Isometric embeddings into Heisenberg groups

Abstract

We study isometric embeddings of a Euclidean space or a Heisenberg group into a higher dimensional Heisenberg group, where both the source and target space are equipped with an arbitrary left-invariant homogeneous distance that is not necessarily sub-Riemannian. We show that if all infinite geodesics in the target are straight lines, then such an embedding must be a homogeneous homomorphism. We discuss a necessary and certain sufficient conditions for the target space to have this `geodesic linearity property', and we provide various examples.