Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups

The discrete cocompact subgroups of the five-dimensional connected, simply connected nilpotent Lie groups are determined up to isomorphism. Moreover, we prove if G = N × A is a connected, simply connected, nilpotent Lie group with an Abelian factor A, then every uniform subgroup of G is the direct p...

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Дата:2009
Автори: Ghorbel, A., Hamrouni, H.
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Опубліковано: Інститут математики НАН України 2009
Назва видання:Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications
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Цитувати:Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups / A. Ghorbel, H. Hamrouni // Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications. — 2009. — Т. 5. — Бібліогр.: 16 назв. — англ.

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spelling irk-123456789-1492512019-02-20T01:27:43Z Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups Ghorbel, A. Hamrouni, H. The discrete cocompact subgroups of the five-dimensional connected, simply connected nilpotent Lie groups are determined up to isomorphism. Moreover, we prove if G = N × A is a connected, simply connected, nilpotent Lie group with an Abelian factor A, then every uniform subgroup of G is the direct product of a uniform subgroup of N and Zr where r = dim A. 2009 Article Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups / A. Ghorbel, H. Hamrouni // Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications. — 2009. — Т. 5. — Бібліогр.: 16 назв. — англ. 1815-0659 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 22E40 http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/149251 en Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications Інститут математики НАН України
institution Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
collection DSpace DC
language English
description The discrete cocompact subgroups of the five-dimensional connected, simply connected nilpotent Lie groups are determined up to isomorphism. Moreover, we prove if G = N × A is a connected, simply connected, nilpotent Lie group with an Abelian factor A, then every uniform subgroup of G is the direct product of a uniform subgroup of N and Zr where r = dim A.
format Article
author Ghorbel, A.
Hamrouni, H.
spellingShingle Ghorbel, A.
Hamrouni, H.
Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups
Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications
author_facet Ghorbel, A.
Hamrouni, H.
author_sort Ghorbel, A.
title Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups
title_short Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups
title_full Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups
title_fullStr Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups
title_full_unstemmed Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups
title_sort discrete cocompact subgroups of the five-dimensional connected and simply connected nilpotent lie groups
publisher Інститут математики НАН України
publishDate 2009
url http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/149251
citation_txt Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups / A. Ghorbel, H. Hamrouni // Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications. — 2009. — Т. 5. — Бібліогр.: 16 назв. — англ.
series Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications
work_keys_str_mv AT ghorbela discretecocompactsubgroupsofthefivedimensionalconnectedandsimplyconnectednilpotentliegroups
AT hamrounih discretecocompactsubgroupsofthefivedimensionalconnectedandsimplyconnectednilpotentliegroups
first_indexed 2025-07-12T21:41:37Z
last_indexed 2025-07-12T21:41:37Z
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fulltext Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications SIGMA 5 (2009), 020, 17 pages Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of the Five-Dimensional Connected and Simply Connected Nilpotent Lie Groups Amira GHORBEL and Hatem HAMROUNI Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences at Sfax, Route Soukra, B.P. 1171, 3000 Sfax, Tunisia E-mail: Amira.Ghorbel@fss.rnu.tn, hatemhhamrouni@voila.fr Received July 16, 2008, in final form February 09, 2009; Published online February 17, 2009 doi:10.3842/SIGMA.2009.020 Abstract. The discrete cocompact subgroups of the five-dimensional connected, simply connected nilpotent Lie groups are determined up to isomorphism. Moreover, we prove if G = N ×A is a connected, simply connected, nilpotent Lie group with an Abelian factor A, then every uniform subgroup of G is the direct product of a uniform subgroup of N and Zr where r = dim(A). Key words: nilpotent Lie group; discrete subgroup; nil-manifold; rational structures, Smith normal form; Hermite normal form 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 22E40 1 Introduction To solve many problems in various branches of mathematics, for example, in differential geo- metry (invariant geometric structures on Lie groups), in spectral geometry, in physics (multi- dimensional models of space-times) etc. (see [4]), we are led to study the explicit description of uniform subgroups (i.e., discrete cocompact) of solvable Lie groups. Towards that purpose, we focus attention to the description of uniform subgroups of a connected, simply connected non Abelian nilpotent Lie groups satisfying the rationality criterion of Malcev (see [9]). At present we have no progress on this difficult problem although the classification for certain groups is already exists. To attack this problem, we will be in a first step interested in giving an explicit description of uniform subgroups of nilpotent Lie groups of dimension less or equal to 6. Another motivation comes from [13, p. 339]. For the case of 3 or 4 dimensions, the classification is given in [1, 15, 11]. For 5-dimensional nilpotent Lie groups, there are eight real connected and simply connected non Abelian nilpotent Lie groups which are G3×R2, G4×R and G5,i for 1 ≤ i ≤ 6 [3]. The uniform subgroups of G3×R2, G5,1, G5,3 and G5,5 are determined respectively in [15, 5, 12, 6]. The aim of this paper is to complete the classification of the discrete cocompact subgroups of the Lie groups G4 × R, G5,2, G5,4 and G5,6. This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we fix some notation which will be of use later and we record few standard facts about rational structures and uniform subgroups of a connected, simply connected nilpotent Lie groups. Section 3 is devoted to the study of the rationality of certain subalgebras of a given nilpotent Lie algebra with a rational structure. In Section 4, in order to determine the uniform subgroups of G4×R, we study a more general class when G is a connected, simply connected, nilpotent Lie group with an Abelian factor, that is G = N ×A where A is an Abelian normal subgroup of G. Theorem 5 shows that every uniform subgroup Γ of G is a direct product of a uniform subgroup of N and Zr where r = dim(A). As an immediate application of this result, we determine the uniform subgroups of G4 × R. We determine afterwards all uniform subgroups of the Lie groups G5,2, G5,4 and G5,6. mailto:Amira.Ghorbel@fss.rnu.tn mailto:hatemhhamrouni@voila.fr http://dx.doi.org/10.3842/SIGMA.2009.020 2 A. Ghorbel and H. Hamrouni 2 Notations and basic facts The aim of this section is to give a brief review of certain results from rational structures and uniform subgroups of connected and simply connected nilpotent Lie groups which will be needed later. The reader who is interested in detailed proof is referred to standard texts [2, 16, 9]. 2.1 Rational structures and uniform subgroups Let G be a nilpotent, connected and simply connected real Lie group and let g be its Lie algebra. We say that g (or G) has a rational structure if there is a Lie algebra gQ over Q such that g ∼= gQ ⊗ R. It is clear that g has a rational structure if and only if g has an R-basis {X1, . . . , Xn} with rational structure constants. Let g have a fixed rational structure given by gQ and let h be an R-subspace of g. Define hQ = h ∩ gQ. We say that h is rational if h = R-span {hQ}, and that a connected, closed subgroup H of G is rational if its Lie algebra h is rational. The elements of gQ (or GQ = exp(gQ)) are called rational elements (or rational points) of g (or G). A discrete subgroup Γ is called uniform in G if the quotient space G/Γ is compact. The homogeneous space G/Γ is called a compact nilmanifold. A proof of the next result can be found in Theorem 7 of [9] or in Theorem 2.12 of [16]. Theorem 1 (The Malcev rationality criterion). Let G be a simply connected nilpotent Lie group, and let g be its Lie algebra. Then G admits a uniform subgroup Γ if and only if g admits a basis {X1, . . . , Xn} such that [Xi, Xj ] = n∑ α=1 cijαXα for all i, j, where the constants cijα are all rational. (The cijα are called the structure constants of g relative to the basis {X1, . . . , Xn}.) More precisely, we have, if G has a uniform subgroup Γ, then g (hence G) has a rational structure such that gQ = Q-span {log(Γ)}. Conversely, if g has a rational structure given by some Q-algebra gQ ⊂ g, then G has a uniform subgroup Γ such that log(Γ) ⊂ gQ (see [2, 9]). If we endow G with the rational structure induced by a uniform subgroup Γ and if H is a Lie subgroup of G, then H is rational if and only if H ∩ Γ is a uniform subgroup of H. Note that the notion of rational depends on Γ. 2.1.1 Weak and strong Malcev basis Let g be a nilpotent Lie algebra and let B = {X1, . . . , Xn} be a basis of g. We say that B is a weak (resp. strong) Malcev basis for g if gi = R-span {X1, . . . , Xi} is a subalgebras (resp. an ideal) of g for each 1 ≤ i ≤ n (see [2]). Let Γ be a uniform subgroup of G. A strong Malcev (or Jordan–Hölder) basis {X1, . . . , Xn} for g is said to be strongly based on Γ if Γ = exp(ZX1) · · · exp(ZXn). Such a basis always exists (see [2, 10]). The lower central series (or the descending central series) of g is the decreasing sequence of characteristic ideals of g defined inductively as follows C1(g) = g; Cp+1(g) = [g,Cp(g)] (p ≥ 1). Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of Nilpotent Lie Groups 3 The characteristic ideal C2(g) = [g, g] is called the derived ideal of the Lie algebra g and denoted by D(g). Let D(G) = exp(D(g)), observe that we have D(G) = [G, G]. The Lie algebra g is called k-step nilpotent Lie algebra or nilpotent Lie algebra of class k if there is an integer k such that Ck+1(g) = {0} and Ck(g) 6= {0} . We denote the center of G by Z(G) and the center of g by z(g). Proposition 1 ([10, 2]). If g has rational structure, all the algebras in the descending central series are rational. Let G be a group. The center Z(G) of G is a normal subgroup. Let C2(G) be the inverse image of Z(G/Z(G)) under the canonical projection G −→ G/Z(G). Then C2(G) is normal in G and contains Z(G). Continue this process by defining inductively: C1(G) = Z(G) and Ci(G) is the inverse image of Z(G/Ci−1(G)) under the canonical projection G −→ G/Ci−1(G). Thus we obtain a sequence of normal subgroups of G, called the ascending central series of G. Proposition 2 ([2]). If G is a nilpotent Lie group with rational structure, all the algebras in the ascending central series are rational. In particular, the center z(g) of g is rational. A proof of the next result can be found in Proposition 5.3.2 of [2]. Proposition 3. Let Γ be uniform subgroup in a nilpotent Lie group G, and let H1 $ H2 $ · · · $ Hk = G be rational Lie subgroups of G. Let h1, . . . , hk−1, hk = g be the corresponding Lie algebras. Then there exists a weak Malcev basis {X1, . . . , Xn} for g strongly based on Γ and passing through h1, . . . , hk−1. If the Hj are all normal, the basis can be chosen to be a strong Malcev basis. A rational structure on g induces a rational structure on the dual space g∗ (for further details, see [2, Chaper 5]). If g has a rational structure given by the uniform subgroup Γ, a real linear functional f ∈ g∗ is rational (f ∈ g∗Q, gQ = Q-span {log(Γ)}) if 〈f, gQ〉 ⊂ Q, or equivalently 〈f, log(Γ)〉 ⊂ Q. Let Aut(G) (respectively Aut(g)) denote the group of automorphism of G (respectively g). If ϕ ∈ Aut(G), ϕ∗ will denote the derivative of ϕ at identity. The mapping Aut(G) −→ Aut(g), ϕ 7−→ ϕ∗ is a groups isomorphism (since G is simply connected). Theorem 2 ([9, Theorem 5]). Let G1 and G2 be connected simply connected nilpotent Lie groups and Γ1, Γ2 uniform subgroups of G1 and G2. Any abstract group isomorphism f between Γ1 and Γ2 extends uniquely to an isomorphism f of G1 on G2; that is, the following diagram Γ1 f−−−−→ Γ2 i y yi G1 −−−−→ f G2 is commutative, where i is the inclusion mapping. We conclude this review with two results. 2.2 Smith normal form A commutative ring R with identity 1R 6= 0 and no zero divisors is called an integral domain. A principal ideal ring which is an integral domain is called a principal ideal domain. 4 A. Ghorbel and H. Hamrouni Theorem 3 (elementary divisors theorem). If A is an n × n matrix of rank r > 0 over a principal ideal domain R, then A is equivalent to a matrix of the form( Lr 0 0 0 ) , where Lr is an r×r diagonal matrix with nonzero diagonal entries d1, . . ., dr such that d1|d2|· · ·|dr. The notation d1|d2| · · · |dr means d1 divides d2, d2 divides d3, etc. The elements d1, . . . , dr are called the elementary divisors of A. See [7] for a more precise result. 2.3 Hermite normal form Definition 1 (Hermite normal form). A matrix (aij) ∈ Mat(m,n, R) with m ≤ n is in Hermite normal form if the following conditions are satisfied: (1) aij = 0 for i > j; (2) aii > 0 for i = 1, . . . ,m; (3) 0 ≤ aij < aii for i < j. Theorem 4 (Hermite 1850). For every matrix A ∈ Mat(m,n, R) with rank(A) = m ≤ n, there is a matrix T ∈ GL(n, Z), so that AT is in Hermite normal form. The Hermite normal form AT is unique. 3 Rationality of certain subalgebras The following generalizes the Proposition 5.2.4 of [2]. Proposition 4. Let G be a simply connected nilpotent Lie group and Γ ⊂ G a uniform subgroup. Let ∆ ⊂ Γ be a finite set and let C(∆) denote the centralizer of ∆ in G. Then C(∆) is rational. Proof. This follows immediately from Lemma 1.14, Theorem 2.1 of [16] and Theorem 4.5 of [14]. � Next, we prove the following proposition which will play an important role below. Proposition 5. Let Γ be a uniform subgroup of a nilpotent Lie group G = exp(g). Let H = exp(h) be a rational subgroup of G. Then the centralizer c(h) of h in g is rational. Proof. Let {e1, . . . , en} be a weak Malcev basis for g strongly based on Γ passing through h (see [2, Proposition 5.3.2]). We note h = R-span {e1, . . . , ep}. Let {e∗1, . . . , e∗n} be the dual basis of {e1, . . . , en}. For i = 1, . . . , n and j = 1, . . . , p, we define fij : g −→ R; X 7−→ 〈e∗i , [X, ej ]〉. The functionals fij are rational. Then the kernels ker(fij) are rational subspaces in g (see [2, Lemma 5.1.2]). On the other hand, it is easy to see that c(h) = ⋂ 1≤i≤n 1≤j≤p ker(fij). Therefore, we conclude from Lemma 5.1.2 of [2] that c(h) is rational. � Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of Nilpotent Lie Groups 5 4 Uniform subgroups of nilpotent Lie group with an Abelian factor. Uniform subgroups of G4 × R The aim of this section is to describe the classification of the uniform subgroups of G4×R. Let us begin with a more general situation. First, we introduce the following definition. Definition 2 ([8, 4]). An Abelian factor of a Lie algebra g is an Abelian ideal a for which there exists an ideal n of g such that g = n⊕ a (i.e., [n, a] = {0}). Let m(g) denote the maximum dimension over all Abelian factors of g. If z(g) is the center of g then the maximal Abelian factors are precisely the linear direct complements of z(g)∩D(g) in z(g), that is, those subspaces a ⊂ z(g) such that z(g) = z(g) ∩D(g)⊕a. Therefore m(g) = dim(z(g))− dim(z(g) ∩D(g)). Let g be a nilpotent Lie algebra and a an Abelian factor of g. Let g = n ⊕ Rr be any decomposition in ideals of g. The next simple lemma establishes a relation between the derived algebra of g and the derived algebra of n. Its value will be immediately apparent in the proof of Theorem 5. Lemma 1. With the above notation, we have D(g) = D(n). Proof. Let X1, X2 ∈ g. Write Xi = ai + bi, i = 1, 2, where ai ∈ a and bi ∈ n. We calculate [X1, X2] = [a1 + b1, a2 + b2] = [b1, b2] since a ⊂ z(g). Therefore D(g) = D(n). The proof of the lemma is complete. � In the sequel, the symbol ' denotes abstract group isomorphism. Theorem 5. Let g be a nilpotent Lie algebra with maximal Abelian factor of dimension m(g) = r and let g = n⊕ Rr be any decomposition in ideals, that is Rr is a maximal Abelian factor of g. Then we have the following: (1) The group G = exp(g) admits a uniform subgroup if and only if N = exp(n) admits a uniform subgroup. (2) If Γ is a uniform subgroup of G, then there exists a uniform subgroup H of N such that Γ ' H × Zr. Proof. Let a = Rr. (1) If H is a uniform subgroup of N then it is clear that H × Zr is a uniform subgroup of G. Conversely, we suppose that G admits a uniform subgroup Γ. Let {e1, . . . , en} be a strong Malcev basis for g strongly based on Γ passing through D(g) and D(g) +z(g). Put D(g) = R-span {e1, . . . , eq} and D(g) +z(g) = R-span {e1, . . . , eq, eq+1, . . . , eq+r} . For every i = q + r + 1, . . . , n, we note ei = ui + vi, 6 A. Ghorbel and H. Hamrouni where ui ∈ n and vi ∈ a. It is clear that {e1, . . . , eq, uq+r+1, . . . , un} is a basis for n and has the same structure constants as {e1, . . . , en}. By the Malcev rationality criterion, N admits a uniform subgroup. (2) Let Γ be a uniform subgroup of G. Since z(g) and D(g) are rational then there exists a strong Malcev basis {e1, . . . , en} for g strongly based on Γ passing through z(g) ∩D(g), z(g) and D(g) +z(g). Put z(g) ∩D(g) = R-span {e1, . . . , ep} . Since dim(z(g)/z(g) ∩D(g)) = m(g) = r, then z(g) = R-span {e1, . . . , ep, . . . , ep+r} . Since z(g) is Abelian, we can assume that (e1, . . . , ep) are independent modulo a, i.e., they span a complement of a in z(g). Let for every i = p + 1, . . . , n ei = ai + bi, where ai ∈ a and bi ∈ n. On the other hand, we have D(g) +z(g) = D(g)⊕a, then a = R-span {ap+1, . . . , ap+r}. Let Φ∗ : g −→ g be the function defined by ei 7−→  ei, if 1 ≤ i ≤ p, ai, if p + 1 ≤ i ≤ p + r, bi, if p + r + 1 ≤ i ≤ n. We will show that Φ∗ is a Lie automorphism of g. In fact, if i ≤ p + r or j ≤ p + r, we have Φ∗([ei, ej ]) = [Φ∗(ei),Φ∗(ej)] = 0. Next, we suppose that i, j > p + r. It is easy to verify that [Φ∗(ei),Φ∗(ej)] = [bi, bj ]. On the other hand, we have [ei, ej ] = [ai + bi, aj + bj ] = [bi, bj ] and hence Φ∗([ei, ej ]) = [bi, bj ]. Consequently, we obtain Φ∗([ei, ej ]) = [Φ∗(ei),Φ∗(ej)]. Then Γ ' Φ(Γ) = p∏ i=1 exp(Zei) p+r∏ i=p+1 exp(Zai) n∏ i=p+r+1 exp(Zbi) = p∏ i=1 exp(Zei) n∏ i=p+r+1 exp(Zbi) p+r∏ i=p+1 exp(Zai). Evidently, H = p∏ i=1 exp(Zei) n∏ i=p+r+1 exp(Zbi) is a uniform subgroup of N and K = p+r∏ i=p+1 exp(Zai) is a uniform subgroup of A = exp(a). It follows that Γ ' H × Zr. This completes the proof of the theorem. � Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of Nilpotent Lie Groups 7 A consequence of the above theorem, we deduce the uniform subgroups of G4×R. We recall that the Lie algebra g4 of G4 is spanned by the vectors X1, . . . , X4 such that the only non vanishing brackets are [X4, X3] = X2, [X4, X2] = X1. Corollary 1. Let {e} be the canonical basis of R. Every uniform subgroup Γ of G4×R has the following form Γ ' exp(Ze) exp(ZX1) exp(p1ZX2) exp ( Z ( p1p2X3 − p3 2 X2 )) exp(ZX4), where p1, p2, p3 are integers satisfying p1 > 0, p2 > 0, p1p2 + p3 ∈ 2Z and 0 ≤ p3 < 2p1. Furthermore, different choices for the p’s give non isomorphic subgroups. Proof. The proof follows from Theorem 5 and [6, Proposition 4.1] (see also [11, Theorem 1]). � Remark 1. We note that Proposition B.1 of [15] becomes a direct consequence of Theorem 5 and Theorem 2.4 of [5]. 5 Uniform subgroups of G5,2 Let g5,2 be the two-step nilpotent Lie algebra with basis B = {X1, . . . , X5} and non-trivial Lie brackets defined by [X5, X4] = X2, [X5, X3] = X1. (1) Let G5,2 be the corresponding connected and simply connected nilpotent Lie group. First, we introduce the following set: D2 = {r = (r1, r2) ∈ (N∗)2 : r1 divides r2}. Theorem 6. 1. Let r = (r1, r2) ∈ D2. Then Γr = exp ( 1 r1 ZX1 ) exp ( 1 r2 ZX2 ) exp(ZX3) exp(ZX4) exp(ZX5) is a uniform subgroup of G5,2. 2. If Γ is a uniform subgroup of G5,2, then there exist r ∈ D2 and Φ ∈ Aut(G5,2) such that Φ(Γ) = Γr. 3. For r and s in D2, Γr and Γs are isomorphic groups if and only if r = s. Proof. The proof of this theorem will be achieved through a sequence of partial results. Lemma 2. The group Aut(g5,2) is the set of all matrices of the form αA B u 0 A v 0 0 α  , where A ∈ GL(2, R), B ∈ Mat(2, R), α ∈ R∗ and u, v ∈ R2. 8 A. Ghorbel and H. Hamrouni Proof. It is easy to verify that R-span {X1, . . . , X4} is the unique one co-dimensional Abelian ideal of g. Therefore any automorphism A of g leaves invariant the subalgebras R-span {X1, X2} and R-span {X1, . . . , X4}. The remainder of the proof follows from (1). � Lemma 3. Every uniform subgroup Γ of G5,2 has the following form: there are integers p, q and α satisfying p, q > 0 and 0 ≤ α < q such that Γ ' Γ(p, q, α) = exp ( 1 p ZX1 ) exp ( Z ( 1 q X2 − α pq X1 )) exp(ZX3) exp(ZX4) exp(ZX5). Proof. Let G = G5,2, g = g5,2 and let Γ be a uniform subgroup of G. Let Ω = { l = 5∑ i=1 liX ∗ i ∈ g∗ : l1 6= 0 } be the layer of the generic coadjoint orbits (see [2, Chapter 3]). As g∗Q is dense in g∗ and Ω is a non-empty Zariski open set in g∗ then g∗Q ∩ Ω 6= ∅. Let l ∈ g∗Q ∩ Ω. Since l is rational then by Proposition 5.2.6 of [2], the radical g(l) of the skew-symmetric bilinear form Bl on g defined by Bl(X, Y ) = 〈l, [X, Y ]〉 (X, Y ∈ g), is also rational. It follows by Proposition 5 that c(g(l)) is also rational subalgebra of g. As g(l) = R-span {X1, X2, l2X3 − l1X4} then a simple calculation shows that c(g(l)) = R-span {X1, . . . , X4} . On the other hand, the derived ideal [g, g] = R-span {X1, X2} is also rational subalgebra in g (see [2, Corollary 5.2.2]). It follows by Proposition 5.3.2 of [2] that there exists a strong Malcev basis {Y1, . . . , Y5} of g strongly based on Γ passing through [g, g] and R-span {X1, . . . , X4}. Then, we have Y1 = a11X1 + a12X2, Y2 = a21X1 + a22X2, Yi = 4∑ j=1 aijXj (i = 3, 4) and Y5 = 5∑ j=1 a5jXj , where aij ∈ R. The mapping (Φ1)∗ : g −→ g defined by (Φ1)∗(Yi) = Yi (i = 1, 2), (Φ1)∗(Y3) = 1 a55 (a33X3 + a34X4), (Φ1)∗(Y4) = 1 a55 (a43X3 + a44X4), (Φ1)∗(Y5) = X5 is a Lie algebra automorphism. Then Γ ' Γ1 = exp(ZY1) exp(ZY2) exp((Φ1)∗(Y3)) exp((Φ1)∗(Y4)) exp(ZX5). On the other hand, let the Lie algebra automorphism (Φ2)∗ : g −→ g defined by (Φ2)∗(X5) = X5, (Φ2)∗(X4) = a43 a55 X3 + a44 a55 X4, (Φ2)∗(X3) = a33 a55 X3 + a34 a55 X4. It follows that there exist a, b, c, d ∈ R such that Γ1 ' Φ−1 2 (Γ1) = Γ2 = exp(Z(aX1 + bX2)) exp(Z(cX1 + dX2)) 5∏ i=3 exp(ZXi). Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of Nilpotent Lie Groups 9 Next, since exp(X5) exp(X3) exp(−X5) ∈ Γ2, then exp(X1) ∈ Γ2 and hence the ideal R-span{X1} is rational relative to Γ2. It follows that there exist x, y1, y2 ∈ R such that Γ2 = exp(Z(xX1)) exp(Z(y1X1 + y2X2)) 5∏ i=3 exp(ZXi). Also, we use that exp(X1) belongs to Γ2, we deduce that there exists p ∈ N∗ such that x = 1 p . Similarly, since exp(X5) exp(X4) exp(−X5) ∈ Γ2, then exp(X2) ∈ Γ2. Therefore there exists (q, m) ∈ N∗ × Z such that y2 = 1 q and y1 = −m pq . Then Γ2 = exp ( 1 p ZX1 ) exp ( Z ( 1 q X2 − m pq X1 )) 5∏ i=3 exp(ZXi). Finally, we observe that, if α is the remainder of the division of m by q, then Γ2 = exp ( 1 p ZX1 ) exp ( Z ( 1 q X2 − α pq X1 )) 5∏ i=3 exp(ZXi). � Lemma 4. A necessary and sufficient condition that two subgroups Γ(p, q, α) and Γ(p′, q′, α′) are isomorphic is that there exist A,B ∈ GL(2, Z) such that( p′ α′ 0 q′ ) = A ( p α 0 q ) B. (2) Proof. Let Γ(p, q, α) ' Γ(p′, q′, α′). It is well known that any abstract isomorphism of Γ(p, q, α) onto Γ(p′, q′, α′) is the restriction of an automorphism Φ of G (see [9, Theorem 5, p. 292]). Since R-span {X1, . . . , X4} is the unique one co-dimensional Abelian ideal of g, then we can suppose that Φ∗(X5) = X5, Φ∗(X3) = aX3 + bX4 and Φ∗(X4) = cX3 + dX4 (a, b, c, d ∈ R). We deduce that Z-span {aX3 + bX4, cX3 + dX4} = Z-span {X3, X4} and Z-span { 1 p (aX1 + bX2), 1 q (cX1 + dX2)− α pq (aX1 + bX2) } = Z-span { 1 p′ X1, 1 q′ X2 − α′ p′q′ X1 } . Consequently, we obtain( a c b d ) ∈ GL(2, Z) and ( p′ α′ 0 q′ )( a c b d )( 1 p −α pq 0 1 q ) ∈ GL(2, Z). Conversely, suppose that there exist A,B ∈ GL(2, Z) satisfy the relation (2). The mapping φ∗ defined by Mat(φ∗,B) =  B−1 0 0 0 B−1 0 0 0 1  . belongs to Aut(g) and it is clear that φ(Γ(p, q, α)) = Γ(p′, q′, α′). The lemma is completely proved. � Finally, an appeal to Lemma 4 and Smith normal form completes the proof of Lemma 3. � 10 A. Ghorbel and H. Hamrouni 6 Uniform subgroups of G5,4 Let g5,4 be the three-step nilpotent Lie algebra with basis B = (X1, . . . , X5) with Lie brackets are given by [X5, X4] = X3, [X5, X3] = X2, [X4, X3] = X1. (3) and the non-defined brackets being equal to zero or obtained by antisymmetry. Let G5,4 be the corresponding connected and simply connected nilpotent Lie group. For u ∈ Z, let A(u) =  1 0 u 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1   1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1  =  1 0 u 2 u 2 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1  and let B =  1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1  . We denote by A4 the subset of Mat(4, Z) consisting of all matrices of the form JD,mK = ( D 0 0 m ) satisfying JD,mK−1A(m)JD,mK ∈ SL(4, Z) (4) and D−1BD ∈ SL(3, Z), (5) where m ∈ N∗, the block matrix D = (αij ; 1 ≤ i, j ≤ 3) is an upper-triangular integer invertible matrix and SL(3, Z) is the set of all integer matrices with determinant 1. Proposition 6. If JD,mK ∈ A4 and if H is the Hermite normal form of D, then JH,mK ∈ A4. Proof. Let H be the Hermite normal form of D and let T ∈ GL(3, Z) such that H = DT . It is clear that JH,mK is the Hermite normal form of JD,mK and JH,mK = JD,mK ( T 0 0 1 ) . Consequently JH,mK−1A(m)JH,mK = ( T 0 0 1 )−1 JD,mK−1A(m)JD,mK ( T 0 0 1 ) . As JD,mK−1A(m)JD,mK ∈ SL(3, Z), then JH,mK−1A(m)JH,mK ∈ SL(3, Z). The second condi- tion (5) is shown similarly. � Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of Nilpotent Lie Groups 11 Next, we define B4 = { JD,mK ∈ A4 : D is in Hermite normal form } . We are ready to formulate our result. Theorem 7. With the above notations, we have 1. If JD,mK ∈ B4, then ΓJD,mK = exp(Zε1) exp(Zε2) exp(Zε3) exp(Zε4) exp(Zε5), where the vectors εj (1 ≤ j ≤ 4) are the column vectors of JD,mK in the basis (X1, . . . , X4) and ε5 = X5, is a discrete uniform subgroup of G5,4. 2. If Γ is a uniform subgroup of G5,4, then there exist JD,mK ∈ B4 and Φ ∈ Aut(G5,4) such that Φ(Γ) = ΓJD,mK. In the proof of the theorem we need the following lemma. Lemma 5. The group Aut(g5,4) is the set of all invertible matrices of the form a44δ a45δ a45a34 − a35a44 a14 a15 a54δ a55δ a55a34 − a35a54 a24 a25 0 0 δ a34 a35 0 0 0 a44 a45 0 0 0 a54 a55  , where δ = a55a44 − a45a54. Proof. Any automorphism A of g5,4 leaves invariant the subalgebras R-span {X1, X2} and R-span {X1, X2, X3}. The remainder of the proof follows from (3). � Proof of Theorem 7. Let G = G5,4 and g = g5,4. Assertion 1 is obvious. To prove the second, let Γ be a uniform subgroup of G. Since the ideals z(g) = R-span {X1, X2} and D(g) = R-span {X1, X2, X3} are rational, then there exists a strong Malcev basis B′ of g strongly based on Γ and passing through z(g) and D(g). Let P B→B′ =  a11 a12 a13 a14 a15 a21 a22 a23 a24 a25 0 0 a33 a34 a35 0 0 0 a44 a45 0 0 0 a54 a55  be the change of basis matrix from the basis B to the basis B′. Let Φ∗ ∈ Aut(g5,4) defined by Φ∗(X5) = a55X5 + a45X4 + a35X3 + a25X2 + a15X1, Φ∗(X4) = a54X5 + a44X4 + a34X3 + a24X2 + a14X1. Then it is not hard to verify that there exist b11, b21, b12, b22, b13, b23, b33 ∈ R such that Γ ' Φ−1(Γ) = exp(Ze1) exp(Ze2) exp(Ze3) exp(ZX4) exp(ZX5), 12 A. Ghorbel and H. Hamrouni where e1 = b11X1 + b21X2, e2 = b12X1 + b22X2, e3 = b13X1 + b23X2 + b33X3. On the other hand, as Φ−1(Γ) is a subgroup of G, then we have exp(X5) exp(X4) exp(−X5) ∈ Φ−1(Γ). Then there exist integer coefficients t1, t2, t3, such that exp(X5) exp(X4) exp(−X5) = exp(t1e1) exp(t2e2) exp(t3e3) exp(X4). The above equation may obviously rewritten as X3 + 1 2 X2 = t1e1 + t2e2 + t3e3 − 1 2 t3b33X1. (6) Using a similar technique, we obtain that there exist integer coefficients x1, x2, y1, y2 satisfy x2 1 + x2 2 6= 0 and y2 1 + y2 2 6= 0 such that b33X2 = x1e1 + x2e2 (7) and b33X1 = y1e1 + y2e2. (8) From the equations (6), (7) and (8), it is clear that the coefficients bij belong to Q. Let m be the least common multiple of the denominators of the rational numbers bij and let π∗ ∈ Aut(g5,4) such that π∗(X5) = X5 and π∗(X4) = mX4. Then, we obtain Γ ' exp(Z(m2b11X1 + mb21X2)) exp(Z(m2b12X1 + mb22X2)) × exp(Z(m2b13X1 + mb23X2 + mb33X3)) exp(Z(mX4)) exp(ZX5). By Theorem 4, let D =  c11 c12 c13 0 c22 c23 0 0 c33  be the Hermite normal form of m2b11 m2b12 m2b13 mb21 mb22 mb23 0 0 mb33  . It follows that Γ ' ΓJD,mK = exp(Z(c11X1)) exp(Z(c12X1 + c22X2)) × exp(Z(c13X1 + c23X2 + c33X3)) exp(Z(mX4)) exp(ZX5). It remains to prove that the block matrix JD,mK = ( D 0 0 m ) ∈ B4. We need only to prove (4) and (5). Since exp(X5) exp(mX4) exp(−X5) ∈ ΓJD,mK then there exist integer coefficients a14, a24, a34, such that ead X5(mX4) = a14(c11X1) + a24(c12X1 + c22X2) Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of Nilpotent Lie Groups 13 + a34(c13X1 + c23X2 + c33X3) + mX4 − 1 2 a34c33mX1. (9) Similarly, we establish ead X5(c13X1 + c23X2 + c33X3) = a13(c11X1) + a23(c12X1 + c22X2) + c13X1 + c23X2 + c33X3, (10) ead X5(c12X1 + c22X2) = a12(c11X1) + (c12X1 + c22X2), (11) ead X5(c11X1) = c11X1. (12) We see that the conditions (9)–(12) boil down to the matrix equation 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1  JD,mK =  1 0 −m 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1  JD,mK  1 a12 a13 a14 0 1 a23 a24 0 0 1 a34 0 0 0 1  . This proves (4). The proof of the second equality (5) is shown similarly (repeat the proof of (4) verbatim, using mX4 instead of X5). The proof of theorem is complete. � 7 Uniform subgroups of G5,6 Let g5,6 be the three-step nilpotent Lie algebra with basis B = (X1, . . . , X5) with Lie brackets are given by [X5, X4] = X3, [X5, X3] = X2, [X5, X2] = X1, [X4, X3] = X1 (13) and the non-defined brackets being equal to zero or obtained by antisymmetry. Let G5,6 be the simply connected Lie group with Lie algebra g5,6. Let A6 be the set of all invertible integer matrices of the form α11 α12 α13 0 0 α22 α23 0 0 0 α33 0 0 0 0 α44  . We denote by B6 the subset of Mat(5, Z) consisting of all invertible integer matrices of the form JD,mK = ( D 0 0 m ) satisfying D−1  α44m 3 6 + α2 44 2 mα23 + m2α33 2 mα22 α44α23 α44m 2 2 mα33 0 0 α44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  ∈ Mat(4, Z), where m ∈ N∗, the block matrix D = (αij : 1 ≤ i, j ≤ 4) ∈ A6. Let ∼ be the equivalence relation on B6 given by JD,mK ∼ JD′,m′K ⇐⇒ JD,mKJD′,m′K−1 = diag[a5, a4, a3, a2, a], for some a ∈ Q∗. We now state the final result of this paper. 14 A. Ghorbel and H. Hamrouni Theorem 8. With the above notation, we have 1. If JD,mK ∈ B6, then ΓJD,mK = exp(Ze1) exp(Ze2) exp(Ze3) exp(Ze4) exp(Ze5), where the vectors ej (1 ≤ j ≤ 5) are the column vectors of JD,mK in the basis (X1, . . . , X5), is a uniform subgroup of G5,6. 2. If Γ is a uniform subgroup of G5,6, then there exist JD,mK ∈ B6 and Φ ∈ Aut(G5,6) such that Φ(Γ) = ΓJD,mK. 3. For JD,mK, JD′,m′K ∈ B6, the subgroups ΓJD,mK and ΓJD′,m′K are isomorphic if and only if JD,mK ∼ JD′,m′K. We first state and prove two lemmas. Lemma 6. The following ideals ai = R-span {X1, . . . , Xi} (1 ≤ i ≤ 4) are rational with respect to any rational structure on g5,6. Proof. It is clear that a1 = z(g5,6), a2 = C2(g5,6) and a3 = D(g5,6). Then the rationality of a1, a2, a3 follows from Proposition 2 and Proposition 1. On the other hand, we have c(a2) = a4. We conclude from Proposition 5 that a4 is rational. � Lemma 7. We have Aut(g5,6) = { Φ ∈ End(g5,6) : Mat(Φ,B) =  a5 55 a12 a13 a14 a15 0 a4 55 a23 a24 a25 0 0 a3 55 a34 a35 0 0 0 a2 55 a45 0 0 0 0 a55  ∈ GL(5, R), a23 = a55a34, a13 = a55a24 + a45a34 − a35a 2 55, a12 = a45a 3 55 + a34a 2 55 } . Proof. Let Φ ∈ Aut(g5,6). Since a2 is invariant under Φ, then also c(a2) = a4 is invariant under Φ. It follows that the matrix Mat(Φ,B) of Φ has the following form Mat(Φ,B) =  a11 a12 a13 a14 a15 0 a22 a23 a24 a25 0 0 a33 a34 a35 0 0 0 a44 a45 0 0 0 0 a55  ∈ GL(5, R). The remainder of the proof follows from (13). � Proof of Theorem 8. Assertion 1. is obvious. To prove the second, let Γ be a uniform sub- group of G5,6. Since for every i = 1, . . . , 4, the ideal ai = R-span {X1, . . . , Xi} is rational, then Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of Nilpotent Lie Groups 15 there exists a strong Malcev basis B′ of g strongly based on Γ and passing through a1, . . . , a3 and a4. Let P B→B′ =  a11 a12 a13 a14 a15 0 a22 a23 a24 a25 0 0 a33 a34 a35 0 0 0 a44 a45 0 0 0 0 a55  be the change of basis matrix from the basis B to the basis B′. Let Φ∗ ∈ Aut(g5,6) defined by Φ∗(X5) = a55X5 + a45X4 + · · ·+ a15X1, Φ∗(X4) = a2 55X4 + a2 55 a44 (a34X3 + a24X2 + a14X1). Then there exist b11, b12, b22, b13, b23, b33, b44 ∈ R such that Γ ' Φ−1(Γ) = exp(Zε1) exp(Zε2) exp(Zε3) exp(Zε4) exp(ZX5), where ε1 = b11X1, ε2 = b12X1 + b22X2, ε3 = b13X1 + b23X2 + b33X3, ε4 = b44X4. By similar arguments to those used in (9)–(12) we derive the following system b44 = x1b33, 1 2 b44 = x1b23 + x2b22, 1 6 b44 = x1b13 + x2b12 + x3b11 − 1 2 x1b44b33, b33 = y1b22, b23 + 1 2 b33 = y1b12 + y2b11, b44b33 = zb11, b22 = tb11, where x1, y1, z, t ∈ N∗, x2, x3, y2 ∈ Z. By calculation one has (b11, b12, b22, b13, b23, b33, b44, 1) ∈ G . where G = { (α, m) ∈ Q7 × N∗ : α = (α1, α2, α3, α4, α5, α6, α7) such that α1 = bm4 zs2a2 , α2 = bm3 2zs2a − ybm4 z2s3a + bm4 2zs2a − tbm4 zs3a2 , α3 = bm3 zs2a , α4 = bm2 6zsa − ybm3 2z2s2a + y2bm4 z3s3a − ybm4 2z2s2a + ytbm4 z2s3a2 − xbm4 z2s2a2 + b2m4 2zs2a2 , α5 = bm2 2zsa − ybm3 z2s2a , α6 = bm2 zsa , α7 = bm2 sa , a, b, s, z ∈ Z∗, x, y, t ∈ Z } . From this we deduce that the coefficients bij belong to Q. Let m be the least common multiple of the denominators of the rational numbers bij . Let π ∈ Aut(G5,6) such that Mat(π∗,B) = diag [m5,m4,m3,m2,m]. 16 A. Ghorbel and H. Hamrouni Then Γ ' π(Φ−1(Γ)) = exp(Ze1) exp(Ze2) exp(Ze3) exp(Ze4) exp(mZX5) such that the matrix [e1, . . . , e4] with column vectors e1,. . . ,e4 expressed in the basis {X1,. . . ,X4}, belongs to A6. Write [e1, . . . , e4] =  α11 α12 α13 0 0 α22 α23 0 0 0 α33 0 0 0 0 α44  . By similar techniques as above we can prove that (α11, α12, α13, α22, α23, α33, α44,m) ∈ G . This equivalent that [e1, . . . , e4]−1  α44m 3 6 + α2 44 2 mα23 + m2α33 2 mα22 α44α23 α44m 2 2 mα33 0 0 α44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  ∈ Mat(4, Z). Finally, we achieve with the proof of 3. We show both directions. Let a ∈ Q∗ such that JD,mKJD′,m′K−1 = diag [a5, a4, a3, a2, a]. Consider the linear mapping φ∗ : g5,6 −→ g5,6 defined by Mat(φ∗,B) = diag [a5, a4, a3, a2, a]. It is clear that φ ∈ Aut(G5,6) (see Lemma 7) and φ(ΓJD,mK) = ΓJD′,m′K. Conversely, suppose there exists φ : ΓJD,mK −→ ΓJD′,m′K an isomorphism between ΓJD,mK and ΓJD′,m′K. By Theorem 2, φ has an extension φ ∈ Aut(G5,6). As φ∗(mX5) = m′X5 and φ∗(α44X4) = α′ 44X4 where the αij (resp. α′ ij) are the entries of D (resp. of D′), then by Lemma 7, the matrix of φ∗ in the basis B has the following form Mat(φ∗,B) = diag [ a5, a4, a3, a2, a ] for some a ∈ Q∗. Consequently, we obtain JD,mK = diag [ a5, a4, a3, a2, a ] JD′,m′K. This completes the proof. � Remark 2. In the statement 2 of Theorem 8, the element JD,mK of B6 is not unique. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees for their critical and valuable comments. Discrete Cocompact Subgroups of Nilpotent Lie Groups 17 References [1] Auslander L., Green L., Hahn F., Flows on homogeneous spaces, Annals of Mathematics Studies, no. 53, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1963. [2] Corwin L., Greenleaf F.P., Representations of nilpotent Lie groups and their applications. Part I. 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[16] Raghunathan M.S., Discrete subgroups of Lie groups, Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete, Band 68, Springer-Verlag, New York – Heidelberg, 1972. http://arxiv.org/abs/math.OA/0105104 1 Introduction 2 Notations and basic facts 2.1 Rational structures and uniform subgroups 2.1.1 Weak and strong Malcev basis 2.2 Smith normal form 2.3 Hermite normal form 3 Rationality of certain subalgebras 4 Uniform subgroups of nilpotent Lie group with an Abelian factor. Uniform subgroups of G_4\times R 5 Uniform subgroups of G_{5,2} 6 Uniform subgroups of G_{5,4} 7 Uniform subgroups of G_{5,6} References