The existence, for every sub-Laplacian, of a homogeneous fundamental solution smooth out of the origin, plays a crucial role in the book. This makes it possible to develop an exhaustive Potential Theory, almost completely parallel to that of the classical Laplace operator.


This book provides an extensive treatment of Potential Theory for sub-Laplacians on stratified Lie groups. In recent years, sub-Laplacian operators have received considerable attention due to their special role in the theory of linear second-order PDE's with semidefinite characteristic form.

It also provides a largely self-contained presentation of stratified Lie groups, and of their Lie algebra of left-invariant vector fields. The presentation is accessible to graduate students and requires no specialized knowledge in algebra nor in differential geometry.

It is thus addressed, besides PhD students, to junior and senior researchers in different areas such as: partial differential equations; geometric control theory; geometric measure theory and minimal surfaces in stratified Lie groups.