Existence of the longest arcs for left-invariant three-dimensional contact sub-Lorentzian structures

Abstract

The problem of finding optimal curves (the longest arcs) for sub-Lorentzian structures is an optimal control problem with an unbounded control set and a concave cost functional. The question of existence of an optimal solution is nontrivial for such problems. We solve here this question for some left-invariant three-dimensional contact sub-Lorentzian structures, whose classification is known. We propose sufficient conditions for the existence of the longest arcs for left-invariant (sub-)Lorentzian structures on solvable Lie groups and on the universal cover of the Lie group SL(2, R).