Subcomplexes and fixed point sets of isometries of spherical buildings

Abstract

In this paper we study convex subcomplexes of spherical buildings. We pay special attention to fixed point sets of type-preserving isometries of spherical buildings. This sets are also convex subcomplexes of the natural polyhedral structure of the building. We show, among other things, that if the fixed point set is top-dimensional then it is either a subbuilding or it has circumradius $\leq \frac{\pi}{2}$. If the building is of type $A_n$ or $D_n$, we also show that the same conclusion holds for an arbitrary (top-dimensional in the $D_n$-case) convex subcomplex. This proves a conjecture of Kleiner-Leeb in these cases.