On orbit spaces of representations of compact Lie groups

Abstract: We investigate orthogonal representations of compact Lie groups from the point of view of their quotient spaces, considered as metric spaces. We study metric spaces which are simultaneously quotients of different representations and investigate properties of the corresponding representations. We obtain some structural results and apply them to study irreducible representations of small copolarity. As an important tool, we classify all irreducible representations of connected groups with cohomogeneity four or five.