Spectra of Sub-Dirac Operators on Certain Nilmanifolds

Abstract

We study sub-Dirac operators associated to left-invariant bracket-generating sub-Riemannian structures on compact quotients of nilpotent semi-direct products $G=\mathsf{R}^n\rtimes_A\mathsf{R}$. We prove that these operators admit an $L^2$-basis of eigenfunctions. Explicit examples of this type show that the spectrum of these operators can be non-discrete and that eigenvalues may have infinite multiplicity. In this case the sub-Dirac operator is neither Fredholm nor hypoelliptic.