We show that every Carnot group G of step 2 admits a Hausdorff dimension one `universal differentiability set N such that every real-valued Lipschitz map on G is Pansu differentiable at some point of N. This relies on the fact that existence of a maximal directional derivative of f at a point x implies Pansu differentiability at the same point x. We show that such an implication holds in Carnot groups of step 2 but fails in the Engel group which has step 3.
This paper contributes to the generalization of Rademachers differentiability result for Lipschitz functions when the domain is infinite dimensional and has nonabelian group structure. We introduce the notion of metric scalable groups which are our infinite-dimensional analogues of Carnot groups. The groups in which we will mostly be interested are the ones that admit a dense increasing sequence of (finite-dimensional) Carnot subgroups. In fact, in each of these spaces we show that every Lipschitz function has a point of G^{a}teaux differentiability. We provide examples and criteria for when such Carnot subgroups exist. The proof of the main theorem follows the work of Aronszajn and Pansu.
We analyze subsets of Carnot groups that have intrinsic constant normal, as they appear in the blowup study of sets that have finite sub-Riemannian perimeter. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we prove some mild regularity and structural results in arbitrary Carnot groups. Namely, we show that for every constant-normal set in a Carnot group its sub-Riemannian-Lebesgue representative is regularly open, contractible, and its topological boundary coincides with the reduced boundary and with the measure-theoretic boundary. We infer these properties from a cone property. Such a cone will be a semisubgroup with nonempty interior that is canonically associated with the normal direction. We characterize the constant-normal sets exactly as those that are arbitrary unions of translations of such semisubgroups. Second, making use of such a characterization, we provide some pathological examples in the specific case of the free-Carnot group of step 3 and rank 2. Namely, we construct a constant normal set that, with respect to any Riemannian metric, is not of locally finite perimeter; we also construct an example with non-unique intrinsic blowup at some point, showing that it has different upper and lower sub-Riemannian density at the origin. Third, we show that in Carnot groups of step 4 or less, every constant-normal set is intrinsically rectifiable, in the sense of Franchi, Serapioni, and Serra Cassano.
In the setting of Carnot groups, we are concerned with the rectifiability problem for subsets that have finite sub-Riemannian perimeter. We introduce a new notion of rectifiability that is possibly, weaker than the one introduced by Franchi, Serapioni, and Serra Cassano. Namely, we consider subsets $Gamma$ that, similarly to intrinsic Lipschitz graphs, have a cone property: there exists an open dilation-invariant subset $C$ whose translations by elements in $Gamma$ dont intersect $Gamma$. However, a priori the cone $C$ may not have any horizontal directions in its interior. In every Carnot group, we prove that the reduced boundary of every finite-perimeter subset can be covered by countably many subsets that have such a cone property. The cones are related to the semigroups generated by the horizontal half-spaces determined by the normal directions. We further study the case when one can find horizontal directions in the interior of the cones, in which case we infer that finite-perimeter subsets are countably rectifiable with respect to intrinsic Lipschitz graphs. A sufficient condition for this to hold is the existence of a horizontal one-parameter subgroup that is not an abnormal curve. As an application, we verify that this property holds in every filiform group, of either first or second type.
We show that, in contrast to the integers setting, almost all even order abelian groups $G$ have exponentially fewer maximal sum-free sets than $2^{mu(G)/2}$, where $mu(G)$ denotes the size of a largest sum-free set in $G$. This confirms a conjecture of Balogh, Liu, Sharifzadeh and Treglown.
We consider sets of locally finite perimeter in Carnot groups. We show that if E is a set of locally finite perimeter in a Carnot group G, then for almost every x in G with respect to the perimeter measure of E, some tangent of E at x is a vertical halfspace. This is a partial extension of a theorem of Franchi-Serapioni-Serra Cassano in step 2 Carnot groups: they have shown that, for almost every x, E has a unique tangent at x, and this tangent is a vertical halfspace.