Distinguished orbits of reductive groups

Abstract

We prove a generalization of a theorem of Borel-Harish-Chandra on closed orbits of linear actions of reductive groups. Consider a real reductive algebraic group $G$ acting linearly and rationally on a real vector space $V$. $G$ can be viewed as the real points of a complex reductive group $G^\mathbb C$ which acts on $V^\mathbb C := V \otimes \mathbb C$. Borel-Harish-Chandra show that $G^\mathbb C \cdot v \cap V$ is a finite union of $G$-orbits; moreover, $G^\mathbb C \cdot v$ is closed if and only if $G\cdot v$ is closed. We show that the same result holds not just for closed orbits but for the so-called distinguished orbits. An orbit is called distinguished if it contains a critical point of the norm squared of the moment map on projective space. Our main result compares the complex and real settings to show $G\cdot v$ is distinguished if and only if $G^\mathbb C \cdot v$ is distinguished. In addition, we show that if an orbit is distinguished, then under the negative gradient flow of the norm squared of the moment map the entire $G$-orbit collapses to a single $K$-orbit. This result holds in both the complex and real settings. We finish with some applications to the study of the left-invariant geometry of Lie groups.