Loop Group Decompositions in Almost Split Real Forms and Applications to Soliton Theory and Geometry

We prove a global Birkhoff decomposition for almost split real forms of loop groups, when an underlying finite dimensional Lie group is compact. Among applications, this shows that the dressing action by the whole subgroup of loops which extend holomorphically to the exterior disc on the U -hierarchy of the ZS-AKNS systems, on curved flats and on various other integrable systems, is global for compact cases. It also implies a global infinite dimensional Weierstrass-type representation for Lorentzian harmonic maps (1 + 1 wave maps) from surfaces into compact symmetric spaces. An “Iwasawa-type” decomposition of the same type of real form, with respect to a fixed point subgroup of an involution of the second kind, is also proved, and an application given.