Quotients by actions of the derived group of a maximal unipotent subgroup

Abstract: Let $U$ be a maximal unipotent subgroup of a connected semisimple group $G$ and $U'$ the derived group of $U$. If $X$ is an affine $G$-variety, then the algebra of $U'$-invariants, $k[X]^U'$, is finitely generated and the quotient morphism $\pi: X \to X//U'$ is well-defined. In this article, we study properties of such quotient morphisms, e.g. the property that all the fibres of $\pi$ are equidimensional. We also establish an analogue of the Hilbert-Mumford criterion for the null-cones with respect to $U'$-invariants.