A proof of Kobayashi's properness criterion from a viewpoint of metric geometry

Abstract

Let $G$ be a locally-compact group and $(H,L)$ a pair of closed subgroups of $G$. For the cases where $G$ is a real linear reductive Lie group, T. Kobayashi [Math. Ann. '89, J. Lie Theory '96] established a criterion for properness of the $L$-action on the homogeneous space $G/H$ in terms of Cartan's KAK-decomposition of $G$. In this paper, we show that a similar theorem also holds if $G$ is a locally-compact group admitting a suitable isometric action on a metric space, and give a proof of Kobayashi's criterion in terms of CAT(0) metric geometry on non-compact Riemannian symmetric spaces.