Path-connectedness of the intersection of translates of St(n,H)

Abstract

If $H$ is a Hilbert space, the Stiefel manifold $St(n,H)$ is formed by all the independent $n$-tuples in $H$. In this article, we contribute to the topological study of Stiefel manifolds by proving a path-connectedness result. We prove that the intersection of translates of $St(n,H)$ is path-connected by polygonal paths under a condition on the codimension of the span of the components of the translating $n$-tuples. We rely on a lemma that we prove for the occasion.