A sub-Finsler problem on the Cartan group

Abstract: In this paper we study a sub-Finsler geometric problem on the free-nilpotent group of rank 2 and step 3. Such a group is also called Cartan group and has a natural structure of Carnot group, which we metrize considering the $\ell_\infty$ norm on its first layer. We adopt the point of view of time-optimal control theory. We characterize extremal curves via Pontryagin maximum principle. We describe abnormal and singular arcs, and construct the bang-bang flow.