author, together with [2], prove that if G = KAN is the Iwasawa de-
composition of a rank 1 real simple Lie group and F is a log lattice in N, then
StabM(N)F is always a lattice in the Haar measure preserving automorphisms, M(N),
and is non uniform if and only if G is not of the type SOo(p, I), or SU(p, I). In con-
tradistinction, our next corollary shows that with respect to the surjectivity of the ex-
ponential function, the groups connected with the complex numbers and the quater-
nions behave differently from the real situation (i.e. SOo(p, I)) in three different
ways. First, the groups need not be semisimple (since U(p, q) is merely reductive).
Secondly, the center need not be trivial; indeed need not even be finite (U(p, q)). In
 MARTIN MOSKOWITZ: Correction and addenda to: etc. 357

the semisimple case as we just saw SP(p, q) is exponential (but has non-trivial finite
center). Finally, even in the semisimple case such groups need not be of rank i to have
a surjective exp (i.e. PSU(p, q), or SP(p, q)).

COROLLARY 5. The non-compact, simple, centerless,

- higher rank groups,
PSU(p, q) and Ad(SP(p, q)) are exponential.

PROOF. - Let us denote, Z(U(p, q)), the center of U(p, q) by Z. Then, since
U(p, q) = ZSU(p, q), it follows that
U(p, q)/Z = z g g ( p , q)/Z = SV(p, q)/SU(p, q) n Z .

But clearly, SU(p, q) N Z = Z(SU(p, q)) so that

Ad(U(p, q)) = Ad(SU(p, q)) = PSU(p, q).

As an quotient of the exponential group U(p, q), the group PSU(p, q) is also exponen-
tial. Similarly, it follows that Ad(SP(p, q)) is also exponential. 9

By taking q = 1, and combining with our result on SOo (p, 1), one gets an alterna-
tire proof of Theorem 4. Finally, in Section 4 the arguments are all correct, but, of
course, the results apply with more restrictive hypothesis. Corollary (4.1) is valid for
any connected centerless semisimple group all of whose simple factors are isomorphic
with SOo(p, 1), PSU(p, q), SP(p, q), or its adjointg group, or PSL(n,C).

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