Coadjoint Orbits and Time-Optimal Problems for Step-2 Free Nilpotent Lie Groups

The coadjoint orbits and the Casimir functions are described for free nilpotent Lie groups of step 2. The symplectic foliation consists of affine subspaces in the Lie coalgebra. Left-invariant time-optimal problems are considered on Carnot groups of step 2 for which the set of admissible velocities is a strictly convex compact set in the first layer of the Lie algebra that contains the origin in its interior. The first integrals of the vertical subsystem of the Hamiltonian system of the Pontryagin maximum principle are described. For two-dimensional coadjoint orbits, the constancy and periodicity properties of the solutions of this subsystem, as well as the phase flow, are described.