Kempf Ness Matsushima Criterion Ivan Losev PDF

THE KEMPF-NESS THEOREM AND INVARIANT THEORY
IVAN V. LOSEV
Abstract. We give new proofs of some well-known results from Invariant Theorey using
arXiv:math/0605756v1 [math.AG] 30 May 2006
the Kempf-Ness theorem.
1. Introduction
This article does not contain any new results. Its goal is to deduce some well-known results
of Invariant Theory from the Kempf-Ness theorem.
In the sequel G denotes a complex reductive algebraic group. By a small fraktur letter we
denote the Lie algebra of a Lie group denoted by the corresponding capital Latin letter.
Let us state the results we want to prove.
Theorem 1 (The Matsushima criterion). Let H be an algebraic subgroup of G. The homo-

geneous space G/H is affine iff H is reductive.
The theorem was proved independently by Matsushima, [M], and Onishchik [O]. It has
many different proofs, see [A] for references and one more proof. One part of the theorem
(the ”if” part) is easy. We give a new proof of the other part.
Theorem 2 (The Luna criterion). Let H be a reductive subgroup of G, X an affine G-variety

and x an H-stable point in X. Then NG (H)x is closed in X iff Gx is.
The Luna criterion for orbit’s closedness was originally proved in [L]. The proof is quite
involved. An alternative (and easier) proof was obtained by Kempf, [Ke]. Again, the ”if”
part of the theorem is easy, and we give a new proof of the difficult part.
Theorem 3. Let H1 , H2 be reductive subgroups of G. Then the action H1 : G/H2 is stable,

i.e. an orbit in general position is closed.
This result also has different proofs, see [V] for details.
The proofs of all three theorems are based on the Kempf-Ness criterion for the orbit
closedness which we state now.
Let V be a G-module and K a compact form of G. Choose a K-invariant hermitian scalar
product (·, ·) on V . Define a map µ : V → k∗ by the formula
1
(1) hµ(v), ξi = (ξv, v)
2i
µ(v) lies in k∗ because the image of k in gl(V ) consists of skew-hermitian operators. The
map µ is the moment map for the action K : V .
Theorem 4 (The Kempf-Ness criterion). For v ∈ V the orbit Gv is closed iff Gv ∩ µ−1 (0) 6=
∅.
A stronger result was proved in [KN].

The author wishes to thank I.V. Arzhantsev for some remarks on an earlier version of this
article.
2. Proofs
At first, for convenience of a reader we give
Proof of the Kempf-Ness criterion. Let us note that, again, one implication in the theorem
is easy. Denote by ||v|| the length of a vector v ∈ V with respect to (·, ·). If an orbit Gv
is closed, then there is a point v0 ∈ Gv such that ||v0 || = minu∈Gv ||u||. Thus for any ξ ∈ k
there is the equality dtd (exp(itξ)v, exp(itξ)v)|t=0 = 0, or, equivalently, 0 = (iξv, v)+(v, iξv) =
2i(ξv, v) = −4hµ(v), ξi.
Conversely, let v ∈ V be such that µ(v) = 0. Assume that the orbit Gv is not closed.
It follows from the Hilbert-Mumford criterion that the exist a one-parameter subgroup τ :
C× → G such that limt→0 τ (t)v exists and is not equal to v and τ is compatible with K, i.e.
τ (z) ∈ K if |z| = 1. The last statement follows easily from a proof of the criterion given, for
example, inP[Kr].
Let v = i∈Z vi be the weight decomposition with respect to τ . It can be easily seen that
(vi , vj ) = 0 provided i 6= j. The limit limt→0 τ (t)v exists iff vi = 0 for
Pall i < 0 and is equal to
v0 . The equality hµ(v), ξi = 0 for ξ = dtd τ |t=0 can be rewritten as i∈Z i(vi , vi ) = 0. Hence
vi = 0 for i > 0 and v = v0 = limt→0 τ (t)v.
Proof of Theorem 1. First suppose that H is a reductive subgroup of G. Then G/H is a
categorical quotient in the sense of Geometric Invariant Theory, see, for example, [PV]. In
particular, G/H is affine.
Suppose now that G/H is affine. Then there are a G-module V and a closed G-equivariant
embedding G/H ֒→ V (see [PV], §1). Choose a compact form K ⊂ G and a K-invariant
hermitian scalar product (·, ·) on V . By (the easy part of) Theorem 4, one can find a point
v ∈ G/H ∩ µ−1 (0).
The real 2-form ω(u, v) = Imhu, vi on V is symplectic. Moreover, for any complex sub-
manifold X ⊂ V the restriction of ω to X is again symplectic. Clearly, ω is K-invariant. In
particular,
(2) ω(ξv1, v2 ) + ω(v1 , ξv2 ) = 0, ∀ξ ∈ k, u, v ∈ V

The equality (2) applied for v1 = v, v2 = ηv, η ∈ k, implies
(3) hµ(v), [ξ, η]i = ω(ξv, ηv)
By (3), the orbit Kv is an isotropic submanifold of Gv. Therefore 2 dimR Kv 6 dimR Gv
or, equivalently,
(4) dimR Kv 6 dimC Gv.
But dimR Kv = dimR K − dimR kv = dimC G − dimR (gv ∩ k). Thus (4) implies dimR (gv ∩ k) >
dimC gv . It follows that gv ∩ k is a real form of gv . Therefore gv is reductive.
Proof of Theorem 2. For convenience of a reader we give a proof of an easy part of the
theorem due to Luna. That is, we prove that if Gx is closed, then NG (H)x is. Let y ∈ Gx.
We have Ty ((Gx))H = (g/gy )H = gH /(gy )H = Ty (GH y) = Ty (NG (H)y). It follows that
(Gx)H is a smooth variety and its components are NG (H)◦ -orbits. In particular, for any
y ∈ X H the orbit NG (H)y is closed.
Now we prove that if NG (H)x is closed, then so is Gx. Let us embed X into a G-module
V.
One can choose compact forms K, K1, K2 of G, NG (H), H, respectively, such that K2 ⊂
K1 ⊂ K. We choose a K-invariant hermitian scalar product (·, ·) on V and define the
moment map µ by (1).
Let v ∈ V H be such that NG (H)v is closed. Denote by µ1 the moment map for the action
K1 : V H (in (1) we take the restriction of (·, ·) to V H for the scalar product). Choose an
invariant scalar product h·, ·i on k and identify k, k1 with their duals via h·, ·i. Let us prove
that µ1 = µ|V H . It can be seen directly, that the map µ : V → k is K-equivariant. It follows
that µ(V H ) ⊂ kK2 ⊂ k1 . The equality µ1 = µ|V H follows now directly from the definitions of
µ, µ1 .
By Theorem 4 applied to the action NG (H) : V H , one can choose a vector v1 ∈ NG (H)v ∩
µ−1
1 (0). Since µ1 = µ|V H , v1 ∈ µ (0). Applying Theorem 4 again, we see that the orbit Gv
−1
is closed.
Proof of Theorem 3. Embed G/H2 into a G-module V , fix a compact form K ⊂ G, a K-
invariant hermitian scalar product (·, ·) on V and a compact form K1 of H such that K1 ⊂ K.
Let π denote the natural projection k∗ → k∗1 . The map π ◦µ is the moment map for the action
K1 : V . There exists v ∈ G/H2 such that µ(v) = 0. Note that µ(kv) = 0 for all k ∈ K. In
particular, π ◦ µ(Kv) = 0. By Theorem 4, the orbit H1 kv is closed for any k ∈ K. It remains
to check that the subset Kv is dense in Gv. Assume the converse:T there exists a proper
closed subvariety Y ⊂ G/H2 containing Kv. Replacing Y by k∈K kY we may assume that
Y is K-invariant. Since K is Zariski-dense in G, Y is G-invariant. Contradiction.
References
[A] I.V. Arzhanysev. Invariant ideals and the Matsushima criterion. Preprint (2005),
arXiv:math/AG.0506430.
[Ke] G. Kempf. Instability in invariant theory. Ann. Math. II. Ser. 108(1978), p. 299-316.
[KN] G. Kempf, L. Ness. The length of vectors in representation spaces. Lect. Notes. Math. 732. Springer
Verlag, 1979. p. 233-243.
[Kr] H. Kraft. Geometrishe Methoden in der Invarianttheorie. Braunschweig/Wiesbaden, Viewveg, 1985.
[L] D. Luna. Adhérences d’orbite et invariants. Invent. Math, 29(1975), p. 231-238.
[M] Y. Matsushima. Espaces homogènes de Stein des groupes des Lie complexes. Nagoya Math. J. 16(1960),
p. 205-216.
[O] A.L. Onishchik. Complex hulls of complex homogeneous spaces. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 130(1960), 4,
p. 88-91. English translation: Sov. Math. Dokl., 1(1960), p. 88-91.
[PV] V.L. Popov, E.B. Vinberg. Invariant theory. Algebraic geometry IV, Encyclopaedia of Math. Sciences,
vol.55. Springer Verlag, 1994, pp. 123–278.
[V] E.B. Vinberg. On stability of actions of reductive algebraic groups. in ”Lie algebras, rings and related
topics”, Fong Yuen, A.A. Mikhalev, E. Zelmanov eds. Springer-Verlag, Hong Kong (2000), 188-202.

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THE KEMPF-NESS THEOREM AND INVARIANT THEORY

the Kempf-Ness theorem.

Theorem 1 (The Matsushima criterion). Let H be an algebraic subgroup of G. The homo-

Theorem 2 (The Luna criterion). Let H be a reductive subgroup of G, X an affine G-variety

Theorem 3. Let H1 , H2 be reductive subgroups of G. Then the action H1 : G/H2 is stable,

A stronger result was proved in [KN].

(2) ω(ξv1, v2 ) + ω(v1 , ξv2 ) = 0, ∀ξ ∈ k, u, v ∈ V

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