Journal Home Page Cumulative Index List of all Volumes Complete Contentsof this Volume Previous Article Journal of Lie Theory 19 (2009), No. 1, 079--099Copyright Heldermann Verlag 2009 Differential Invariants of Maximally Symmetric Submanifolds Peter J. Olver School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, U.S.A. olver@math.umn.edu [Abstract-pdf] Let $G$ be a Lie group acting smoothly on a manifold $M$. A closed, nonsingular submanifold $S \subset M$ is called {\it maximally symmetric} if its symmetry subgroup $G_S \subset G$ has the maximal possible dimension, namely $\dim G_S = \dim S$, and hence $S = G_S \cdot z_0$ is an orbit of $G_S$. Maximally symmetric submanifolds are characterized by the property that all their differential invariants are constant. In this paper, we explain how to directly compute the numerical values of the differential invariants of a maximally symmetric submanifold from the infinitesimal generators of its symmetry group. The equivariant method of moving frames is applied to significantly simplify the resulting formulae. The method is illustrated by examples of curves and surfaces in various classical geometries. Keywords: Differential invariant, homogeneous space, infinitesimal generator, jet, maximally symmetric, moving frame. MSC: 22F05, 53A55, 58A20 [ Fulltext-pdf  (229  KB)] for subscribers only.